Text 18
dharmaḥ padaikena caran
vicchāyām upalabhya gām
pṛcchati smāśru-vadanāṁ
vivatsām iva mātaram
dharmaḥ — the personality of religious principles; padā — leg; ekena — on one only; caran — wandering; vicchāyām — overtaken by the shadow of grief; upalabhya — having met; gām — the cow; pṛcchati sma — asked; aśru-vadanām — with tears on the face; vivatsām — one who has lost her offspring; iva — like; mātaram — the mother.
宗教原則の権化・ダルマは雄牛の姿をとってうろうろ歩き回っていた。そして、彼は雌牛の姿をとった地球の権化に出会った。彼女は自分の子どもを失った母のように深く悲しんでいた。彼女は涙を目に浮かべ、美しい彼女の身体はその美しさを失っていた。それで、ダルマは地球権化に次のように質問をした。
The bull is the emblem of the moral principle, and the cow is the representative of the earth. When the bull and the cow are in a joyful mood, it is to be understood that the people of the world are also in a joyful mood. The reason is that the bull helps production of grains in the agricultural field, and the cow delivers milk, the miracle of aggregate food values. The human society, therefore, maintains these two important animals very carefully so that they can wander everywhere in cheerfulness. But at the present moment in this Age of Kali both the bull and the cow are now being slaughtered and eaten up as foodstuff by a class of men who do not know the brahminical culture. The bull and the cow can be protected for the good of all human society simply by the spreading of brahminical culture as the topmost perfection of all cultural affairs. By advancement of such culture, the morale of society is properly maintained, and so peace and prosperity are also attained without extraneous effort. When brahminical culture deteriorates, the cow and bull are mistreated, and the resultant actions are prominent by the following symptoms.