SB 12.3.36 — FolioCorpus

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 12.3.36

पतिं त्यक्ष्यन्ति निर्द्रव्यं भृत्या अप्यखिलोत्तमम् । भृत्यं विपन्नं पतय: कौलं गाश्चापयस्विनी: ॥ ३६ ॥

patiṁ tyakṣyanti nirdravyaṁ

[patim tyakshyanti nirdravyam]

bhṛtyā apy akhilottamam

[bhrityaa apy akhilottamam]

bhṛtyaṁ vipannaṁ patayaḥ

[bhrityam vipannam patayah]

kaulaṁ gāś cāpayasvinīḥ

[kaulam gaash chaapayasvineeh]

Word-for-word

patim — a master tyakṣyanti — they will abandon nirdravyam — lacking property bhṛtyāḥ — servants api — even akhila-uttamam — most excellent in personal qualities bhṛtyam — a servant vipannam — incapacitated patayaḥ — masters kaulam — belonging to the family for generations gāḥ — cows ca — and apayasvinīḥ — which have stopped giving milk.

Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)

patiṁ tyakṣyanti nirdravyaṁ

patim

a master

tyakṣyanti

they will abandon

nirdravyam

lacking property

bhṛtyā apy akhilottamam

bhṛtyāḥ

servants

api

even

akhila-uttamam

most excellent in personal qualities

bhṛtyaṁ vipannaṁ patayaḥ

bhṛtyam

a servant

vipannam

incapacitated

patayaḥ

masters

kaulaṁ gāś cāpayasvinīḥ

kaulam

belonging to the family for generations

gāḥ

cows

and

apayasvinīḥ

which have stopped giving milk.

Servants will abandon a master who has lost his wealth, even if that master is a saintly person of exemplary character. Masters will abandon an incapacitated servant, even if that servant has been in the family for generations. Cows will be abandoned or killed when they stop giving milk.

Purport

In India, the cow is considered sacred not because Indian people are primitive worshipers of mythological totems but because Hindus intelligently understand that the cow is a mother. As children, nearly all of us were nourished with cow’s milk, and therefore the cow is one of our mothers. Certainly one’s mother is sacred, and therefore we should not kill the sacred cow.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

Gauḍīya Ācāryas

Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya

Translation

Servants will abandon a master having the best qualities who has lost his wealth. Masters will abandon an incapacitated servant, even if that servant has been in the family for generations. Cows will be abandoned when they stop giving milk. Servants and wives will give up masters and husband of good quality who have lost wealth. Masters will give a servant whose forefathers have served the family, because he is sick. They will give up cows which do not give milk because they are old.

Personal Guidance

Servants abandon ruined masters; masters abandon old servants; cows are killed when they stop giving milk. Loyalty dies wherever utility ends. We resist by loving the people and beings in our care even when they have nothing more to give.

Reflection Questions

Whom in my life have I started to value mainly for what they produce?
How could I honor them as a soul beyond their output today?

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io