हविर्धानीमृषेर्दर्पान्नरान् हर्तुमचोदयत् ।
ते च माहिष्मतीं निन्युः सवत्सां क्रन्दतीं बलात् ॥२६॥

havirdhÄnÄ«m ṛṣer darpÄn
narÄn hartum acodayat
te ca mÄhiá¹£matÄ«á¹ ninyuḥ
sa-vatsÄá¹ krandatÄ«á¹ balÄt

 haviḥ-dhÄnÄ«m - the kÄmadhenu; á¹›á¹£eḥ - of the great sage Jamadagni; darpÄt - because of his being puffed up with material power; narÄn - all his men (soldiers); hartum - to steal or take away; acodayat - encouraged; te - the men of KÄrtavÄ«ryÄrjuna; ca - also; mÄhiá¹£matÄ«m - to the capital of KÄrtavÄ«ryÄrjuna; ninyuḥ - brought; sa-vatsÄm - with the calf; krandatÄ«m - crying; balÄt - because of being taken away by force.


Text

Being puffed up by material power, KÄrtavÄ«ryÄrjuna encouraged his men to steal Jamadagni’s kÄmadhenu. Thus the men forcibly took away the crying kÄmadhenu, along with her calf, to MÄhiá¹£matÄ«, KÄrtavÄ«ryÄrjuna’s capital.

Purport

The word havirdhÄnÄ«m is significant in this verse. HavirdhÄnÄ«m 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-gÄ«tÄ (3.9), yajñÄrthÄt karmaṇo ’nyatra loko ’yaá¹ 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. YajñÄd 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 praká¹›ti, nature (praká¹›teḥ kriyamÄṇÄni guṇaiḥ karmÄṇi sarvaÅ›aḥ). Nonetheless, although they are forced to suffer, they think they are advancing in civilization (ahaá¹…kÄra-vimÅ«á¸hÄtmÄ kartÄham 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.