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81. In the Krita age
Dharma is four-footed and entire, and (so is) Truth; nor does any gain
accrue to men by unrighteousness.
82. In the other
(three ages), by reason of (unjust) gains (agama), Dharma is deprived
successively of one foot, and through (the prevalence of) theft,
falsehood, and fraud the merit (gained by men) is diminished by one
fourth (in each).
83. (Men are) free
from disease, accomplish all their aims, and live four hundred years
in the Krita age, but in the Treta and (in each of) the succeeding
(ages) their life is lessened by one quarter.
84. The life of
mortals, mentioned in the Veda, the desired results of sacrificial
rites and the (supernatural) power of embodied (spirits) are fruits
proportioned among men according to (the character of) the age.
85. One set of duties
(is prescribed) for men in the Krita age, different ones in the Treta
and in the Dvapara, and (again) another (set) in the Kali, in a
proportion as (those) ages decrease in length.
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