Thus the night of the Rash-Dance not only absorbed one Kalpa equal to 4,320,000,000 lunar years out of the duration of creation, but also 36,000 years which form the junction of Dwāpar and Kali, as also about half the span of the Kali proper. About this last there is no authoritative statement in the Shāstras, but it has been stated therein that when Krishna left the earth and went up to His Abode, the forces of "advanced Kali" overtook humanity. Now, according to the Hindoo almanacs, about 5,000 years only have passed since Krishna's departure, which would mean that it is now but the beginning of Kali proper, the span of which is 360,000 years. But the signs and symptoms of the times already visible are unmistakably of the middle Kali, detailed descriptive features of which are to be found in the Mahābhārata as also in all the Purānas. This being so, it is not a wrong supposition that we are already in the middle Kali and that Krishna-Leelā has also taken away half the age of Kali proper. Nor is it necessary that the Kali has to pass through the conventional figures of its duration given in the Shāstras. What is true of individual humanity is true also of the whole mass of humanity which represents Kali. Kali is nothing else but the forms of Nature's changes of the latter end of a Divine cycle. We, men and beasts and trees and grass, productions of Nature, represent the phases and features of Kali. Dense Tama working within Nature brings out the characteristics of this dark age to the surface of the earth. Man being the most highly organized product and the most powerful medium of her attributes, the thoughts and actions of men are most affected by it. The dark thoughts and actions, called sin in common parlance of humanity, form the sins of Kali which represents the spirit of human conduct and characteristics in the Dark Age. We see that people, who are naturally healthy and robust, shorten their longevity by over-indulging in vice. Thus a life of vice or sin, that is, life lived in violation of Nature's laws, begets diseases of the body which bring about early destruction. A man for instance, who, according to his natural state of health, ought to live for one hundred years, is often found to die at the age of thirty, a victim of dissipated life. This rule applies to Kali. All our accumulated sins form Kali's sins. And these accumulated sins are begetting diseases in the body and mind of humanity from which Kali must die an early death.