HV 16.1
श्राद्धे प्रतिष्ठितो लोकः श्राद्धाद् योगः प्रवर्तते । हन्त ते वर्तयिष्यामि श्राद्धस्य फलम् उत्तमम् । ब्रह्मदत्तेन यत् प्राप्तं सप्तजातिषु भारत ॥
śrāddhe pratiṣṭhito lokaḥ śrāddhād yogaḥ pravartate | hanta te vartayiṣyāmi śrāddhasya phalam uttamam | brahma-dattena yat prāptaṃ sapta-jātiṣu bhārata
'The world rests on śrāddha; from śrāddha, yoga proceeds. I shall now tell you the supreme fruit of śrāddha — what was obtained by Brahmadatta across seven births, O Bhārata.'
The Living Words
*Śrāddhe pratiṣṭhito lokaḥ*, 'the world rests on śrāddha'. *Śrāddhād yogaḥ pravartate*, 'from śrāddha, yoga proceeds'. *Sapta-jātiṣu*, 'across seven births'.
The Heart of It
The verse's opening pair of sentences is the Harivaṃśa's most compact śrāddha-theology. *Śrāddhe pratiṣṭhito lokaḥ; śrāddhād yogaḥ pravartate* — śrāddha is world-foundational, and yoga proceeds from it. The Varkari tradition's teaching: without *śrāddha* (both the *rite* and the *śraddhā* that grounds the rite), no world stands and no yoga begins. Jñāneśvar's Haripāṭh's insistence that the Name rests on *śraddhā*, and liberation proceeds from the Name, has HV 16.1 as its upstream Sanskrit foundation. Seven births may be needed; but every soul's yoga is pitṛ-śrāddha-rooted.