In the Vedas it has been said:

Kalih shayáno bhavati saiṋjihánastu dváparah;
Uttiśt́han tretá bhavati krataḿ sampadyate carań.

[A person who abstains from work and is unwilling to move, is living in Kali Yuga; one who has just awakened from slumber is in Dvápara Yuga; one who has stood up is in Tretá Yuga; and when one has started moving, then Satya Yuga has come in that person’s life.]

When human beings remain steeped in ignorance, when they remain asleep in the darkness of ignorance, then that is the age of kali in their lives. Satya, Tretá, Dvápara and Kali yugas [ages] have no significance apart from [such psychological significances]. When human beings neglect their duties, when they cannot discriminate between right and wrong, when they tolerate injustice and humiliation as a natural law, it means that they are under the sway of kali yuga.

The Sanskrit root yuj and yunj have similar meanings. Yuj means “to add”, as does yunj. For example, two plus two equals four. There is, however, a certain difference between the two. When the word “yoga” is derived from the root verb yuj it means “addition”, no doubt, but here the added components retain their original identity, just as when sand and sugar are added together the individual grains can still be identified. The root verb yunj, however, refers to a type of addition where the original components lose their respective identities, as in the case of a mixture of sugar and water which creates a syrup in which the sugar can no longer be separately identified. Similarly, when a unit being (jiiva) merges into Parama Puruśa, it loses its microcosmic identity and only one entity remains, the Supreme Entity.

The word yuga is derived from this verb yunj. What is a yuga? When a particular period of time ends, when a particular epoch ends, when a particular flow of life ends and another begins or emerges, it is called yuga. The past may be divided into various yugas or ages: the shudra yuga or worker age; the kśatriya yuga or warrior age; the vipra yuga or intellectual age; and the vaeshya yuga or capitalist age. In the future also these ages will come and go. People will reject the old social order and embrace a new one. The transitional phase between the two social orders is called yuga sandhi.

When people are so inert that they turn a blind eye to what happens around them, when they ignore the future of others, of society, even of themselves, when they remain blissfully unaware that they too have a significant role to play in checking the degeneration of society, then it is called kali yuga. They are asleep.

Saiṋjihánastu dváparah. There are some people who also continue to lie down, but who have awakened, who have become conscious. They feel the need to act but fail to do so. This also happens in collective life. Suppose something is going on for a long time. We see it happening, even understand what is happening, yet we fail to do anything about it. “This is what should be done,” “This is what should have been done,” “This should have been done a long time ago” – people make such comments but due to the lack of dynamic leadership they fail to take action. Who is to bell the cat? This is the general feeling of the dvápar yuga. Saiṋjihánastu dváparah. People have awakened from sleep, become conscious but they have not yet taken any action.

Uttiśt́han tretá bhavati. When people no longer pass idle comments from the comfort of their beds – “Oh, I think this should be done or that should be done, I am to start action”– but rather, able to discriminate between right and wrong, leap up, ready for action, it is called tretá yuga in both individual and collective life. Uttiśt́han tretá bhavati. “Now it is time to act. We must act right now.” People meet together in groups of five or ten or twenty, and so on, to make concrete plans for immediate and effective action. Awareness exists but it is yet to be translated into action.

Krtaḿ sampadyate carań. Suppose one makes comprehensive plans and programs, but these plans still remain at a theoretical level. It is a paper tiger. No work is accomplished. It doesn’t make for progress in individual life. What then needs to be done? They have to be translated into action. When people undertake concrete work with sincerity, then success becomes inevitable in their lives. This is the krta yuga [age of practical action] or satya yuga [age of truth]. It is the way human beings have advanced in the past, how they are advancing now, and how they will advance in the future.

Earlier I mentioned that just as a yuga sandhi occurs in individual life – one particular stage ends and another stage begins, and the in-between phase is called yuga sandhi – the exact same thing happens in collective life. Suppose there is a particular community. It may consist of a few thousand or a few hundred thousand or a few million. They were asleep for a long time during which they endured countless indignities, humiliation and complete subservience to their master. No one paid them any heed or respect. But when their kali yuga gave way to dvápara yuga and consciousness awakened among them, then others started to fear them. “Uh oh, they are waking up!” In individual life as well the same thing happens. Human beings pass their days as if they were dogs or cats or goats. They come to the earth, eat, sleep, die and move on. It is meaningless. There must be consciousness and to be established in this consciousness people have to stand up. They have to move ahead. It is the same whether it is individual or collective. According to our philosophy, when consciousness arises in individual life then a person begins to move in accordance with certain instructions, certain guidance. In collective life as well, when this stage comes, those who are well advanced, who understand better, who are more courageous, more firmly established in morality, who are truly righteous, they have to take the lead, to assume the mantle of leadership. In such times those who worry about what others will say or think, or worry about being criticized, and due to this fear hide behind closed doors thinking that if they take action their good name will be tarnished, such people are not true human beings. They are beggars, begging for reputation. They have no manliness; they have lost the courage to move ahead. At that time those who come forward and say – “Let’s go. I’m with you. If trouble comes, let it come. I’ll take it on my shoulders” – such people I have given the name sadvipra.

This is the way it has been and the way it will always be. However, in collective life at the critical juncture between one great age and another, in this transitional stage of great change, when it becomes impossible for the common man or even ordinary sadvipras to take up the leadership, then Parama Puruśa through his special grace arranges that leadership. At this time on the earth humanity is witnessing such a yuga sandhi. On one side there is the rubbish heap of the past and people are clinging to that rubbish heap because they have not yet been shown the way out. And on the other side, there is the call of the new. Under such conditions what will that Mahásambhúti do who gave guidance to the human race in the past? With courage he will call to human beings and declare: “Give up the rubbish of the past. It can only harm you and lead you to your death. Move ahead. Answer the call of the new. I am with you. There is no reason to be afraid.”