In Kaliyug, people are egoistic, mean, jealous, uncompromising and strategise to pull each other down. Climate changes turn nature into a hostile force. Famines recur while rains occur not, and sown seeds sprout not. Diseases and pandemics take deathly forms, yet, the arrogance of men belies mortality. The only adornment of women is their hair, not jewellery. They are ever demanding, hungry for sense pleasures and forever unsatisfied. Feminine grace, modesty and delicacy are replaced by harsh speech, severe looks and actions. Men hunt for immediate sense gratification. Obsessed with body worship they spend a life of indiscriminate indulgence and soon fall prey to disease and mental instability. Despite such major disadvantages, Tulasidasji says that Kaliyug has three unique advantages: 1. Chanting the name of the Lord alone can grant you Moksha (liberation or Nirvana), which is attained with great effort in other yugas through pujas, yagnyas, yoga, meditation and Tapas. 2. Another great concession to Kaliyug is that though positive thoughts generate good results (punya), negative thoughts, that abound in Kaliyug are absolved of a sinful result (paap) else there would’ve been no hope of redemption. “Thinking” is a verb, it is also an action and therefore generates a result. Beware! 3. Many categories of Daan (charity) are listed in our scriptures: The purity of attitude with which you give, humbly or with arrogance, boastfully or to help, given to an undeserving or deserving receiver, the quantity, the quality as well as the utility, the time and even the place of the Daan condition the result of the action. But in Kaliyug any kind of Daan will always bless the giver! One simple sadhana is to always be on the lookout for whatever you can do to help others. “Else you are a weight on this earth”, said Swami Chinmayananda. How easy is it then?