When the knowledge of yoga becomes distorted or is lost, say the Vedas, the branches of life become brittle and wither and die. Such times of spiritual drought, when humanity is cut off from the source of life, from the Divine, and from itself, are when the Goddess of destruction walks the earth, when ignorance and suffering prevail. Such are the times of Kali Yuga.
....The Puranas, India’s oldest sources of mythological lore, describes Kali Yuga as the time of blackness. In the Vishnu Purana, Kali Yuga is described in more detail. It says: ‘Society reaches a stage where property confers rank, wealth becomes the only source of virtue, passion the sole bond between husband and wife, falsehood the source of success in life, sex the only means of enjoyment and outer trappings are mistaken for religion.’