Shloka 25
Tapovana-praveśaḥ — The King’s Entry into the Sacred Grove and Vision of the Āśrama
काले गाव: प्रसूयन्ते नार्यश्व भरतर्षभ । भव्न्त्यृतुषु वृक्षाणां पुष्पाणि च फलानि च,भरतश्रेष्ठ! गौएँ तथा स्त्रियाँ भी ठीक समयपर ही संतान उत्पन्न करती थीं। ऋतु आनेपर ही वृक्षोंमें फूल और फल लगते थे
kāle gāvaḥ prasūyante nāryaśva bharatarṣabha | bhavanty ṛtuṣu vṛkṣāṇāṃ puṣpāṇi ca phalāni ca ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O bull among the Bharatas, in those days cows gave birth in their proper season, and women too conceived and delivered at the right time. When the seasons arrived, trees likewise bore their flowers and fruits in due order.” The verse evokes an age of harmony in which nature and human life follow dharma-like regularity—fertility, growth, and fruition occurring without disorder or untimeliness.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights an ideal of orderly life: when dharma (and the cosmic rhythm akin to ṛta) prevails, both human society and the natural world function in timely, harmonious cycles—fertility, growth, and fruition occur without disruption.
Vaiśampāyana describes a past condition of well-ordered prosperity, emphasizing that births among cows and women occurred at the proper time and that trees produced flowers and fruits only in their appropriate seasons—an image of a world aligned with right order.