Devanagari
विप्रा गावश्च वेदाश्च तप: सत्यं दम: शम: ।
श्रद्धा दया तितिक्षा च क्रतवश्च हरेस्तनू: ॥ ४१ ॥
Verse text
viprā gāvaś ca vedāś ca
tapaḥ satyaṁ damaḥ śamaḥ
śraddhā dayā titikṣā ca
kratavaś ca hares tanūḥ
Synonyms
viprāḥ
—
the brāhmaṇas
;
gāvaḥ ca
—
and the cows
;
vedāḥ ca
—
and the Vedic knowledge
;
tapaḥ
—
austerity
;
satyam
—
truthfulness
;
damaḥ
—
control of the senses
;
śamaḥ
—
control of the mind
;
śraddhā
—
faith
;
dayā
—
mercy
;
titikṣā
—
tolerance
;
ca
—
also
;
kratavaḥ ca
—
as well as sacrifices
;
hareḥ tanūḥ
—
are the different parts of the body of Lord Viṣṇu .
Translation
The brāhmaṇas, the cows, Vedic knowledge, austerity, truthfulness, control of the mind and senses, faith, mercy, tolerance and sacrifice are the different parts of the body of Lord Viṣṇu, and they are the paraphernalia for a godly civilization.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
The brāhmaṇas, the cows, Vedic knowledge, austerity, truthfulness, control of the mind and senses, faith, mercy, tolerance and sacrifice are the different parts of the body of Lord Viṣṇu, and they are the paraphernalia for a godly civilization.
KB 10.4.41
“Actually the limbs of the transcendental body of Lord Viṣṇu are the brāhmaṇas, the cows, Vedic knowledge, austerity, truthfulness, sense and mind control, faithfulness, charity, tolerance and performance of sacrifices.
Purport
When we offer our obeisances to the Personality of Godhead, we say:
namo brahmaṇya-devāya
go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca
jagad-dhitāya kṛṣṇāya
govindāya namo namaḥ
When Kṛṣṇa comes to establish real perfection in the social order, He personally gives protection to the cows and the
brāhmaṇas
(
go-brāhmaṇa-hitāya ca
). This is His first interest because without protection of the
brāhmaṇas
and the cows, there can be no human civilization and no question of happy, peaceful life.
Asuras,
therefore, are always interested in killing the
brāhmaṇas
and cows. Especially in this age, Kali-yuga, cows are being killed all over the world, and as soon as there is a movement to establish brahminical civilization, people in general rebel. Thus they regard the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement as a form of “brainwashing.” How can such envious persons be happy in their godless civilization? The Supreme Personality of Godhead punishes them by keeping them in darkness, birth after birth, and pushing them lower and lower into wretched conditions of hellish life. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement has started a brahminical civilization, but especially when it is introduced in the Western countries, the
asuras
try to impede it in many ways. Nonetheless, we must push forward this movement tolerantly for the benefit of human society.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
"We can kill Visnu by killing the brahmana, because the rsis are the root of Visnu who is the root of all things."
Purport (Jiva Goswami)
Not only are they the followers of Viṣṇu they are integral parts of his body. Again they quote scriptures. Austerity means “acting according to one’s dharma.” Truth means “speaking the facts.” This is part of normal dharma. Control of senses and mind, faith, tolerance and mercy are part of the renunciate’s dharma (nivṛtti). Sacrifice is part of dharma for material enjoyment (pravṛtti). By mentioning these items in addition to the previously mentioned items they indicate that they will also kill the sages. Together they constitute the body of the Lord. Thus the singular is used to emphasize the oneness. Sometimes tanuḥ is also seen.