174 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 8, Ch. 14

catuh-yuga-ante—at the end of every four yugas (Satya, Dvapara,
Treta and Kali); kalena—in due course of time; grastan—lost; Sruti-
gandn—the Vedic instruction; yatha—as; tapasé—by austerity;
rsayah—great saintly persons; apasyan—by seeing misuse; yatah—
wherefrom; dharmah—occupational duties; sandtanah—eternal.

TRANSLATION

At the end of every four yugas, the great saintly persons, upon
seeing that the eternal occupational duties of mankind have been
misused, reestablish the principles of religion.

PURPORT

In this verse, the words dharmah and sandtanah are very important.
Sandatana means “‘eternal,”” and dharma means “occupational duties.”
From Satya-yuga to Kali-yuga, the principles of religion and occupational
duty gradually deteriorate. In Satya-yuga, the religious principles are ob-
served in full, without deviation. In Tretdé-yuga, however, these prin-
ciples are somewhat neglected, and only three fourths of the religious
duties continue. In Dvapara-yuga only half of the religious principles
continue, and in Kali-yuga only one fourth of the religious principles,
which gradually disappear. At the end of Kali-yuga, the principles of
religion, or the occupational duties of humanity, are almost lost. Indeed,
in this Kali-yuga we have passed through only five thousand years, yet
the decline of sandtana-dharma is very prominent. The duty of saintly
persons, therefore, is to take up seriously the cause of sandtana-dharma
and try to reestablish it for the benefit of the entire human society. The
Krsna consciousness movement has been started according to this prin-
ciple. As stated in Srimad-Bhaégavatam (12.3.51):

kaler dosa-nidhe rajann
asti hy eko mahan gunah
kirtanad eva krsnasya
mukta-sangah param vrajet

The entire Kali-yuga is full of faults. It is like an unlimited ocean of
faults. But the Krsna consciousness movement is very authorized.
