Text 8] The Meeting of Nanda Maharaja and Vasudeva 325

vicitra-dhatu-barhasrag-

vastra-kaficana-mélinah

gavah—the cows; vrsah—the bulls; vatsatarah—the calves; hari-
dra—with a mixture of turmeric; taila—and oil; riésitah—their entire
bodies smeared; vicitra—decorated varieties of; dhatu—colored min-
erals; barha-srak—peacock-feather garlands; vastra—cloths; kan-
cana—golden ornaments; mdlinah—being decorated with garlands.

TRANSLATION

The cows, the bulls and the calves were thoroughly smeared
with a mixture of turmeric and oil, mixed with varieties of
minerals. Their heads were bedecked with peacock feathers,
and they were garlanded and covered with cloth and golden
ornaments.

PURPORT

The Supreme Personality of Godhead has instructed in Bhagavad-
gita (18.44), krsi-go-raksya-vanijyam vaisya-karma-svabhavajam:
“Farming, cow protection and trade are the qualities of work for the
vaisyas.” Nanda Maharaja belonged to the vaisya community, the
agriculturalist community. How to protect the cows and how rich this
community was are explained in these verses. We can hardly imagine
that cows, bulls and calves could be cared for so nicely and decorated so
well with cloths and valuable golden ornaments. How happy they were.
As described elsewhere in the Bhdgavatam, during Maharaja
Yudhisthira’s time the cows were so happy that they used to muddy the
pasturing ground with milk. This is Indian civilization. Yet in the same
place, India, Bharatavarsa, how much people are suffering by giving up
the Vedic way of life and not understanding the teachings of Bhagavad-
gita.

TEXT 8

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