Shloka 15
Suvarṇa-janma and Dakṣiṇā-Māhātmya
Origin and Supremacy of Gold as Ritual Fee
यया सर्वमिदं व्याप्तं जगत् स्थावरजंगमम् । तां धेनुं शिरसा वन्दे भूतभव्यस्य मातरम्,जिसने समस्त चराचर जगतको व्याप्त कर रखा है, उस भूत और भविष्यकी जननी गौको मैं मस्तक झुकाकर प्रणाम करता हूँ
yayā sarvam idaṁ vyāptaṁ jagat sthāvara-jaṅgamam | tāṁ dhenuṁ śirasā vande bhūta-bhavyasya mātaram ||
Vasiṣṭha said: “I bow my head to that Cow who pervades this entire universe—both the immovable and the moving—who is the mother of what has been and what is yet to be.”
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse elevates the Cow (dhenu) as a universal mother and a symbol of sustaining nourishment that pervades all life—movable and immovable—encouraging reverence, gratitude, and non-harm toward life-supporting beings.
In Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction-focused setting, Vasiṣṭha offers a formal salutation (vandana) to the Cow, praising her as all-pervading and as the generative source of past and future beings, thereby framing ethical instruction through devotional reverence.