The Vedas predicted the bad and the good sides to this present age that we live in. Having passed through 5,000 years of Kali Yuga, there is a balance of 427,000 years.
Religion, truthfulness, cleanliness, tolerance, mercy, duration of life, physical strength and memory will all diminish day by day because of the powerful influence of the age of Kali.
In Kali-yuga, wealth alone will be considered the sign of a man's good birth, behavior and fine qualities. Law and justice will be applied only on the basis of one's power.
Men and woman will live together merely because of superficial attraction, and success in business will depend on deceit. Womanliness and manliness will be judged according to one's expertise in sex, and a man will be known as a brahmana just by his wearing a thread.
People will become short-sighted, gluttonous and poverty-stricken. The women, becoming unchaste, will freely wander from one man to the next.
A person's spiritual position will be ascertained merely according to external symbols and on that same basis people will change from one spiritual order to the next. A person's propriety will be seriously questioned if he does not earn a good living. And one who is very clever at juggling words will be considered a learned scholar.
A sacred place will be taken to consist of no more than a reservoir of water located at a distance, and beauty will be thought to depend on one's hairstyle.
A person will be judged unholy if he does not have money and hypocrisy will be accepted as virtue. Marriage will be arranged simply by verbal agreement, and a person will think that he is fit to appear in public if he has merely taken a bath.
Filling the belly will become the goal of life, one who is audacious will be accepted as truthful and the principles of religion will be observed only for the sake of reputation.
The brahmacaris will fail to execute their vows and will generally become unclean, householders will become beggars, the vanaprasthas will live in the villages, and the sannyasis will become greedy for wealth.
As the earth thus becomes crowded with a corrupt population, whoever among any of the social classes shows himself to be the strongest will gain political power.
Losing their wives and properties to such avaricious and merciless rulers, who will behave no better than ordinary thieves, the citizens will flee to the mountains and forests.
Harassed by famine and excessive taxes, people will resort to eating leaves, roots, flesh, wild honey, fruits, flowers and seeds. Struck by drought, they will become completely ruined.
The citizens will suffer greatly from cold, wind, heat, rain and snow. They will be further tormented by quarrels, hunger, thirst, disease and severe anxiety. The maximum duration of life for human beings in Kali-yuga will become fifty years.
By the time the age of Kali ends the bodies of all creatures will be greatly reduced in size. The kings will mostly be thieves, the occupations of men will be stealing, lying and needless violence, and family ties will extend no further than the immediate bonds of marriage. Clouds will be full of lightning, homes will be devoid of piety and all human beings will have become like asses.
Positive side of this age:
12.3.51
kaler dosa-nidhe rajan asti hy eko mahan gunah
kirtanad eva krsnasya mukta-sangah param vrajet
Although Kali-yuga is an ocean of faults, there is still one good quality about this age: Simply by chanting the Hare Krsna mantra, one can become free from material bondage and be promoted to the transcendental kingdom.
12.3.52
krte yad dhyayato visnum tretayam yajato makhaih
dvapare paricaryayam kalau tad dhari-kirtanat
Whatever result was obtained in Satya yuga by meditation on Vishnu, in Treta yuga by performing sacrifices and in Dvapara yuga by serving the Lord's lotus feet can be obtained in Kali yuga simply by chanting the Hare Krsna mantra.
CC Adi 17.22
kali-kale nama-rupe krsna-avatara
nama haite haya sarva-jagat-nistara
In this Age of Kali, the holy name of the Lord, the Hare Krsna maha-mantra, is the incarnation of Lord Krsna. Simply by chanting the holy name, one associates with the Lord directly. Anyone who does this is certainly delivered.