SB 10.24.21 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

कृषिवाणिज्यगोरक्षा कुसीदं तूर्यमुच्यते वार्ता चतुर्विधा तत्र वयं गोवृत्तयोऽनिशम् ॥ २१ ॥

Verse text

kṛṣi-vāṇijya-go-rakṣā kusīdaṁ tūryam ucyate vārtā catur-vidhā tatra vayaṁ go-vṛttayo ’niśam

Synonyms

kṛṣi — farming ; vāṇijya — commerce ; go — rakṣā — and protecting cows ; kusīdam — banking ; tūryam — the fourth ; ucyate — is said ; vārtā — the occupational duty ; catuḥ — vidhā — fourfold ; tatra — among these ; vayam — we ; go — vṛttayaḥ — engaged in protecting the cows ; aniśam — without cessation .

Translation

The occupational duties of the vaiśya are conceived in four divisions: farming, commerce, cow protection and moneylending. Out of these, we as a community are always engaged in cow protection.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The occupational duties of the vaiśya are conceived in four divisions: farming, commerce, cow protection and moneylending. Out of these, we as a community are always engaged in cow protection. KB 10.24.21 “We belong to the vaiśya community, and our proper duty is to farm, trade agricultural produce and protect cows, or to take to banking.” Kṛṣṇa identified Himself with the vaiśya community because Nanda Mahārāja was protecting many cows and Kṛṣṇa was taking care of them. He enumerated four kinds of business engagements for the vaiśya community, namely agriculture, trade, protection of cows and banking. Although the vaiśyas can take to any of these occupations, the men of Vṛndāvana were engaged primarily in the protection of cows.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Because Nanda and the others were vaisyas, though he mentioned vaisyas in the previous verse, he describes the vaisya in more detail in this verse. "The occupations of the vaisya are four: agriculture, trade, raising cows and lending money. Among those occupations we are raising cows continuously. Even during times of hardship we have not resorted to the alternative occupations. Thus for us cows are the devatas."

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Aniśam (constantly) means the following. Since we are engaged as cow herds among the vaiśyas, we do not switch to farming, commerce or banking.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Though it is said that money lenders go to hell, here is said that vaiśyas are allowed this occupation. The prohibition is taking excessive interest. In emergencies the brāhmaṇas can take up vaiśya occupations. But we are always engaged in raising cows (aniśam). By following these occupations one attains artha, dharma and kāma.