Srimad Bhagavatam — Tritiya Skandha, Shloka 35
Brahmā’s Creation: The Kumāras, Rudra, the Prajāpatis, and the Manifestation of Vedic Sound
चातुर्होत्रं कर्मतन्त्रमुपवेदनयै: सह । धर्मस्य पादाश्चत्वारस्तथैवाश्रमवृत्तय: ॥ ३५ ॥
cātur-hotraṁ karma-tantram upaveda-nayaiḥ saha dharmasya pādāś catvāras tathaivāśrama-vṛttayaḥ
Вместе с Упаведами явился строй огненного жертвоприношения — чатурхотра: хота (певец-гимнотворец), адхварью (совершающий подношение), священный огонь и само действие жертвы. Также проявились четыре опоры дхармы — истина, аскеза, милосердие и чистота — и обязанности четырёх ашрамов.
Eating, sleeping, defending and mating are the four principles of material bodily demands which are common to both the animals and human society. To distinguish human society from the animals there is the performance of religious activities in terms of the social statuses and orders of life. They are all clearly mentioned in the Vedic literatures and were manifested by Brahmā when the four Vedas were generated from his four mouths. Thus the duties of humankind in terms of the statuses and social orders were established to be observed by the civilized man. Those who traditionally follow these principles are called Āryans, or progressive human beings.
FAQs
This verse states that dharma stands on four “legs” (pillars) that are established by the Lord’s arrangement in creation, alongside Vedic systems like sacrifice and āśrama duties.
It refers to the standard Vedic sacrificial system performed through four principal priestly functions, forming an organized “karma-tantra” (ritual framework) for sacred rites.
By adopting disciplined, stage-appropriate duties—student-like learning and restraint, responsible household life, gradual detachment, and inner renunciation—while keeping dharma and devotion central.