चक्रं दक्षिणहस्तेऽस्य पद्मकोशोऽस्य पादयोः ।
ईजे महाभिषेकेण सोऽभिषिक्तोऽधिराड् विभुः ॥२४॥
पञ्चपञ्चाशता मेध्यैर्गङ्गायामनु वाजिभिः ।
मामतेयं पुरोधाय यमुनामनु च प्रभुः ॥२५॥
अष्टसप्ततिमेध्याश्वान् बबन्ध प्रददद् वसु ।
भरतस्य हि दौष्मन्तेरग्निः साचीगुणे चितः ।
सहस्रं बद्वशो यस्मिन् ब्राह्मणा गा विभेजिरे ॥२६॥

cakraṠdakṣiṇa-haste 'sya
padma-koÅ›o 'sya pÄdayoḥ
Ä«je mahÄbhiá¹£ekeṇa
so 'bhiá¹£ikto 'dhirÄḠvibhuḥ
pañca-pañcÄÅ›atÄ medhyair
gaá¹…gÄyÄm anu vÄjibhiḥ
mÄmateyaá¹ purodhÄya
yamunÄm anu ca prabhuḥ
aṣṭa-saptati-medhyÄÅ›vÄn
babandha pradadad vasu
bharatasya hi dauá¹£manter
agniḥ sÄcÄ«-guṇe citaḥ
sahasraṠbadvaśo yasmin
brÄhmaá¹‡Ä gÄ vibhejire

 cakram - the mark of Kṛṣṇa's disc; daká¹£iṇa-haste - on the palm of the right hand; asya - of him (Bharata); padma-koÅ›aḥ - the mark of the whorl of a lotus; asya - of him; pÄdayoḥ - on the soles of the feet; Ä«je - worshiped the Supreme Personality of Godhead; mahÄ-abhiá¹£ekeṇa - by a grand Vedic ritualistic ceremony; saḥ - he (MahÄrÄja Bharata); abhiá¹£iktaḥ - being promoted; adhirÄá¹­ - to the topmost position of a ruler; vibhuḥ - the master of everything; pañca-pañcÄÅ›atÄ - fifty-five; medhyaiḥ - fit for sacrifices; gaá¹…gÄyÄm anu - from the mouth of the Ganges to the source; vÄjibhiḥ - with horses; mÄmateyam - the great sage Bhá¹›gu; purodhÄya - making him the great priest; yamunÄm - on the bank of the YamunÄ; anu - in regular order; ca - also; prabhuḥ - the supreme master, MahÄrÄja Bharata; aṣṭa-saptati - seventy-eight; medhya-aÅ›vÄn - horses fit for sacrifice; babandha - he bound; pradadat - gave in charity; vasu - riches; bharatasya - of MahÄrÄja Bharata; hi - indeed; dauá¹£manteḥ - the son of MahÄrÄja Duá¹£manta; agniḥ - the sacrificial fire; sÄcÄ«-guṇe - on an excellent site; citaḥ - established; sahasram - thousands; badvaÅ›aḥ - by the number of one badva (one badva equals 13,084); yasmin - in which sacrifices; brÄhmaṇÄḥ - all the brÄhmaṇas present; gÄḥ - the cows; vibhejire - received their respective share.


Text

MahÄrÄja Bharata, the son of Duá¹£manta, had the mark of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s disc on the palm of his right hand, and he had the mark of a lotus whorl on the soles of his feet. By worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead with a grand ritualistic ceremony, he became the emperor and master of the entire world. Then, under the priesthood of MÄmateya, Bhá¹›gu Muni, he performed fifty-five horse sacrifices on the bank of the Ganges, beginning from its mouth and ending at its source, and seventy-eight horse sacrifices on the bank of the YamunÄ, beginning from the confluence at PrayÄga and ending at the source. He established the sacrificial fire on an excellent site, and he distributed great wealth to the brÄhmaṇas. Indeed, he distributed so many cows that each of thousands of brÄhmaṇas had one badva [13,084] as his share.

Purport

As indicated here by the words dauá¹£manter agniḥ sÄcÄ«-guṇe citaḥ, Bharata, the son of MahÄrÄja Duá¹£manta, arranged for many ritualistic ceremonies all over the world, especially all over India on the banks of the Ganges and YamunÄ, from the mouth to the source, and all such sacrifices were performed in very distinguished places. As stated in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (3.9), yajñÄrthÄt karmaṇo ’nyatra loko ’yaá¹ karma-bandhanaḥ: “Work done as a sacrifice for Viṣṇu has to be performed; otherwise work binds one to this material world.†Everyone should engage in the performance of yajña, and the sacrificial fire should be ignited everywhere, the entire purpose being to make people happy, prosperous and progressive in spiritual life. Of course, these things were possible before the beginning of Kali-yuga because there were qualified brÄhmaṇas who could perform such yajñas. For the present, however, the Brahma-vaivarta PurÄṇa enjoins:

aÅ›vamedhaá¹ gavÄlambhaá¹
 sannyÄsaá¹ pala-paitá¹›kam
devareṇa sutotpattiá¹
 kalau pañca vivarjayet

“In this Age of Kali, five acts are forbidden: offering a horse in sacrifice, offering a cow in sacrifice, accepting the order of sannyÄsa, offering oblations of flesh to the forefathers, and begetting children in the wife of one’s brother.†In this age, such yajñas as the aÅ›vamedha-yajña and gomedha-yajña are impossible to perform because there are neither sufficient riches nor qualified brÄhmaṇas. This verse says, mÄmateyaá¹ purodhÄya: MahÄrÄja Bharata engaged the son of MamatÄ, Bhá¹›gu Muni, to take charge of performing this yajña. Now, however, such brÄhmaṇas are impossible to find. Therefore the Å›Ästras recommend, yajñaiḥ saá¹…kÄ«rtana-prÄyair yajanti hi sumedhasaḥ: those who are intelligent should perform the saá¹…kÄ«rtana-yajña inaugurated by Lord ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu.

kṛṣṇa-varṇaá¹ tviá¹£Äkṛṣṇaá¹
 saá¹…gopÄá¹…gÄstra-pÄrá¹£adam
yajñaiḥ saá¹…kÄ«rtana-prÄyair
 yajanti hi sumedhasaḥ

“In this Age of Kali, people endowed with sufficient intelligence will worship the Lord, who is accompanied by His associates, by performance of saá¹…kÄ«rtana-yajña.†(BhÄg. 11.5.32) Yajña must be performed, for otherwise people will be entangled in sinful activities and will suffer immensely. Therefore the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement has taken charge of introducing the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa all over the world. This Hare Kṛṣṇa movement is also yajña, but without the difficulties involved in securing paraphernalia and qualified brÄhmaṇas. This congregational chanting can be performed anywhere and everywhere. If people somehow or other assemble together and are induced to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare RÄma, Hare RÄma, RÄma RÄma, Hare Hare, all the purposes of yajña will be fulfilled. The first purpose is that there must be sufficient rain, for without rain there cannot be any produce (annÄd bhavanti bhÅ«tÄni parjanyÄd anna-sambhavaḥ). All our necessities can be produced simply by rainfall (kÄmaá¹ vavará¹£a parjanyaḥ), and the earth is the original source of all necessities (sarva-kÄma-dughÄ mahÄ«). In conclusion, therefore, in this Age of Kali people all over the world should refrain from the four principles of sinful life — illicit sex, meat-eating, intoxication and gambling — and in a pure state of existence should perform the simple yajña of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahÄ-mantra. Then the earth will certainly produce all the necessities for life, and people will be happy economically, politically, socially, religiously and culturally. Everything will be in proper order.