Devanagari
त्रेतामुखे महाभाग प्राणान्मे हृदयात्त्रयी ।
विद्या प्रादुरभूत्तस्या अहमासं त्रिवृन्मख: ॥ १२ ॥
Verse text
tretā-mukhe mahā-bhāga
prāṇān me hṛdayāt trayī
vidyā prādurabhūt tasyā
aham āsaṁ tri-vṛn makhaḥ
Synonyms
tretā
—
mukhe — at the beginning of Tretā-yuga
;
mahā
—
bhāga — O greatly fortunate one
;
prāṇāt
—
from the abode of prāṇa, or the life air
;
me
—
My
;
hṛdayāt
—
from the heart
;
trayī
—
the threefold
;
vidyā
—
Vedic knowledge
;
prādurabhūt
—
appeared
;
tasyāḥ
—
from that knowledge
;
aham
—
I
;
āsam
—
appeared
;
tri
—
vṛt — in three divisions
;
makhaḥ
—
sacrifice .
Translation
O greatly fortunate one, at the beginning of Tretā-yuga Vedic knowledge appeared from My heart, which is the abode of the air of life, in three divisions — as Ṛg, Sāma and Yajur. Then from that knowledge I appeared as threefold sacrifice.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O greatly fortunate Uddhava! In the beginning of Tretā-yuga, Vedic knowledge appeared from my heart, via the prāṇa, in three divisions—as Ṛg, Sāma and Yajur. Then, from that knowledge I appeared as threefold sacrifice.
In the universal form, from the prāṇa, coming from the heart, arose the three Vedas. From the three Vedas arose the three aspects of sacrifice in relation to the hotā, adhvaryu and udgatā priests.
Purport
In Tretā-yuga, the bull of religion loses one leg, and only seventy-five percent of religious principles are manifested, represented by the three principal
Vedas — Ṛg, Sāma
and
Yajur.
The Lord appears in the process of threefold Vedic sacrifice. The three divisions are understood as follows. The
hotā
priest offers oblations into the fire and chants the
Ṛg Veda;
the
udgātā
priest chants the
Sāma Veda;
and the
adhvaryu
priest, who arranges the sacrificial ground, altar, etc., chants the
Yajur Veda.
In Tretā-yuga such sacrifice is the authorized process for spiritual perfection. The word
prāṇāt
in this verse refers to the universal form of the Personality of Godhead. This form is further described in the following verses.