By David Bruce Hughes

Whenever I speak publicly, give Jyotish readings or teach, people ask me about the current war: is it World War III? The end of the world? What is its spiritual significance?

First of all don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world. We puny humans hardly have the ability to destroy this planet, designed and made by intelligence and power far superior to ours. If we get too far out of line, Mother Nature will rein us in with natural disasters, as is happening already with global warming.

Let us begin by putting the current era into its astrological perspective. Vedic Astrology (Jyotish) divides historical time into four Yugas of decreasing spiritual purity. We are currently in the fourth or Kali-yuga, and sure enough, spiritual purity is at an all-time low.

In his excellent essay on Brahma Vidya, Sanjay Rath describes the nuances of the Vedic yuga system. Within the four yugas are subdivisions of time called chakras. These are not directly related to the seven chakras of the body, but are so named because they form a circle of repeating time periods (chakra basically meaning ‘wheel’).

These chakras or sub-periods are based on the human lifespan in Kali-yuga, or 120 years. They are very similar in their effect to the dashas and maha-dashas in the Vedic astrological chart. If you have had your Vedic astrological reading done, you know that these planetary periods provide very accurate predictions about the larger phases of one’s life. Similarly, the chakras of the yugas provide fine-grained predictions affecting the whole of humanity.

According to Rath, we are currently at the end of the first Kali-chakra of the Kali-yuga, and about to enter the first Krita-chakra of Kali-yuga. What does this mean? According to Rath, “The Kali-chakra has seen the development of the most powerful weapons for mass destruction as well as their use. Next year (2000), the entire cycle changes and another Maha-chakra begins with a Krita-chakra. Once again, the temples will be built, Vedic literature will flourish and a lot of good will happen on this planet.”

We have already seen the foundation for these changes with the advent of Lord Caitanya in India 500 years ago, and the subsequent presentation of the original Vedic spiritual teachings for the first time in the Western countries. My spiritual master translated and published many esoteric Vedic works, never before accurately rendered in English according to the original tradition. He also made thousands of disciples and constructed many gorgeous temples in all parts of the world, an unprecedented feat. Surely this presages a new era of global Vedic spirituality, as foretold by the Jyotish seers.

But we’re not out of the woods yet. Transitions from one yuga or chakra to another do not happen overnight; they occur gradually, the features and qualities of one era gradually giving way and blending into the next. These intermediary periods are called sandhyas or junctions. While the appearance of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu and the preaching work of Bhaktivedanta Swami may have prepared a firm foundation for the coming Golden Age of spirituality, we still have a lot of cleaning up to do from the previous dark period.

In the Puranas, or Vedic histories of the universe, we often see pralayas or periods of destruction in the sandhyas between the various cycles of time. There is a complete devastation of the material universe at the end of each day of Brahma, an inconceivably long period of time; similarly, there are also small local pralayas in the sandhyas connecting the chakras of each yuga.

The current war cycle, beginning with World War I, represents the pralaya of the sandhya from the Kali-chakra of the Kali-yuga to the Krita-chakra of Kali-yuga. In other words, we are transitioning from a very dark materialistic period where ignorance was in ascendance, to a lighter period in which enlightenment will again properly become the theme of human life. But before the new age of the Krita-chakra can be properly established, so many social institutions and other structures built up in the Kali-chakra will have to be destroyed.

Thus in the present war, we see the forces of Christian fundamentalism arrayed against the forces of Islamic fundamentalism. Both claim ascendancy, and both seem to be willing to fight to the end, and to invoke the terrible destructive forces of Armageddon. Why? Just to make a point?

No, both materialistic forces are fossils of the Kali-chakra and are being used to destroy one another to prepare for the coming age of light. Just as one thorn is used to uproot another, then both are thrown away, the overwhelming military power of the Christian world will be used to uproot the devious entrenchment of Islamic terrorism. In the process, both will be destroyed and transformed. There is likely to be considerable collateral damage, and a good many people will probably die.

While this is certainly not good news, neither is it the end of the world. A sandhya between two chakras is a relatively small pralaya. And there is a wonderful silver lining: the immanent dawn of the Krita-chakra: Lord Caitanya’s Golden Age.

There is more evidence of this change. In 1991 I had the good fortune to attend a retreat with His Holiness the Dalai Lama at a remote lake in the Vermont woods. During that retreat, which was only for monks, the Dalai Lama revealed in a private audience that he was the last incarnation of the Dalai Lama.

“I am the last Dalai Lama,” he said, “there will be no more Dalai Lama after me.” When I asked him why, he replied, “You are a disciple of Bhaktivedanta. You should understand that now there is no more need for me here. Tibetan Buddhism is the past; your instructions are for the future. This is a very wonderful thing.” Then he laughed. At least the Dalai Lama has the wisdom to accept the inevitability of the coming changes, and make a graceful exit from the scene in harmony with the times, befitting his exalted spiritual status.

We also see that in general, the religious organizations and moral structures meant to guide people in the past age are in advanced stages of corruption and decay. We do not need to detail the gradual disintegration of Christianity into thousands of bitterly competing sects, the fall of the Islamic jihad from proud warriors to cowardly terrorists, the lie factory that modern corporate life has become, or the covert war of government against the people that characterizes contemporary so-called democracy. These have all been adequately described by others.

All these rotten structures are due to be replaced by something far finer and better. They require only a good shove to come crashing down, clearing the way for a new, more spiritual society. Just as a farmer burns his field before planting new crops, the devastation of the coming war will clear the way for the real new age, the Golden Age of Lord Caitanya.

This is not a matter for lamentation. This material life is temporary. Life and death, pleasure and pain, war and peace come and go, but spiritual existence is eternal. The Vedas teach that the soul can never be killed or hurt by any material force. Our experience in this world is just to teach us, by its hard lessons, the same spiritual truths freely given in the Vedas but ignored by the vast majority of people of the world.

What is the cure? Our spiritual duty is eternal:

“Just try to learn the truth by accepting a bona-fide spiritual master. Inquire submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth. And when you have thus learned the truth, you will know that all living beings are but part of Me—and that they are in Me, and are Mine.” [Bhagavad-gita As It Is, 4.34-5]

I hope this sheds some light on the meaning of the current war, and helps to put it in perspective.