Text 7] Vidura’s Talks with Maitreya 167
kridan vidhatte dvija-go-suranam
ksemaya karmany avatara-bhedaih
mano na trpyaty api srnvatam nah
susloka-maules caritamrtani

kridan—manifesting pastimes; vidhatte—perform; dvija—twice-born; go—
cow; surandm—of the demigods; ksemaya—welfare; karmani—transcenden-
tal activities; avatdra—incarnations; bhedaih—differently; manah—mind;
na—never; trpyati—satisfies; api—in spite of; srnvatam—continuously hear-
ing; nah—our; susloka—auspicious; mauleh—of the Lord; carita—character-
istics; amrlani—undy ing.

TRANSLATION

You may narrate also about the auspicious characteristics of the Lord
in His different incarnations for the welfare of the twice-born, the cows
and the demigods. Our minds are never satisfied completely although we
continuously hear of His transcendental activities.

PURPORT

The Lord appears in this universe in different incarnations like Matsya,
Kurma, Varaha and Nrsimha, and He manifests His different transcenden-
tal activities for the welfare of the twice-born, the cows and the demigods.
The Lord is directly concerned with the twice-born or civilized men. A
civilized man is one who has taken his birth twice. A living entity takes
birth in this mundane world due to the union of male and female. A
human being is born due to union of the father and mother, but a
civilized human being has another birth by contact with a spiritual
master, who becomes the actual father. The father and mother of the
material body are so only in one birth, and in the next birth the father
and mother may be a different couple. But the bona fide spiritual master,
as the representative of the Lord, is the eternal father because the spiritual
master has the responsibility to lead the disciple to spiritual salvation or
the ultimate goal of life. Therefore, a civilized man must be twice-born,
otherwise he is no more than the lower animals.

The cow is the most important animal for developing the human body
to perfection. The body can be maintained by any kind of foodstuff, but
cow’s milk is particularly essential for developing the finer tissues of the
human brain so that one can understand the intricacies of transcendental
knowledge. A civilized man is expected to live on foodstuffs comprising
fruits, vegetables, grains, sugar and milk. The bull helps in the agricultural
