Text 20]
How Parīkṣit Received the Age of Kali
857
PURPORT
The people of the world in this age of Kali are always full of anxieties. Everyone is diseased with some kind of ailment. From the very faces of the people of this age, one can find out the index of the mind. Everyone feels the absence of his relative who is away from home. The particular symptom of the age of Kali is that no family is now blessed to live together. To earn a livelihood, the father lives at a place far away from the son, or the wife lives far away from the husband and so on. There are sufferings from internal diseases, separation from those near and dear, and anxieties for maintaining the status quo. These are but some important factors which make the people of this age always unhappy.
TEXT 20
पादैन्यूनं शोचसि मैकपाद- मात्मानं वा वृषलैर्भोक्ष्यमाणम् । आहो सुरादीन् हृतयज्ञभागान् प्रजा उत स्विन्मघवत्यवर्षति ॥२०॥
pādair nyūnam śocasi maikapādam ātmānam vā vṛṣalair bhokṣyamāṇam āho surādīn hṛta-yajña-bhāgān prajā uta svin maghavaty avarṣati
pādaiḥ—by three legs; nyūnam—diminished; śocasi—if you are lamenting for that; mā—my; eka-pādam—only one leg; ātmānam—own body; vā—or; vṛṣalaiḥ—by the unlawful meat-eaters; bhokṣyamāṇam—to be exploited; āho—in sacrifice; surādīn—the authorized demigods; hṛta-yajña—devoid of sacrificial; bhāgān—share; prajāḥ—the living beings; uta—increasing; svit—whether; maghavati—in famine and scarcity; avarṣati—because of rainlessness.
TRANSLATION
I have lost my three legs and am now standing on one only. Are you lamenting for my state of existence? Or are you in great anxiety because henceforward the unlawful meat-eaters will exploit you? Or are you in a sorry plight because the demigods are now bereft of their share of sacrificial offerings because no sacrifices are being performed at present? Or are you