Story of Kaliyug  Story of King Parikshit and Kaliyuga ! According to Hindu scriptures, the great war of Kurukshetra, Mahabharat, marked the end of Dwapar Yuga. But did you know that Kali Yuga had already begun during the war? There are several tales of Ancient Scriptures, which are yet to be explored; one of them is the story of King Parikshit and Kaliyuga. Until the ninth day of Mahabharata, there hadn’t been a single killing of the innocent in the war and that was the day when Dwapara Yuga ended and Kali Yuga began. And, as the latter is expected to bring destruction everywhere, so did the war of Kurukshetra. Beginning of Kaliyuga Because of the presence of Lord Krishna, Kali Yuga couldn’t spread across the world & be restricted only to the war ground. And, the destruction of Kuru clan and the killing of Parikshit, the son of Abhimanyu & grandson of Arjuna marked the beginning of it. King Parikshit was killed in the womb of his mother Uttara, after Ashwathama aimed Brahmastra at him, to destroy the descendants of Pandavas. But, Lord Krishna entered the womb and saved the fetus from the heat of the weapon and so, Parikshit was brought back to life. Some time after the war, when Pandavas heard of Lord Krishna’s death, they along with Draupadi, gave up royalty and made their only surviving grandson Parikshit, in charge of the Kingdom and its inhabitants. Kali Yuga arrives King Parikshit was informed of demon Kali Yuga’s arrival by his grandfathers, so he prepared the Kingdom to face it. When Kali Yuga reached the boundaries of Kingdom along with his weapons of treachery, lust, greed and evil, Parikshit decided to stop him. The King hunted the demon, until the latter surrendered and explained him the rules of Brahma.He said, “O king! Brahma created 4 eras that are Satya, Treta, Dwapar and Kali Yuga. Satya Yuga reigned for 17,28,000 years, Treta Yuga enjoyed his reign for 12,96,000 years and Dwapar Yuga for 8,64,000 years. Now that I have come to reign (4,32,000 years) and you tell me to get out from your empire?” 5 Places where Kali Yuga resides Releasing that eventually he had to respect Brahma’s plan for the mankind, Parikshit released Kali Yuga warning him to not destroy the mankind before its time to end. He said, “You shall only live in these 5 places and never cross your boundary. People who willingly come to these places would become the victims of the demon Kali Yuga.” 1. Places where liquor is served- Weapon of poison You must only stay here and welcome those, who come willingly and should never, force people to surrender to you. 2. Brothels- Weapon of Lust Anyone who enters the premises would have to shed off their dignity, sanity, and humanity and only then you may devour them. 3. Slaughter house- Weapon of Evil You must reside in this place, where humans leave behind their humanity and reveal the evil inside them and butcher innocent animals and humans. 4. Gambling areas- Weapon of treachery Those who come here are prepared to gamble their lives away; therefore you have the authority to destroy their life. 5. Gold- Weapon of Greed Hearing this, Kali Yuga said “O king, all those who come to these 5 places are bad men already, but how shall I demolish the good ones, as my weapon of Greed would remain unused. King Parikshit then allowed him one place where he can use the weapon of Greed and that was Gold. Kali Yuga knew that he had acquired the entire world but Parikshit’s Kingdom and until he was alive, this wouldn’t be possible. Therefore, in order to do so, he must enter his crown that was made of Gold. Once inside the crown, Kali Yuga manipulated Parikshit’s sanity enough to insult a sage, which became the reason of his death. Hare Krishna  How Kaliyuga Started? Story of King Parikshit and Kaliyuga  In the current era, we have seen many such incidents in which many riots, terrorism, corruption and many other problems have been seen in this world. This is happening because we living in the most cursed era of Kaliyuga,the era of decline of truth and righteousness.There are still four 4,26,550 years left for the end of Kaliyuga. By the way, you know that in the epic of Mahabharata, after the destruction of Kauravas in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, due to the curse of Queen Gandhari, many years later, the Yadava dynasty of Lord Shri Krishna was destroyed on earth and Lord Krishna finished his leela and went to Baikunth and after many years, the Pandavas handed over the kingdom to their grandson Parikshit and went to heaven. But do you know how Kaliyuga started after Parikshit became the king, how did he come to the earth, we will tell you about this. 1.King Parikshit’s encounter with Kaliyuga   One day a cow and a bull,where the bull represents righteousness(Dharma),who was standing on one feet,which means there is only one fourth of righteousness present on the earth. And the cow represents the Earth which is in trouble. So in the forest, a person who looked like a very dangerous demon was beating the cow and the bull with great force. At that time, the king Parikshit, who was the strong follower of righteousness and justice, was roaming in the forest. So when he saw that man, then he got down to punish him and asked him who is he. The person said that he is Kali Yuga and he has arrived to take control of the Earth as per the rule of Yugas cycle. King Parikshit said that Kaliyuga cannot succeed in taking control of the earth and spread the unrighteousness when he is present in this Earth. He decided to give a kill the Kaliyuga. Kaliyuga saw that King Parikshit is very powerful, and as long as he is there he cannot enter and take control of

