भूतान्यलब्धशरणानि च भेदबुद्ध्या ।
द्रक्ष्यन्त्यघक्षतदृशो ह्यहिमन्यवस्तान्
गृध्रा रुषा मम कुषन्त्यधिदण्डनेतुः ॥१०॥
ye me tanÅ«r dvija-varÄn duhatÄ«r madÄ«yÄ
bhÅ«tÄny alabdha-Å›araṇÄni ca bheda-buddhyÄ
draká¹£yanty agha-ká¹£ata-dṛśo hy ahi-manyavas tÄn
gá¹›dhrÄ ruá¹£Ä mama kuá¹£anty adhidaṇá¸a-netuḥ
ye - which persons; me - My; tanūḥ - body; dvija-varÄn - the best of the brÄhmaṇas; duhatīḥ - cows; madÄ«yÄḥ - relating to Me; bhÅ«tÄni - living entities; alabdha-Å›araṇÄni - defenseless; ca - and; bheda-buddhyÄ - considering as different; draká¹£yanti - see; agha - by sin; ká¹£ata - is impaired; dṛśaḥ - whose faculty of judgment; hi - because; ahi - like a snake; manyavaḥ - angry; tÄn - those same persons; gá¹›dhrÄḥ - the vulturelike messengers; ruá¹£Ä - angrily; mama - My; kuá¹£anti - tear; adhidaṇá¸a-netuḥ - of the superintendent of punishment, YamarÄja.
The brÄhmaṇas, the cows and the defenseless creatures are My own body. Those whose faculty of judgment has been impaired by their own sin look upon these as distinct from Me. They are just like furious serpents, and they are angrily torn apart by the bills of the vulturelike messengers of YamarÄja, the superintendent of sinful persons.
The defenseless creatures, according to ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam, are the cows, brÄhmaṇas, women, children and old men. Of these five, the brÄhmaṇas and cows are especially mentioned in this verse because the Lord is always anxious about the benefit of the brÄhmaṇas and the cows and is prayed to in this way. Therefore the Lord especially instructs that no one should be envious of these five, especially the cows and brÄhmaṇas. In some of the BhÄgavatam readings, the word duhitá¹á¸¥ is used instead of duhatīḥ. But in either case, the meaning is the same. Duhatīḥ means “cow,†and duhitá¹á¸¥ can also be used to mean “cow†because the cow is supposed to be the daughter of the sun-god. Just as children are taken care of by the parents, women as a class should be taken care of by the father, husband or grown-up son. Those who are helpless must be taken care of by their respective guardians; otherwise the guardians will be subjected to the punishment of YamarÄja, who is appointed by the Lord to supervise the activities of sinful living creatures. The assistants, or messengers, of YamarÄja are likened here to vultures, and those who do not execute their respective duties in protecting their wards are compared to serpents. Vultures deal very seriously with serpents, and similarly the messengers will deal very seriously with neglectful guardians.
