SB 4.17.23 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

यवसं जग्ध्यनुदिनं नैव दोग्ध्यौधसं पय: तस्यामेवं हि दुष्टायां दण्डो नात्र न शस्यते ॥ २३ ॥

Verse text

yavasaṁ jagdhy anudinaṁ naiva dogdhy audhasaṁ payaḥ tasyām evaṁ hi duṣṭāyāṁ daṇḍo nātra na śasyate

Synonyms

yavasam — green grass ; jagdhi — you eat ; anudinam — daily ; na — never ; eva — certainly ; dogdhi — you yield ; audhasam — in the milk bag ; payaḥ — milk ; tasyām — when a cow ; evam — thus ; hi — certainly ; duṣṭāyām — being offensive ; daṇḍaḥ — punishment ; na — not ; atra — here ; na — not ; śasyate — is advisable .

Translation

Although you are eating green grass every day, you are not filling your milk bag so we can utilize your milk. Since you are willfully committing offenses, it cannot be said that you are not punishable due to your assuming the form of a cow.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Daily, you eat grass but do not make your udder full of milk. Punishment of such an offender is not unsuitable. As a cow you eat grass but you do not fill the udder or give (dogdhi) milk. Duh is used to mean “full” as in “I am full in my desires among men.” For such an offender (tasyām) punishment is suitable.

Purport

A cow eats green grasses in the pasture and fills her milk bag with sufficient milk so that the cowherdsmen can milk her. Yajṣas (sacrifices) are performed to produce sufficient clouds that will pour water over the earth. The word payaḥ can refer both to milk and to water. As one of the demigods, the earthly planet was taking her share in the yajṣas — that is, she was eating green grass — but in return she was not producing sufficient food grains — that is, she was not filling her milk bag. Pṛthu Mahārāja was therefore justified in threatening to punish her for her offense.