The 5 Great Sins  Five major sins are reckoned in the Hindu tradition. In general, it is said that doing good to others is Punya, while doing bad to others is Paapa. This is evidenced by the verse, which I quote as follows; The essence of the 18 Puranas of Maharshi Veda Vyas is that doing good to others conduces to merit and doing harm to them leads to Sin.Having said that, it is difficult to form a judgement on what basis the five major sins have been culled out and given greater value in terms of the sin quotient attached to it but I would like to share my thoughts on why these five have been highlighted by the scriptures. The five types of evil deeds are:1) Killing of a learned person2) Drinking Liquor and other Alcoholic Beverages3) Stealing4) Transgressing the modesty of the Guru’s wife5) Being in the company of evil doers The scriptural injunctions are followed through instructions (Sruti and Smriti). We have injunctions both oral (Sruti) and written (Smriti). Basically it requires a healthy intellect to understand and follow the instructions. Anything that hurts the intellect or the intelligentsia or the intellectual tradition is considered a heinous sin. Why? Because it cuts at the root of tradition. Once, a society becomes intellectually impoverished, the traditions would register a steep decline. Today, due to the influence of Kaliyuga we are exactly witnessing that exact trend which the Rishis wanted to arrest. A learned person is required to spread knowledge. Once he is killed the dissemination of knowledge gets arrested. Alcoholic beverages are bad for the functions of the brain. The aim of knowledge is to transcend the mind. Alcohol has the exact opposite effect; it makes a person go below the level of the mind. An inebriated man behaves like a lunatic. No doubt, the absence of mind gives rise to much happiness, but in this case once the effect of alcohol wears out, the man is back at the same place and the body and mind are both affected. On the other hand, the spiritual man, who has transcended the mind, continues to remain happy on a higher plane. While all forms of theft produce sin, the stealing of riches from a learned person, affects his life and the consequent spread of knowledge.. Misbehaving with the spouse of a preceptor has an adverse effect on the Guru’s family and hence highly condemnable. Last but not least, a man’s mind gets corrupted in the company of evil doers and his intellect gets spoiled by such association. In this context it is worth remembering the following verse in Sanskrit tyaja durjana-sa?sarga?bhaja sadhu-samagamamkuru pu?yam aho ratra?smara nityam anityatam One should give up the company of the wicked and should always associate with good people. One should always do good and also remember that this life is temporary.There is a need to educate people on what is a sin and what is not. Today in most parties alcohol is served and only a few orthodox people either abstain from drinks or skip the party altogether. ASTROLOGICAL GRAHA COMBINATIONS 1. Killing of a learned person. Conjunction of Mercury with Moon.Mercury in Cancer.Jupiter – Saturn conjunction. 2. Stealing. Saturn aspected by Mars .Sun in Cancer aspected by Saturn. 3. Transgressing the modesty of Guru’s wife. Mercury with Sun in a common sign 4. Alcoholism. Moon in Cancer 5. Being in the company of evil doers. Malefics in the Third house. TRANSMISSION OF SINS Just like a drop of oil spreading over water, the sin gets transmitted from one person to another just by association with a sinner.Raja (the king) shares the sins of his citizens. Raja Purohita (priest of the king) shares the sins of the Raja. The husband shares the sins of his wife. Guru shares the sins of his disciples. The papa (sin) done by a self -realized person eventually gets distributed to his critics and the punya (good deed) to his followers.One who blesses the sinner also gets infected by the sins of the latter.By giving dakshina(fee) the sins get transferred to the Pundit who receives it and through the recitation of the Vedas, the sins of the Pundit gets nullified.All the lineal descendants including sons, daughters, grandsons and granddaughters may get impacted depending upon the severity of the Sin. The extent and nature of the impact is very difficult to predict.Like a calf which clearly recognizes its mother cow despite being amidst thousand other cows, the karma phala (fruit of action) done by a person correctly recognizes him and reaches him meticulously.If the gravity of the Sin is so powerful, the entire generation itself can get affected. It has to be kept in mind that a person who has to experience the agony based on his sins alone would be born as a son or be born in that family (based on their own individual karma phala) and hence it gets duly transmitted to the right persons only. Thus, there is no discrimination or bias in the way in which Karma operates. Before we venture into case studies a few important planetary factors need to be highlighted. CARDINAL SINS AND THEIR EFFECTS ACCORDING TO DHARMA SASTRAS: After death, the soul of the sinner is first sent to hell with a body which is designed to experience pains and sufferings. Thereafter the person returns to lower plane of animal existence. Thereafter he has to pass through the bodies of a dog, an ass and a camel. A person who steals gold is born as a Worm or an Insect in his next existence. A person who violates the modesty of the Guru’s wife is born as a blade of grass in his next birth. For omission of doing good or commendable acts and commission of heinous deeds, one has to undergo the torments of hell. EXPIATION OF SINS A person can escape punishment of sins committed by him only if due prayascitta (vedic remedy) is done by him