Verse 1

¹That dharma you spoke of before, the one marked by devotion to you, for all who keep to their class and their stage of life, and for two-footed creatures generally: ²carrying it out along with his own duty, a man would come to have devotion to you. Lotus-eyed one, you are the one who can tell that out fully. ³Long ago, mighty-armed one, master, you spoke the highest dharma to Brahma, taking then the form of a swan, Madhava. ⁴Now, after so great a stretch of time, that dharma taught then will for the most part not be found in the world of men, wearer-down of enemies. ⁵There is no one else on earth who speaks dharma, does it and guards it, Unfallen, but you; not even in Brahma's assembly, where your own portions wear bodies.

⁶When you, who do it and guard it and speak it, slayer of Madhu, have left the face of the earth, god, who will speak what has been lost? ⁷So set it out for us, you who know every dharma: the dharma marked by devotion to you, in what way and for whom it is laid down, master.