Devanagari
विष्णुर्द्विजक्रियामूलो यज्ञो धर्ममय: पुमान् ।
देवर्षिपितृभूतानां धर्मस्य च परायणम् ॥ ११ ॥
Verse text
viṣṇur dvija-kriyā-mūlo
yajṣo dharmamayaḥ pumān
devarṣi-pitṛ-bhūtānāṁ
dharmasya ca parāyaṇam
Synonyms
viṣṇuḥ
—
Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
;
dvija
—
of the brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas
;
kriyā
—
mūlaḥ — whose root is the performance of yajṣa and the ritualistic ceremonies mentioned in the Vedas
;
yajṣaḥ
—
personified yajṣa (Lord Viṣṇu, who is known as the yajṣa-puruṣa )
;
dharma
—
mayaḥ — full of religious principles
;
pumān
—
the Supreme Person
;
deva
—
ṛṣi — of the demigods and great ṛṣis like Vyāsadeva and Nārada
;
pitṛ
—
of the forefathers
;
bhūtānām
—
and of all other living entities
;
dharmasya
—
of the religious principles
;
ca
—
also
;
parāyaṇam
—
the shelter .
Translation
The basic principle of brahminical culture is to satisfy Lord Viṣṇu, the personification of sacrificial and ritualistic ceremonies. Lord Viṣṇu is the personified reservoir of all religious principles, and He is the shelter of all the demigods, the great pitās, and the people in general. When the brāhmaṇas are killed, no one will exist to encourage the kṣatriyas to perform yajṣas, and thus the demigods, not being appeased by yajṣa, will automatically die.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Viṣṇu has his roots in the activities of the brāhmaṇas. He is sacrifice, the embodiment of dharma, the shelter of dharma, and the shelter of the devatās, sages, Pitṛs and all beings.
When the brāhmaṇas are destroyed, Viṣṇu himself will be destroyed. When the brāhmaṇas are destroyed, their actions will stop. Thus the root of Viṣṇu will be destroyed. With destruction of sacrifice and dharma, Viṣṇu’s form will be destroyed. He is the supreme shelter of the devatās and sages. With the destruction of the devatās, he will die, out of lamentation.
Purport
Since Viṣṇu is the central point of brahminical culture, Hiraṇyakaśipu’s plan was to kill Viṣṇu, for if Viṣṇu were killed, naturally the brahminical culture would also be lost. With brahminical culture lost,
yajṣa
would no longer be performed, and for want of
yajṣa
the regular distribution of rainfall would cease (
yajṣād bhavati parjanyaḥ
). Thus there would be disturbances all over the world, and naturally the demigods would be defeated. From this verse we get a clear indication of how human society is disturbed when the Vedic Āryan civilization is killed and the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies performed by the
brāhmaṇas
are stopped.
Kalau śūdra-sambhavaḥ:
because the population of the modern world consists mostly of
śūdras,
the brahminical culture is now lost and is extremely difficult to reestablish in a proper way. Therefore Lord Caitanya has recommended the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, which will revive brahminical culture very easily.
harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā
Because of the increment in demoniac population, people have lost brahminical culture. Nor is there a
kṣatriya
government. Instead, the government is a democracy in which any
śūdra
can be voted into taking up the governmental reigns and capture the power to rule. Because of the poisonous effects of Kali-yuga, the
śāstra
(
Bhāg.
12.2.13) says,
dasyu-prāyeṣu rājasu:
the government will adopt the policies of
dasyus,
or plunderers. Thus there will be no instructions from the
brāhmaṇas,
and even if there are brahminical instructions, there will be no
kṣatriya
rulers who can follow them. Aside from Satya-yuga, even formerly, in the days when demons were flourishing, Hiraṇyakaśipu planned to destroy the brahminical culture and the
kṣatriya
government and thus create chaos all over the world. Although in Satya-yuga this plan was very difficult to execute, in Kali-yuga, which is full of
śūdras
and demons, the brahminical culture is lost and can be revived only by the chanting of the
mahā-mantra.
Therefore the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, or the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement, has been inaugurated to revive brahminical culture very easily so that people may become happy and peaceful in this life and prepare for elevation in the next. In this regard, Śrīla Madhvācārya quotes this verse from the
Brahmāṇḍa Purāṇa:
vipra-yajṣādi-mūlaṁ tu
harir ity āsuraṁ matam
harir eva hi sarvasya
mūlaṁ samyaṅ mato nṛpa
“O King, the demons think that Hari, Lord Viṣṇu, exists because of the
brāhmaṇas
and
yajṣa,
but factually Hari is the cause of everything including the
brāhmaṇas
and
yajṣa.
” Therefore, through the popularizing of
hari-kīrtana,
or the
saṅkīrtana
movement, the brahminical culture and
kṣatriya
government will automatically come back, and people will be extremely happy.