Le Cow Quote Du Jour # 11

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TRANSLATION

The brahmanas, the cows and the defenseless creatures are My own body. Those

whose faculty of judgment has been impaired by their own sin look upon these

as distinct from Me. They are just like furious serpents, and they are

angrily torn apart by the bills of the vulturelike messengers of Yamaraja,

the superintendent of sinful persons.

 

PURPORT

The defenseless creatures, according to Brahma-samhita, are the cows,

brahmanas, women, children and old men. Of these five, the brahmanas and

cows are especially mentioned in this verse because the Lord is always

anxious about the benefit of the brahmanas and the cows and is prayed to in

this way. The Lord especially instructs, therefore, that no one should be

envious of these five, especially the cows and brahmanas. In some of the

Bhagavatam readings, the word duhitrh is used instead of duhatih. But in

either case, the meaning is the same. Duhatih means "cow," and duhitrh can

also be used to mean "cow" because the cow is supposed to be the daughter of

the sun-god. Just as children are taken care of by the parents, women as a

class should be taken care of by the father, husband or grown-up son. Those

who are helpless must be taken care of by their respective guardians,

otherwise the guardians will be subjected to the punishment of Yamaraja, who

is appointed by the Lord to supervise the activities of sinful living

creatures. The assistants, or messengers, of Yamaraja are likened here to

vultures, and those who do not execute their respective duties in protecting

their wards are compared to serpents. Vultures deal very seriously with

serpents, and similarly the messengers will deal very seriously with

neglectful guardians.

 

>>> Ref. VedaBase => SB 3.16.10