Devanagari
धर्मस्य ते भगवतस्त्रियुग त्रिभि: स्वै:
पद्भिश्चराचरमिदं द्विजदेवतार्थम् ।
नूनं भृतं तदभिघाति रजस्तमश्च
सत्त्वेन नो वरदया तनुवा निरस्य ॥ २२ ॥
Verse text
dharmasya te bhagavatas tri-yuga tribhiḥ svaiḥ
padbhiś carācaram idaṁ dvija-devatārtham
nūnaṁ bhṛtaṁ tad-abhighāti rajas tamaś ca
sattvena no varadayā tanuvā nirasya
Synonyms
dharmasya
—
of the personification of all religion
;
te
—
of You
;
bhagavataḥ
—
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
tri
—
yuga — You who are manifest in all three millenniums
;
tribhiḥ
—
by three
;
svaiḥ
—
Your own
;
padbhiḥ
—
feet
;
cara
—
acaram — animate and inanimate
;
idam
—
this universe
;
dvija
—
the twice-born
;
devatā
—
the demigods
;
artham
—
for the sake of
;
nūnam
—
however
;
bhṛtam
—
protected
;
tat
—
those feet
;
abhighāti
—
destroying
;
rajaḥ
—
the mode of passion
;
tamaḥ
—
the mode of ignorance
;
ca
—
and
;
sattvena
—
of pure goodness
;
naḥ
—
unto us
;
vara
—
dayā — bestowing all blessings
;
tanuvā
—
by Your transcendental form
;
nirasya
—
driving away .
Translation
O Lord, You are the personification of all religion. Therefore You manifest Yourself in three millenniums, and thus You protect this universe, which consists of animate and inanimate beings. By Your grace, which is of pure goodness and is the bestower of all blessings, kindly drive away the elements of rajas and tamas for the sake of the demigods and twice-born.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
O Lord, appearing in three yugas! Destroying rajas and tamas which obstruct dharma by sattva, using your body which bestows blessing upon us, as the personification of dharma you protect the universe of moving and nonmoving beings with your extraordinary qualities of austerity, cleanliness and mercy in order to benefit brāhmaṇas and devatās.
We, the brāhmaṇas, have never suffered contempt from you before this time. Because you appear clearly in three yugas you are called tri-yuga. Or tri-yuga can mean three pairs (yuga), Bhagavān possessing six qualities. The universe is protected by the three extraordinary (svaih) qualities of austerity, cleanliness and mercy. Three qualities are mentioned because truth continues in Kali-yuga in spite of the destruction of dharma.
You protect the universe for the devatās and brahmaṇas. By your body which gives blessing to us, you destroy rajas and tajas which obstruct the qualities of austerity, cleanliness and mercy by sattva-guṇa.
Purport
The Lord is addressed in this verse as
tri-yuga,
or one who appears in three millenniums, namely the Satya, Dvāpara and Tretā
yugas.
He is not mentioned as appearing in the fourth millennium, or Kali-yuga. It is described in Vedic literature that in Kali-yuga He comes as
channa-avatāra,
or an incarnation, but He does not appear as a manifest incarnation. In the other
yugas,
however, the Lord is a manifest incarnation, and therefore he is addressed as
tri-yuga,
or the Lord who appears in three
yugas.
Śrīdhara Svāmī describes
tri-yuga
as follows:
yuga
means “couple,” and
tri
means “three.” The Lord is manifested as three couples by His six opulences, or three couples of opulences. In that way He can be addressed as
tri-yuga.
The Lord is the personality of religious principles. In three millenniums religious principles are protected by three kinds of spiritual culture, namely austerity, cleanliness and mercy. The Lord is called
tri-yuga
in that way also. In the Age of Kali these three requisites to spiritual culture are almost absent, but the Lord is so kind that in spite of Kali-yuga’s being devoid of these three spiritual qualities, He comes and protects the people of this age in His covered incarnation as Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya is called “covered” because although He is Kṛṣṇa Himself, He presents Himself as a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, not directly Kṛṣṇa. The devotees pray to Lord Caitanya, therefore, to eliminate their stock of passion and ignorance, the most conspicuous assets of this
yuga.
In the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement one cleanses himself of the modes of passion and ignorance by chanting the holy name of the Lord — Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa — as introduced by Lord Caitanya.
The four Kumāras were cognizant of their situation in the modes of passion and ignorance because, although in Vaikuṇṭha, they wanted to curse devotees of the Lord. Since they were conscious of their own weakness, they prayed to the Lord to remove their still-existing passion and ignorance. The three transcendental qualifications — cleanliness, austerity and mercy — are the qualifications of the twice-born and the demigods. Those who are not situated in the quality of goodness cannot accept these three principles of spiritual culture. For the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, therefore, there are three sinful activities which are prohibited: illicit sex, intoxication, and eating anything other than
prasāda,
food offered to Kṛṣṇa. These three prohibitions are based on the principles of austerity, cleanliness and mercy. Devotees are merciful because they spare the poor animals, and they are clean because they are free of contamination from unwanted foodstuff and unwanted habits. Austerity is represented by restricted sex life. These principles, indicated by the prayers of the four Kumāras, should be followed by the devotees who are engaged in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.