Text 25]
How Parīkṣit Received the Age of Kali
865
tenance of the inhabitants, but also when the Lord descends on the earth, the whole earth becomes so enriched with all kinds of opulences that even the denizens of heaven worship it with all affection. But by the will of the Lord, the whole earth can at once be changed. He can do and undo a thing at His sweet will. Therefore no one should consider himself to be self-sufficient or independent of the Lord.
TEXT 25
धरण्युवाच
भवान् हि वेद तत्सर्वं यन्मां धर्मानुग्रन्छसि । चतुर्भिर्वर्तसे येन पादैर्लोकसुखावहैः ॥२५॥
dharaṇy uvāca   bhavān hi veda tat sarvam   yan mām dharmānupṛcchasi   caturbhir vartase yena   pādair loka-sukhāvahaiḥ
śrī dharaṇī uvāca —mother earth replied;  bhavān —your good self;  hi —certainly;  veda —know;  tat sarvam —all that you have inquired from me;  yat —that;  mām —from me;  dharma —O personality of religious principles;  anupṛcchasi —you have inquired one after another;  caturbhiḥ —by four;  vartase —you exist;  yena —by which;  pādaiḥ —by the legs;  loka —in each and every planet;  sukha-āvahaiḥ —increasing the happiness.
TRANSLATION
The earthly deity [in the form of a cow] thus replied to the personality of religious principles [in the form of a bull]: O Dharma, whatever you have inquired from me shall be known to you. I shall try to reply to all those questions. Once you too were maintained by your four legs and increased happiness all over the universe by the mercy of the Lord.
PURPORT
The principles of religion are laid down by the Lord Himself, and the executor of such laws is Dharmarāja or Yamarāja. Such principles work fully in the age of Satya-yuga; in the Tretā-yuga they are reduced by a fraction of one fourth; in the Dvāpara they are reduced to one half, and in