Dharma on but one leg
Mother earth in tears...
Thus day after day absorbed in thoughts about the good qualities of his forefathers, not far away from where he was, a most peculiar incident took place. Let me tell you about it.
Dharma [the personality of religion, a bull] who wandered around on but one leg, met a cow [mother earth] with tears in her eyes, like she was a mother who has lost her child. He questioned her.
(19) Madam, are you in good health? Looking so sad with a gloomy face, oh mother, you seem to be afflicted by a disease, or to be preoccupied with some relative far away. (20) Do you lament my three weakened legs with me standing [firmly] on one leg only? Or is it because you are exploited by meat eaters? Is it because the leading demigods are deprived of their sacrificial share? Or because the living beings increasingly suffer from scarcity, famine and drought?
(21) Are you grieving about the unhappy women and children on earth who have to miss the protection of their husbands and fathers? Or are you sorry about the way one in the families of the learned souls acts against the goddess of learning [by not being directed at the Person anymore]? Or do you lament the fact that most of them act non-brahminical in service of the ruling class [or even serve in business]?
(22) Is it because the descendants of the noble class under the influence of Kaliyuga appear to have lost their minds, and left and right have messed up the affairs of the state? Or is it because of the habits developed in society to take one's food and drink, and how one dresses, bathes, and has intercourse?
(23) Or could it be, oh mother, because of your heavy burden, now Hari - the Lord who diminished your burden - has disappeared from sight, with you thinking of everything He did, and the salvation He entails?
(24) Please inform me, oh reservoir of all riches, about the reason of your sadness that reduced you to such a weak state. Or has, oh mother, powerful Time - that even subdues the most powerful soul - stolen away your good fortune extolled by the demigods?
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Mother Earth replied:
(250 Oh Dharma, I will do my best to answer all the questions you asked me, for you are with your four legs [the vidhi] present in all the worlds to bring happiness.
(26-30) Truthfulness, cleanliness, compassion, self-control, magnanimity, contentment, straightforwardness, concentration, sense control, responsibility, equality, tolerance, equanimity, and loyalty... and certainly also knowledge, detachment, leadership, chivalry, influence, power, dutifulness, independence, dexterity [behendigheid], beauty, serenity and kindheartedness... as also ingenuity [vindingrijkheid], gentility, mannerliness, determination, knowledgeability, propriety [fatsoen], pleasantness, joyfulness, immovability [onwankelbaarheid], faithfulness, fame and dignity...
all these and many others are the most important everlasting qualities of the Supreme Lord, the never ever diminishing higher nature, desired by those wishing for His greatness. I am thanks to Him - the reservoir of all qualities and the home of the Goddess of Fortune - myself such an abode, but I lament now that in His absence, Kali, the source of all sins, is seen all over the world.
(31) I am lamenting both for me and for you, for the best of the enlightened souls, the gods and the ancestors in heaven, the sages and the devotees, as also for all people in their status orientations in society.
(32-33) Lakshmi [the Goddess of Fortune] - whose grace was sought by Brahma and others, who for many days executed penances for her, in surrender to the Lord - has without hesitation forsaken her abode in the forest of lotus flowers out of attachment to serve His all-auspicious feet.
With my body decorated with the impressions of the footprints [with the marks of] the lotus flower, thunderbolt, flag and driving rod of the Supreme Lord, the proprietor of all opulence, I superseded beautifully the three worlds. But, after my places [my worlds] had obtained His splendor, He in the end has abandoned me, who was so happy with it.
(34) He who relieved me of the burden of the hundreds of military divisions of atheist kings, incarnated [just as well] for you in an attractive form in the Yadu family, because you, lacking in inner strength, had difficulty to keep standing.
(35) Who, I ask you, can tolerate it to be separated from the Supreme Original Person, who with His loving glances, smiles and hearty appeals defeated the strong attachment of His sweet and proud women, and made my hair [my grasses] stand on end out of pleasure for being imprinted by His feet?'
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While the [cow of mother] earth and [the bull of] dharma were thus conversing, Parikshit - who was renown for being the saint among the kings - arrived at the Sarasvati river that was flowing to the east.
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