We live now the golden age within the kali yuga and still we see kali is expanding everywhere. Is this contradiction reconcilable by the fact that all yugas have sandhyas and so this golden period too? That would be 1000+8000+1000 years.

Answer by HH Bhakti Vikāsa Swami:

Are we in the sandhyā of Kali-yuga? I don’t think so. The sandhyā between Dvāpara-yuga and Kali-yuga is already over. About the Golden Age… Well, if anyone in Kali yuga chants Hare Kṛṣṇa, that’s golden, isn’t it? In this dark age of Kali if there is any Kṛṣṇa consciousness, that’s very good. So, are we in the Golden Age? Yeah, maybe it’s the sandhyā of the Golden Age – that it is just beginning and coming in. We don’t see any sign at the present time of mass worldwide Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu did say that His name would be preached in every town and village of the world, and Śrīla Prabhupāda had faith in that and he managed to effect a miracle by bringing Kṛṣṇa consciousness around the world. And, it’s really up to us – his followers in the subsequent generations – whether we continue to develop and expand what he gave us, or not. If we don’t do our work of preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness strictly according to guru, sādhu and śāstra and vigorously promoting the vāstava satya, the actual truth, on the basis of śāstra, then Kali will continue to prevail. Kali can be pushed back by this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement.

kali-kāle nāma-rūpe kṛṣṇa-avatāra
nāma haite haya sarva-jagat-nistāra

Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī says that Kṛṣṇa’s avatāra in Kali-yuga is the holy name of Kṛṣṇa and by the holy name of Kṛṣṇa the whole universe can be delivered. But it’s not automatic. Kṛṣṇa leaves the service of preaching His holy names to His devotees to do that. So, like Arjuna, we can be instrumental in that or we cannot. So, to a large extent it’s up to us. Śrīla Prabhupāda said that this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement would go on if we strictly follow the regulative principles, if we strictly follow his instructions. So, there’s a proviso or condition in that, that if we don’t, then it won’t go on properly. So, like I say, it’s up to us also.