cÄtur-hotraá¹ karma-tantram
upaveda-nayaiḥ saha
dharmasya pÄdÄÅ› catvÄras
tathaivÄÅ›rama-vá¹›ttayaḥ
cÄtuḥ - four; hotram - paraphernalia for sacrifice; karma - action; tantram - expansions of such activities; upaveda - supplementary to the Vedas; nayaiḥ - by logical conclusions; saha - along with; dharmasya - of religiosity; pÄdÄḥ - principles; catvÄraḥ - four; tathÄ eva - in the same way; ÄÅ›rama - social orders; vá¹›ttayaḥ - occupations.
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 BrahmÄ 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 Ä€ryans, or progressive human beings.