Srimad Bhagavatam, Volume 3

SEVENTEENTH CHAPTER
Punishment And Reward of Kali
Sri Suta Uvaaha:
Tatra Gomithunam raja hanyamana anathabat
Dandahastam cha vrisalla dadrishe mripa lanchhanam.
Sri Suta uvacha—Sri Suta Goswami said, Tatra—thereupon, Gomithunam—
the pair of cow and bull, Rajo—the king, Hanyamanam—being beaten by,
Anathabat—appearing to be bereft of owner, Dandahastam—with logger in
the hand, Cha—also, Vrisalam—lower caste Sudra, Dadrishe—observed,
Nripa—king, Lahchhanam—dressed like.
Suta Goswami addressed the Rishis headed by Sounaka and said, 'After
reaching the place Maharaj Parikshit observed it that a lower caste
Sudra dressed like a king with loggger in the hand was just beating a pair
of cow and bull, as if they were bereft of the owner.'
Principal signs of the age Kali is that lower caste Sudras i,e.men, without any
brahminical culture and spiritual initiation, would be dressed like the
administrators or kings and the principal business of such non—Kshatriya
rulers will be to kill the innocent animals specially the cows and the bull who
shall be unprotected by their masters namely the bonafide Vaishyas or the
merchantile community. In the Bhagawat Geeta (Bg. 18.44) it is said that the
Vaishyas are meant for dealing in agriculture, cow protection and trade. In the
age of Kali the degraded Vaishyas or the so called merchantile men are more
engaged as supplying agent to the slaughter-houses than protecting the cow
and the bull. The Kshatriyas are meant for protecting the human being citizens
of the state while the Vaishyas are meant for protcting the cows and the bulls
and utilise them in the matter of producing grains and milk. The cow is meant
for delivering milk and the bull is meant for producing grains. * But in the age
of Kali the Sudra-class men will be on the post of administrators and the cows
and the bulls or the mother and the father without being protected by the
Vaishyas will be subjected to be beaten in the slaughter-housc organised by
the lower caste administrators.
Vrisam mrinalbhaval am mehantam iva vibhyatam
Vepamanam padaikena seedantam sudrataditam.
Vrisam—the bull, Mrinaladhavalam—as white as the white lotus,
Mehantam—urinning, Iva—as if, Vibhytam—being too much afraid of,
Vepamanam—trembling, Padaikena—standing on one leg only, Seedantam—
terrified by, Sudrataditam—being beaten by a Sudra.
The bull was as white as the white Lotus flower and was terrified of being
beaten by the Sudra; it was too much afraid of him and thus trembling
and standing on one leg was urining.
The next symptom of the age of Kali is that principles of religions which are
all spotless white like the white lotus flower, will be attacked by the
uncultured Sudra population of the age. Such attacking people may be
descendants of Brahmin or Kshatriya forefathers but in the age of Kali for
want of sufficient education and culture of Vedic wisdom, such Sudra like
population will defy the principles of religion and persons who are religiously
endowed will be terrified by such Sudra class of men. They will declare
themselves belonging to no religious principles and many 'isms' and 'cult' will
spring up in the Kali Yuga only for killing the spotless bull of religiosity. The
state will be declared as secular or without any particular principle of religion
and as a result of this there will be total indifference to the principles of
religion, the citizens will be free to act as they like without any respect for
Sadhu, Sastra and Guru. The bull was standing on one leg means that the
principles of religiousity are gradually being diminished or practically without
any standing and even that fragmental existence of religious principles would
be embarrased by so many obstacles as if in the trembling condition of falling
down at any time.
Gam cha dharmadugham deenam bhrisam sudra padahatam
Vivatsam asruvadaham kshamam yava samichhatim
Gam—the cow, Cha—also, Dharmadugham—as beneficial as one can draw
religiosity from her, Deenam—now rendered poor, Bhrisam—distressed,
Sudra—the lower caste, Padahatam—beaten by the leg of, Vivatsam—
without any calf, Asruvadanam—with tears in the eyes, Kshamam—very
weak, Yava—grass, Samichatim—as if desiring to have same grasses to eat.
The cow is also as beneficial as one could draw out religious principles
from her, but she is now rendered poor, without any calf and being
beaten by the leg of a Sudra, she is too much distressed with tears in her
eyes and being too weak she is hankering after some grass on the field.
The next symptom of the age of Kali is the distressed condition of the cow.
Milking the cow means drawing the principles of religiosity in liquid form.
The milk means cow's milk because it is liquid form of religious principles.
