Text 26
havirdhānīm ṛṣer darpān
narān hartum acodayat
te ca māhiṣmatīṁ ninyuḥ
sa-vatsāṁ krandatīṁ balāt
haviḥ-dhānīm — the kāmadhenu; ṛṣeḥ — of the great sage Jamadagni; darpāt — because of his being puffed up with material power; narān — all his men (soldiers); hartum — to steal or take away; acodayat — encouraged; te — the men of Kārtavīryārjuna; ca — also; māhiṣmatīm — to the capital of Kārtavīryārjuna; ninyuḥ — brought; sa-vatsām — with the calf; krandatīm — crying; balāt — because of being taken away by force.
Being puffed up by material power, Kārtavīryārjuna encouraged his men to steal Jamadagni’s kāmadhenu. Thus the men forcibly took away the crying kāmadhenu, along with her calf, to Māhiṣmatī, Kārtavīryārjuna’s capital.
The word havirdhānīm is significant in this verse. Havirdhānīm refers to a cow required for supplying havis, or ghee, for the performance of ritualistic ceremonies in sacrifices. In human life, one should be trained to perform yajñas. As we are informed in Bhagavad-gītā (3.9), yajñārthāt karmaṇo ’nyatra loko ’yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ: if we do not perform yajña, we shall simply work very hard for sense gratification like dogs and hogs. This is not civilization. A human being should be trained to perform yajña. Yajñād bhavati parjanyaḥ. If yajñas are regularly performed, there will be proper rain from the sky, and when there is regular rainfall, the land will be fertile and suitable for producing all the necessities of life. Yajña, therefore, is essential. For performing yajña, clarified butter is essential, and for clarified butter, cow protection is essential. Therefore, if we neglect the Vedic way of civilization, we shall certainly suffer. So-called scholars and philosophers do not know the secret of success in life, and therefore they suffer in the hands of prakṛti, nature (prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ). Nonetheless, although they are forced to suffer, they think they are advancing in civilization (ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate). The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is therefore meant to revive a mode of civilization in which everyone will be happy. This is the motive of our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Yajñe sukhena bhavantu.