gÄvo vá¹›á¹£Ä vatsatarÄ
haridrÄ-taila-rÅ«á¹£itÄḥ
vicitra-dhÄtu-barhasrag-
vastra-kÄñcana-mÄlinaḥ
gÄvaḥ - the cows; vṛṣÄḥ - the bulls; vatsatarÄḥ - the calves; haridrÄ - with a mixture of turmeric; taila - and oil; rÅ«á¹£itÄḥ - their entire bodies smeared; vicitra - decorated varieties of; dhÄtu - colored minerals; barha-srak - peacock-feather garlands; vastra - cloths; kÄñcana - golden ornaments; mÄlinaḥ - being decorated with garlands.
The cows, the bulls and the calves were thoroughly smeared with a mixture of turmeric and oil, mixed with varieties of minerals. Their heads were bedecked with peacock feathers, and they were garlanded and covered with cloth and golden ornaments.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead has instructed in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (18.44), kṛṣi-go-raká¹£ya-vÄṇijyaá¹ vaiÅ›ya-karma-svabhÄvajam: “Farming, cow protection and trade are the qualities of work for the vaiÅ›yas.†Nanda MahÄrÄja belonged to the vaiÅ›ya community, the agriculturalist community. How to protect the cows and how rich this community was are explained in these verses. We can hardly imagine that cows, bulls and calves could be cared for so nicely and decorated so well with cloths and valuable golden ornaments. How happy they were. As described elsewhere in the BhÄgavatam, during MahÄrÄja Yudhiá¹£á¹hira’s time the cows were so happy that they used to muddy the pasturing ground with milk. This is Indian civilization. Yet in the same place, India, BhÄrata-vará¹£a, how much people are suffering by giving up the Vedic way of life and not understanding the teachings of Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ.
