Devanagari
मूलं हि विष्णुर्देवानां यत्र धर्म: सनातन: ।
तस्य च ब्रह्म गोविप्रास्तपो यज्ञा: सदक्षिणा: ॥ ३९ ॥
Verse text
mūlaṁ hi viṣṇur devānāṁ
yatra dharmaḥ sanātanaḥ
tasya ca brahma-go-viprās
tapo yajṣāḥ sa-dakṣiṇāḥ
Synonyms
mūlam
—
the foundation
;
hi
—
indeed
;
viṣṇuḥ
—
is Lord Viṣṇu
;
devānām
—
of the demigods
;
yatra
—
wherein
;
dharmaḥ
—
religious principles
;
sanātanaḥ
—
traditional or eternal
;
tasya
—
of this (foundation)
;
ca
—
also
;
brahma
—
brahminical civilization
;
go
—
cow protection
;
viprāḥ
—
brāhmaṇas
;
tapaḥ
—
austerity
;
yajṣāḥ
—
performing sacrifices
;
sa
—
dakṣiṇāḥ — with proper remuneration .
Translation
The foundation of all the demigods is Lord Viṣṇu, who lives and is worshiped wherever there are religious principles, traditional culture, the Vedas, cows, brāhmaṇas, austerities, and sacrifices with proper remuneration.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The foundation of all the demigods is Lord Viṣṇu, who lives and is worshiped wherever there are religious principles, traditional culture, the Vedas, cows, brāhmaṇas, austerities, and sacrifices with proper remuneration.
KB 10.4.39
“The foundation of the strength of the demigods is Lord Viṣṇu, because the ultimate goal of all religious principles is to satisfy Him. The Vedic injunctions, the brāhmaṇas, the cows, austerities, sacrifices, performances of charity and distribution of wealth are all for the satisfaction of Lord Viṣṇu.
Purport
Here is a description of
sanātana-dharma,
eternal religious principles, which must include brahminical culture,
brāhmaṇas,
sacrifices and religion. These principles establish the kingdom of Viṣṇu. Without the kingdom of Viṣṇu, the kingdom of God, no one can be happy.
Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum:
in this demoniac civilization, people unfortunately do not understand that the self-interest of human society lies in Viṣṇu.
Durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ:
thus they are involved in a hopeless hope. People want to be happy without God consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, because they are led by blind leaders who lead human society to chaos. The asuric adherents of Kaṁsa wanted to disrupt the traditional condition of human happiness and thus defeat the
devatās,
the devotees and demigods. Unless the devotees and demigods predominate, the
asuras
will increase, and human society will be in a chaotic condition.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
That which give life is the root. The root of the devas is Visnu. And the root of Visnu is dharma. The root of dharma is the Vedas.
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
In four verses they speak of the means of killing Viṣṇu, the root, who is hidden. Pointing out Viṣṇu’ṣ followers through the words of the sages who know the secret of Viṣṇu, they decide how to destroy Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu is well known (hi) in the Vedas to be the root of the devatās. He resides where there is eternally perfect dharma as recommended in the Vedas, not false dharma. Dharma means “acts giving benefit in future lives.” Austerity means “acting according to dharma, following daily and periodic duties.” Sacrifice means “acts for fulfilling material desires.” Remuneration is the root of dharma, accompanying the sacrifice to make it successful.