Shloka 38
Bhagavān’s Avatāras, Their Protections (Poṣaṇa), and the Limits of Knowing Him
यर्ह्यालयेष्वपि सतां न हरे: कथा: स्यु: पाषण्डिनो द्विजजना वृषला नृदेवा: । स्वाहा स्वधा वषडिति स्म गिरो न यत्र शास्ता भविष्यति कलेर्भगवान् युगान्ते ॥ ३८ ॥
yarhy ālayeṣv api satāṁ na hareḥ kathāḥ syuḥ pāṣaṇḍino dvija-janā vṛṣalā nṛdevāḥ svāhā svadhā vaṣaḍ iti sma giro na yatra śāstā bhaviṣyati kaler bhagavān yugānte
Apabila bahkan di rumah orang yang kononnya suci pun tiada lagi Hari-kathā, para dvija menjadi pāṣaṇḍa, para pemerintah (nṛdeva) berperangai hina, dan kata-kata yajña seperti “svāhā, svadhā, vaṣaṭ” pun tidak dikenal—maka pada akhir Kali-yuga Bhagavān akan muncul sebagai Penghukum Tertinggi.
The symptoms of the worst conditions of the material world, at the last stage of this age, called Kali-yuga, are stated herein. The sum and substance of such conditions is godlessness. Even the so-called saints and higher castes of the social orders, generally known as the dvija-janas or the twice-born, will become atheists. As such, all of them will practically forget even the holy name of the Lord, and what to speak of His activities. The higher castes of society, namely the intelligent class of men guiding the destinies of the social orders, the administrative class of men guiding the law and order of the society, and the productive class of men guiding the economic development of the society, must all be properly well versed in knowledge of the Supreme Lord, knowing factually His name, quality, pastimes, entourage, paraphernalia and personalities. The saints and the higher castes or orders of the society are judged by their proportion of knowledge in the science of God, or tattva-jñāna, and not by any kind of birthright or bodily designations. Such designations, without any knowledge of the science of God and practical knowledge of devotional service, are considered to be all decorations of dead bodies. And when there is too much inflation of these decorated dead bodies in society, there develop so many anomalies in the progressive, peaceful life of the human being. Because of the lack of training or culture in the upper section of the social orders, they are no more to be designated as the dvija-janas, or the twice-born. The significance of being twice-born has been explained in many places in these great literatures, and again one is reminded herewith that birth, executed by the sex life of the father and the mother, is called animal birth. But such animal birth and progress of life on the animal principles of eating, sleeping, fearing and mating (without any scientific culture of spiritual life) is called the śūdra life or, to be more explicit, the uncultured life of the lower class of men. It is stated herein that the governmental power of society in the Kali-yuga will be passed over to the uncultured, godless laborer classes of men, and thus the nṛdevas (or the ministers of the government) will be the vṛṣalas, or the uncultured, lower-class men of society. No one can expect any peace and prosperity in a human society full of uncultured, lower classes of men. The symptoms of such uncultured social animals are already in vogue, and it is the duty of the leaders of men to take note of it and try to reform the social order by introducing the principles of twice-born men trained in the science of God consciousness. This can be done by expanding the culture of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam all over the world. In the degraded condition of human society, the Lord incarnates as the Kalki avatāra and kills all the demonic without mercy.
FAQs
This verse describes Kali-yuga decline as the disappearance of Hari-kathā even among the pious, corruption of the twice-born into pāṣaṇḍīs, degradation of rulers, and the fading of Vedic sacrificial recitations like “svāhā,” “svadhā,” and “vaṣaṭ.”
In Canto 2, Shukadeva outlines the Lord’s avatāra functions and the trajectory of the ages, helping Parikshit understand how dharma declines and how the Supreme Lord ultimately intervenes as the chastiser at Kali’s end.
The verse implies that keeping Hari-kathā alive—regular hearing, chanting, and discussing the Lord—protects one from Kali-yuga’s drift into irreligion and meaninglessness.