858
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 1, Ch. 16]
grieving for living beings because of their sufferings due to famine and drought?
PURPORT
With the progress of the age of Kali, four things particularly, namely, the duration of life, mercy, the power of recollection, and moral or religious principles, will gradually diminish. Since Dharma, or the principles of religion, would be lost in the proportion of three out of four, the symbolic bull was standing on one leg only. When three fourths of the population of the whole world become irreligious, the situation is converted into hell for the animals. In the age of Kali, godless civilizations will create so many so-called religious societies in which the Personality of Godhead will be directly or indirectly defied. And thus faithless societies of man will make the world uninhabitable for the saner section of people. There are gradations of human beings in terms of proportionate faith in the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The first-class faithful men are the Vaiṣṇavas and the  brāhmaṇas , then the  kṣatriyas , then the  vaiśyas , then the  śūdras , then the  mlecchas , the Yavanas and at last the  caṇḍālas . The degradation of the human instinct begins from the  mlecchas , and the  caṇḍāla  state of life is the last word in human degradation. All the above terms mentioned in the Vedic literatures are never meant for any particular community or birth. They are different qualifications of human beings in general. There is no question of birthright or community. One can acquire the respective qualifications by one's own efforts, and thus the son of a Vaiṣṇava can become a  mleccha , or the son of a  caṇḍāla  can become more than a  brāhmaṇa , all in terms of their association and intimate relation with the Supreme Lord.
The meat-eaters are generally called  mlecchas . But all meat-eaters are not  mlecchas . Those who accept meat in terms of scriptural injunctions are not  mlecchas , but those who accept meat without restriction are called  mlecchas . Beef is forbidden in the scriptures, and the bulls and cows are offered special protection by followers of the  Vedas . But in this age of Kali, people will exploit the body of the bull and the cow as they like, and thus they will invite sufferings of various types.
The people of this age will not perform any sacrifice. The  mleccha  population will care very little for performances of sacrifices, although performance of sacrifice is essential for persons who are materially engaged in sense enjoyment. In the  Bhagavad-gītā  performance of sacrifices is strongly recommended (Bg. 3.14-16).