Text 39
mūlaṁ hi viṣṇur devānāṁ
yatra dharmaḥ sanātanaḥ
tasya ca brahma-go-viprās
tapo yajñāḥ sa-dakṣiṇāḥ
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; yajñāḥ — performing sacrifices; sa-dakṣiṇāḥ — with proper remuneration.
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.
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.