10,000 years? Prophecies of the Golden Age

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Prabhupāda described on a number of occasions the possibility of a golden age of 10,000 years in which humanity would continue to progress spiritually, up to the point that life would become like in Satya-yuga. When directly asked by Allen Ginsberg where such a golden age is mentioned in the Vedas, Śrila Prabhupada answered that it is mentioned in the Puranas.

Some expect to find some special book, or at least a few complete chapters describing all details of the expected golden age, but that’s not how the sastras work. Most topics in the Vedas are presented indirectly or merged into other information in the same verses. That’s why the only reliable way to understand the scriptures is through the explanations of self-realized souls. Without such guidance, one will miss even the most basic points, such as the fact that God is not impersonal or that bhakti is the highest path. We can just see how most philosophers study the Upanisads without even realizing that Kṛṣṇa is the source of the impersonal Brahmajoti, for example. One who studies the scriptures under the assumption that God does not have a form, for example, will interpret the verses under this optic, and thus conclude that it is indeed true.

According to Prabhupada, this Golden Age is connected with the spread of the chanting of the mahā-mantra. As more people adopt the process, the world will gradually change. According to him, it will be divided into an ascending period, where people will gradually adopt the process of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, a peak, and then a descending period of decline, culminating in the remaining years of Kali-yuga.

This change was indirectly predicted five centuries ago by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who predicted that His name would be chanted in all towns and villages of the world. Before Śrila Prabhupada came to the West, this seemed something impossible, some kind of poetic exaggeration, but after he was able to establish his movement, it started sounding like a credible idea.

When Śrila Bhaktivinoda Thakura prophesied that, “When will that day come when the fair-skinned foreigners will come to Sri Mayapur-dhama and join with the Bengali Vaiṣnavas to chant, Jaya Sacinandana, Jaya Sacinandana. When will that day be?” it seemed very far-fetched, but nowadays that’s a common view