Formerly, there was no need of book. Therefore our Vedic literatures are known as śruti. The student will hear from the master, from the teacher, śruti. Tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum eva abhigacchet, śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham (MU 1.2.12).
Simply by hearing, they'll remember. That was going on up to the date of Vyāsadeva, five thousand years ago. There was no writing principle. There was no need of writing. People were so much powerful in their memory, they could immediately remember everything by hearing once from the teacher.
Then Vyāsadeva, when he saw the Kali-yuga is coming, people's memory will be not so sharp, then he wrote all these Vedic literature. He's called Veda-vyāsa. Vedic knowledge was already there by tradition, by hearing, but he chronologically wrote all these Vedas.
So there are so many symptoms. I may explain some of them. Kālena balinā rājan naṅkṣyaty āyur balaṁ smṛtiḥ: "These things will be reduced: dharma, truthfulness, cleanliness, and forgiveness and mercifulness." People are not very merciful now. Especially in the Western countries, if one is attacked by another, people will pass. Nobody will care for that.
He may be killed. People do not show any mercy. And kṣamā. Kṣamā means forgiveness. That is also being reduced. Memory reduced, merciful reduced, span of life reduced, bodily strength reduced, health is reduced. This is the symptom of Kali-yuga.
So . . . vittam eva kalau nṛṇāṁ janmācāra-guṇodayaḥ. Formerly, there were divisions. Cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭaṁ guṇa-karma-vibhāgaśaḥ (BG 4.13). The four social division: brāhmin, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra. And they were calculated according to guṇa and karma, quality and work. brāhmin means he must be truthful, he must be very clean, satya śaucam.
He must be controlling his mind, controlling his senses, śamo damas titikṣa. He must be tolerant. Titikṣa ārjava. He must be simple. Ārjava, jñānam, he must have full knowledge; vijñānam, practical application in life. Vijñānam āstikyam. Āstikyam means to accept the Vedic principle as truth. That is called āstikyam. Theism. It is translated as "theism," but it is not āstika. Āstikya means to have firm faith in the Vedic instruction. That is called āstikyam.
But that is a fact. What is stated in the Vedas, they are true. We can save our time. For example, just like the cow dung. The cow dung is said in the Vedas as pure. So if we accept cow dung as pure, we don't require to make research. But actually it is pure. The other day I was passing through a cowshed in Hyderabad. So, so much cow dung was stocked there. So I was asking my students, "Suppose so much human stool was stocked here. Could we pass through it?" No, it is not possible. But it was pleasant to pass through. So this is a fact.
If we argue that animal stool . . .
(aside) Stop. Stop him. Don't make noise.
. . . the animal stool is impure, but when the Vedas says the animal stool of the cow is pure, so this is, this true. Similarly conchshell. Conchshell is the bone of an animal. So according to Vedic instruction, if you touch the bone of an animal, you become impure. But the bone of an animal which is conchshell, it is kept in the Deity room. So Vedic instruction is so perfect. Why this animal bone is pure, why this stool of animal is pure, that is already known. You don't require to make any research. You simply accept and get the fact. This is Vedic truth.
So that is called āstikyam. Āstikyam means to accept the Vedic instruction as it is. Therefore we are presenting Bhagavad-gītā as it is. There is no need of interpreting. If we accept it, the truth, as it is, then we are benefited. In the Bhagavad-gītā, Kṛṣṇa says that, "I am the Supreme." Mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya (BG 7.7): "My dear Dhanañjaya, Arjuna . . ." Arjuna is called Dhanañjaya. That's a background, how he became a dhanañjaya. So mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat: "There is no more superior person than Me."
So we accept that way. Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means we accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Not only we accept—all the authorities, whom we accept as authority, just like Vyāsadeva; he is the authority of the Vedas; he accepts Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Nārada accepts the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Of course, that is long, long, ages ago. In the recent years, all the ācāryas—Rāmānujācārya, Madhvācārya, Śaṅkarācārya—all of them accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepts, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
So what is the difficulty for us to accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead? There is no difficulty. If you do not accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, you must present somebody else that, "Here is another person . . ." Then we have to compare whether Kṛṣṇa is actually Supreme Personality of Godhead or the another person. Because there is definition of God: aiśvaryasya samagrasya vīryasya yaśasaḥ śriyaḥ (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 6.5.47).
So the present need of human society, because they're reducing their good qualities, satya śamo dama titikṣa ārjava . . . (BG 18.42). And money is becoming the most powerful thing. As it is stated here: vittam eva kalau nṛṇāṁ janmācāra-guṇodayaḥ. Formerly, if one is qualified brahmin, he may be a poor man, but a brahmin, when approaches a king, the king will stand up and offer him . . . even Kṛṣṇa, when He was King of Dvārakā, Sudāmā Vipra, His friend, he came. Immediately He stood up and gave him His own seat. So because he was a qualified brāhmin.
So everywhere qualified brāhmin was respected by the qualified kṣatriyas, vaiśyas. But now, there is practically no qualified brāhmin, neither a qualified brāhmin is respected. Vittam eva. But if one has got money, then he'll be respected. This is the symptom of Kali-yuga. Vittam eva kalau nṛṇāṁ janmācāra-guṇodayaḥ. If one has got money, Sethji, he may be not educated, without any good qualification, but somehow or other he has got money, he'll be respectful, not a qualified brahmin.
Then dharma-nyāya-vyavasthāyāṁ kāraṇaṁ balam eva hi. Now justice, nyāya . . . nyāya means justice, dharma and religious principle. Dharma-nyāya-vyavasthāyām, to establish justice, anyone who is powerful, he will get justice. You bribe. Nowadays . . . of course, we do not discuss these things; everyone knows. Justice can be purchased in this age. Balam eva hi. Dāmpatye ratir, ratir abhirucir hetur māyaiva vyāvahārike.
These are the symptoms. Dāmpatye, husband and relationship, husband and wife, means sex power. We have practically seen in the Western country, as soon as there is some disturbance in the sex relation of husband and wife, there is divorce. So that, these are the symptoms. Strītve puṁstve ca hi ratir vipratve sūtram eva hi. So man and woman should be united in marriage relationship simply on sex urge, not on the religious principle. That we have seen.