Shloka 27
दुर्वासाशापः, क्षीरसागरमन्थनम्, श्रीः (लक्ष्मी) उद्भवः तथा श्रीस्तुतिः
न यज्ञाः संप्रवर्तन्ते न तपस्यन्ति तापसाः न च दानादिधर्मेषु मनश् चक्रे तदा जनः
na yajñāḥ saṃpravartante na tapasyanti tāpasāḥ na ca dānādidharmeṣu manaś cakre tadā janaḥ
Then the sacrificial rites no longer went forward; the ascetics ceased their austerities; and people’s minds no longer turned toward dharma—toward giving and the other sacred duties.
Sage Parāśara (teaching Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Teaching: Ethical
Quality: authoritative
Concept: The collapse of yajña, tapas, and dāna marks a civilizational unraveling in which inner discipline and social virtue no longer orient the mind.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: Sustain daily ‘yajña’ through service, gratitude, and regular worship; keep tapas as self-restraint; practice dāna to counter social hardening.
Vishishtadvaita: Dharma is a mode of pleasing Nārāyaṇa; when it fades, the mind loses its natural orientation toward the Lord and His order.
FAQs
They are core supports of dharma—ritual obligation (yajña), inner discipline (tapas), and social-ethical duty (dāna); their collapse signals a yuga-level breakdown of universal order.
He frames it as a turning away of human intention: even ascetics stop austerity and society’s mind no longer inclines to charity and righteous duties, so dharma loses its living practice.
As dharma diminishes in Kali, the Purana’s Vaishnava thrust implies stability is ultimately grounded in Vishnu, the sustainer of cosmic order, to whom devotion becomes a primary refuge when outer disciplines fail.