Shloka 66
Vānaprastha-dharma and Tapas: Śiva–Umā Saṃvāda
Forest-Stage Discipline and Austerity
क्षीर॑ तु बालवत्सानां ये पिबन्तीह मानवा:
kṣīraṃ tu bāla-vatsānāṃ ye pibantīha mānavāḥ | teṣāṃ vaṃśe kṣīra-pāyinaḥ kula-vṛddhi-karāś ca bālakā na jāyante | teṣāṃ santāno naśyati tathā teṣāṃ kula-vaṃśa-kṣayo bhavati ||
Dijo Śakra: «Quienes en este mundo beben leche ordeñada de vacas que aún tienen terneros muy pequeños no engendran en su linaje hijos que beban leche y acrecienten la casa. Su descendencia se arruina, y así decaen su clan y su estirpe.»
शक्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that exploiting a cow’s milk when her calf is still very young is an unethical act with grave karmic and social consequences, symbolized as loss of progeny and decline of one’s family line.
Indra (Śakra) is delivering a moral warning: certain harmful household practices—here, depriving a young calf by taking and consuming its mother’s milk—invite misfortune, especially the destruction of offspring and the weakening of one’s clan.