In degraded Kali-yuga, only sincere chanting of Hare Krishna can awaken the sleeping soul to spiritual reality.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.1.10 — July 20, 1972, London 720720SB-LONDON [42:37 Minutes] SB-01.01.10_720720SB-LONDON Prabhupāda: [leads singing of Jaya Rādhā-Mādhava] [prema-dhvani] Thank you very much.
Devotees: All glories to Śrī Guru and Gauranga. [devotees offer obeisances]
Prabhupāda: Chant. Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.
[leads chanting of verse] [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ sabhya kalāv asmin yuge janāḥ mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ [SB 1.1.10] Prabhupāda: Next? Anyone? [corrects pronunciation] Prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ sabhya. The spelling is there.
Prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ sabhya. [devotee chants] Next. [lady devotee begins to chant; Prabhupāda corrects pronunciation:] Prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ sabhya. Anyone?
That's all right. Hmm. Pradyumna: [leads chanting of synonyms] prāyeṇa—almost always; alpa—meager; āyuṣaḥ—duration of life; sabhya—member of a learned society; kalau—in this age of Kali (quarrel); asmin—herein; yuge—age; janāḥ—the public; mandāḥ—lazy; sumanda-matayaḥ—misguided; manda-bhāgyāḥ—unlucky; hi—and above all; upadrutāḥ—disturbed. [12:33] Translation: "O learned one, in this iron age of Kali men have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed." Prabhupāda: So these are the good qualifications of this age.
This is predicted five thousand years ago, and we are thinking that we have made so much advance. According to Darwin's evolutionary theory, they say that we have begun our life from the most insignificant stone or something like that. What is the beginning of Darwin, hmm? Devotees: Amoeba. Prabhupāda: Amoeba. And here it is said that they are thinking advanced, and here they say this Kali-yuga, they are qualified with this nonsense.