The great Rishis and Munis would live only on the subsistence of milk. Srila
Sukadeva Goswami would go to a householder while milking the cow and he
* So the cow is the mother and the bull is the father of human being. The
father and mother must be given all protection and not to be killed.
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would simply take a little quantity of it for subsistence. Even fifty years
before no body would deprive a Sadhu for a pound or two of milk and every
householder would spare milk like water. For a Sanatanist (the follower of
Vedic principles) it is duty of every householder to have cows and bulls as
household paraphernalia not only for drinking milk but also for deriving
religious principles from her. The Sanatanist worships cow on religious
principles as much as a Brahmin is so respected. The cows milk is required
for the purpose of sacrificial fire and by performing sacrifices the householder
can only be happy. The cow with her calf is not only beautiful to look at but
also it gives satisfactlon to the cow and happily she delivers milk as much as
possible. But in the Kali Yuga the calves are separated from the cow as early
as possible for purposes which may not be mentioned in these pages of
Srimad Bhagwatam. The cow stands with tears in the eyes and the Sudra
milkman draws artificially milk from the cow and when there is no milk the
cow is sent for being slaughtered. These great sinful acts, of the human being,
are responsible for all the troubles in the present society. They do not know
what they are doing in the name of advancement of economic development.
The influence of Kali will keep them in darkness of ignorance and inspite of
all endeavours for peace and prosperity of the human society at large, they
must try to see the cows and the bulls happy in all respects. Foolish people do
not know how happiness is earned by making the cows and bulls happy but it
is a fact by the law of nature. Let us take it from the authority of 'Srimad
Bhagwatam' and adopt the principles for all round happiness of the humankind.
Prapachha ratham adhudhah kartaswara parichhadam
Megha gambhiraya vacha samaropita karmukah.
Prapachha—enquired, Ratham—chariot, Adhudha—seated on, Kartaswara—
gold, Parichhadam—embossed with, Megha—cloud, Gambhiraya—
exonerating, Vacha—sound, Samaropita—well equipped, Karmukah—arrows
and bow.
Maharaj Parikshit seated on the gold embossed chariot and well
equipped with arrows and bow asked him in an exonerating sound of
cloud.
An administrative head or king like Maharaj Parikshit with full gravity of
majestic authority and well equipped with weapons to chastise the miscreant,
can challenge the agents of the age of Kali and then only it will be possible to
counteract the reaction of the degraded age. And in the absence of such strong
executive head there is always disruption of transquility in the general status
of the human society. The elected show-bottle executive head, as
representative of degraded public, can not be equal with a strong king like
Maharaja Parikshit. The dress or style of royal order does not count but it is
the action which is counted.
Kas tam mat sharane loke valat hansi avalan vali
Naradeva asi vesena natavat karmana adwijah.
Kas—who are, Tam—you, Mat—my, Sharane—under protection, Loke—in
this world, Valat—by force, Hansi—killing, Avalan—those who are helpless,
Vali—although full of strength, Naradeva—Manly god, Asi-appear to be,
Vesena—by the dress, Natavat—like a theatrical player, Karmana—by deeds,
Adwijah—a man not born twice by culture.
Oh who are you ? You appear to be strong enough and still you dare to
kill, within my protection, those who are helpless ? By dress you pose to
be a manly god (King) but by your deeds you are against the principles of
the twice born Kshatriya.
The Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaishyas are called twice-born because for
these higher class of men there is one birth by parental conjugation and there
is another birth of cultural rejuvination by spiritual initiation from the
bonafide Acharya or spiritual master. So Kshatirya is also a twice-born like
the Brahmin and his duty is to give protection to the helpless. The Kahatrya
king is considered to be the manly-God or representative of God for giving
protection to the helpless and chastising the miscreants. When ever there is
anomalies in this routine work by the administrators there is incarnation of the
Lord for re-establishing the principles of Godly kingdom. In the age of Kali
the poor helpless animals specially the cow which is meant for receiving all
sorts of protection by the administrative heads, are killed without any
restriction. As such the administrative heads under whose nose such things
happen, are so called representatives of God. Such powerful administrators
are rulers of the poor citizens by dress or office only, but factually they are
worthless lower class of men without any cultural assets of the twice-born. No
body can expect any justice or equality of treatment from such once-born
(without any spiritual culture) lower class of men and therefore in the age of
Kali every one is unhappy on account maladministration of the state. The
modern human society are not twice-born by spiritual culture. Therefore the
people's Government, by the people who are not twice-born,—must be
government of Kali in which everyone is unhappy.
Yas tam krishne gate duram saha gandiva dhanwana
Sochya asi asochyan rahasi praharan badham arhasi.