Shloka 7
Gavāṃ Māhātmya — Go-dāna, Yajña-ādhāra, and Goloka
Brahmā–Indra–Surabhi Itihāsa
तपसोअ<न्ते महाराज गावो लोकपरायणा: । तस्माद् गावो महाभागा: पवित्र परमुच्यते
Vasiṣṭha uvāca: tapasānte mahārāja gāvo lokaparāyaṇāḥ | tasmād gāvo mahābhāgāḥ pavitraṃ param ucyate ||
ವಸಿಷ್ಠನು ಹೇಳಿದನು—ಮಹಾರಾಜ, ತಪಸ್ಸು ಸಂಪೂರ್ಣವಾದಾಗ ಗೋವುಗಳು ಸಮಸ್ತ ಲೋಕದ ಆಶ್ರಯವೂ ಧಾರಕವೂ ಆದವು. ಆದಕಾರಣ ಆ ಮಹಾಭಾಗ್ಯವಂತ ಗೋವುಗಳು ಪರಮ ಪವಿತ್ರವೆಂದು ಘೋಷಿಸಲ್ಪಡುತ್ತವೆ.
वसिष्ठ उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that cows are to be regarded as supremely purifying because they function as the world’s refuge and support; reverence and protection of such life-sustaining beings is presented as a dharmic duty.
Vasiṣṭha addresses a king and explains, in the course of praising the religious-ethical importance of cows, that upon the completion of tapas (austerity), cows came to be viewed as the sustaining refuge of the world, hence their status as ‘supremely pure’.