Passage 3

Beginning of the Four Yugas and their significance

Of the four Yugas - Kritha, Thretha, Dhwapara and Kali Yugas we are today in the Kali yuga (Iron Age). The Kritha yuga is said to have begun in the Vaishakha month; the Thretha yuga in the month of Karthika and the Dhwapara yuga in the month of Mrigasirsha. The ancients celebrated the days of the beginning of each yuga in an appropriate manner, with due ceremony. By efflux of time, with the decline in human qualities, the significance of these observances was forgotten and the Ugadhi day came to be observed only as the beginning of a new year in the almanac. Thus the beginning of the Kali yuga, which was originally in the month of Magha, came to be observed in Chaithra masa, when the Sun enters the Mesha (Ram) asterism and marks the beginning of a new year. The Ugadhi is not celebrated as in olden times. We have now only new year days based upon the position of the Sun or the Moon. The name of the new year is Rakthakshi. The name is obviously dreadful. Rakthakshi means bloodshot eye. It is only when one is filled with hatred and greed and wickedness that one's eyes turn red. But it is wrong to judge anything by the name only. The name may be attractive and sweet but the person may be quite different. A man with the name Dharmaraja (the King of righteousness) may be evil from head to foot. A person named Sundararaja (a prince of beauty) may be loathsome.