Text 18] How Pariksit Received the Age of Kali 855

TRANSLATION

Now you may have heard from me of what happened while Maharaja
Pariksit was passing his days hearing of the good occupations of his fore-
fathers and being absorbed in thought of them.

TEXT 18

wat Taha Tq Rear TT |
RH MIA AANA ATA UII

dharmah padaikena caran
vicchayam upalabhya gam

prechati smasru-vadanam
vivatsam iva mataram

dharmah—the personality of religious principles; pada—leg; ekena—on
one only; caran—wandering; vicchayam— overtaken by the shadow of grief;
upalabhya—having met; gam—the cow; prcchati—asking; sma—with;
asru-vadanam—with tears on the face; vivatsam—one who has lost her off-
spring; iva—like; mataram—the mother.

TRANSLATION

The personality of religious principles, Dharma, was wandering about
in the form of a bull. And he met the personality of earth in the form of a
cow who appeared to grieve like a mother who had lost her child. She had
tears in her eyes, and the beauty of her body was lost. Thus Dharma
questioned the earth as follows.

PURPORT

The bull is the emblem of the moral principle, and the cow is the repre-
sentative of the earth. When the bull and the cow are in a joyful mood, it
is to be understood that the people of the world are also in a joyful mood.
The reason is that the bull helps production of grains in the agricultural
field, and the cow delivers milk, the miracle of aggregate food values. The
human society, therefore, maintains these two important animals very
carefully so that they can wander everywhere in cheerfulness. But at the
