Canto
4
Chapter 18: Mahârâja Prithu Milks the Earth
(1) Maitreya said: 'After thus having offered King Prithu prayers, were his lips still trembling of anger. She, the planet earth, in fear, then knew to make up her mind and spoke again: (2) 'Please pacify your anger o King, try to understand that what I have said, was said by me as someone who like an intelligent person takes the essence from everywhere like a bumblebee does. (3) For the duration of this life as well as the next were by the great sages, the seers of truth, the methods prescribed applied, so that the people in general might also benefit. (4) For anyone who follows in full the principles as of old instructed to the inexperienced who live by faith, is it very easy to enjoy the fruits of action. (5) He who in neglect, as a speculator, derives from his own individual schemes will see himself fail again and again in pursuing his goals. (6) All the herbs and seeds that before were created by Lord Brahmâ, o King, and are entertained by me, are now seen in the hands of the unchaste of disrespect for the holy practice. (7) Not being taken care of and neglected by local rulers like your goodness, have I, for this world that has fallen into thievery, hidden all the herbs and seeds needed for the offerings. (8) Due to being within me for such a long time have those herbs and seeds deteriorated and thus should Your Majesty take them out the way it is prescribed. (9-10) O hero, arrange for a calf from me; from my affection for it I will, if you also arrange for a milking pot and a milkman, fulfill all your desires for milk for each of you, as well as, o mighty-armed one, o protector of the living beings, the food you wanted for feeding yourselves, if you so desire. (11) Also, you will have to engage in preparing me, the earth, o King; so that the waters that fell by the mercy of the godhead, keeping them for my sake, will also be of use to you after the rainy season has ended, o mighty one.'
(12) In consideration of the pleasing and good words of the earth, set the king, wise with a calf, himself to the task and got he, thus milking, all grains and herbs in hands. (13) So also did all other men of intelligence that everywhere else accordingly taking care, milking Prithu's planet earth to their desire. (14) O good one, the sages milking to the senses [as the pot], produced, by sage Brihaspati as the calf, milk in the pure form of vedic hymns. (15) Producing from Indra, the king of heaven, as the calf, milked the godly into a golden pot the nectar of the milk of mental power and strength of body and senses. (16) The sons of Diti, the enemies of God, produced from Prahlâda, the most important [devotee] among the godless, as the calf, the milk of fermented and distilled beverages in an iron pot. (17) The singers and indwellers of heaven produced from him who was named Vis'vâvasu as the calf, into a vessel in the form of a lotus, the milk of sweet music and beauty. (18) The ones of great fortune, the demigods of faith, produced, from the realm of the ancestors, from Aryamâ, the milk of the offerings of food into an unbaked earthen pot. (19) To Kapila as the calf as settled by the perfected ones and the scholars and alike [Vidyâdharas], came the knowledge of proceeding at will to yogic mystic powers with the ether [as the milkingpot]. (20) Others of magical and mystical powers [the Kimpurushas] produced from Maya [the astronomer and poet or the likewise asura architect of the Daityas] as the calf, with concentration the milk of the wonderous ability of making the body invisible. (21) The descendants of Kuvera, the demons, ghosts and witches [respectively the Yakshas, Râkshasas, Bhûtas and Pis'âcas] who are all habituated to eating meat, milked out with Lord S'iva's incarnation Rudra [Bhûtanâtha] as the calf, a beverage made of blood in a pot of skulls. (22) Likewise produced the snakes with and without hoods, the scorpions and the constrictor snakes, with Takshaka, their chief, as the calf, the milk of poison in the pot of the snakepit.(23-24) The four-legged produced from the calf of the bull-carrier of Lord S'iva [Nandi] of the green grasses their milk in the pot of the wilderness, the other sharp toothed animals, the predators, took to the lion as the calf the flesh of other beings and to the calf of Garuda took the birds into the pot of their own body the moving as also the nonmoving living beings as the milk. (25) Producing from the calf of the Banyan tree gave the different trees milk in the form of juices while the hills and mountains with the Himalayas as the calf, produced the various minerals from their peaks. (26) That way was, with the calves that were their chiefs, into their own different milking pots everything desired supplied as the milk procured from the planet earth controlled by King Prithu.
(27) O chief of the Kurus, milking the earth with the different calfs, pots and milkers, was thus by Prithu and the others following his example, the milk obtained of all the different forms of food as were desired by the living entities in need. (28) Thereafter treated the king, Prithu, being very pleased with all desirables produced as milk, the planet earth, full of affection for her, as if she were his own daughter. (29) By the power of his bow had the emperor broken open all the hilltops of the entire earth and thus had the mighty son of Vena cultivated her almost completely. (30) So was the Supreme Lord present on this earth as the son of Vena, as a father to the citizens, employing them and setting left and right for numbers of suitable dwelling-places according the need: (31) villages, settlements and forts of different kinds, as also habitations for the milkmen, pens for livestock, camps, mines and agricultural towns and mountain villages. (32) Before Prithu was there on this earth surely never this kind of planning of towns and villages; one used to live everywhere unrestricted to one's convenience.
Second edition, loaded 26 October, 2006. 
Source texts:
Mahârâja Prithu Milks the Earth Planet
Maitreya said: 'After thus having offered King Prithu prayers, were his lips still trembling of anger. She, the planet earth, in fear, then knew to make up her mind and spoke again:The great saint Maitreya continued to address Vidura: My dear Vidura, at that time, after the planet earth finished her prayers, King Prithu was still not pacified, and his lips trembled in great anger. Although the planet earth was frightened, she made up her mind and began to speak as follows in order to convince the King. (Vedabase)
'Please pacify your anger o King, try to understand that what I have said, was said by me as someone who like an intelligent person takes the essence from everywhere like a bumblebee does.
My dear Lord, please pacify your anger completely and hear patiently whatever I submit before you. Please turn your kind attention to this. I may be very poor, but a learned man takes the essence of knowledge from all places, just as a bumblebee collects honey from each and every flower. (Vedabase)
For the duration of this life as well as the next were by the great sages, the seers of truth, the methods prescribed applied, so that the people in general might also benefit.
To benefit all human society, not only in this life but in the next, the great seers and sages have prescribed various methods conducive to the prosperity of the people in general. (Vedabase)
For anyone who follows in full the principles as of old instructed to the inexperienced who live by faith, is it very easy to enjoy the fruits of action.
One who follows the principles and instructions enjoined by the great sages of the past can utilize these instructions for practical purposes. Such a person can very easily enjoy life and pleasures. (Vedabase)
He who in neglect, as a speculator, derives from his own individual schemes will see himself fail again and again in pursuing his goals.
A foolish person who manufactures his own ways and means through mental speculation and does not recognize the authority of the sages who lay down unimpeachable directions is simply unsuccessful again and again in his attempts. (Vedabase)
All the herbs and seeds that before were created by Lord Brahmâ, o King, and are entertained by me, are now seen in the hands of the unchaste of disrespect for the holy practice.
My dear King, the seeds, roots, herbs and grains, which were created by Lord Brahmâ in the past, are now being used by nondevotees, who are devoid of all spiritual understanding. (Vedabase)
Not being taken care of and neglected by local rulers like your goodness, have I, for this world that has fallen into thievery, hidden all the herbs and seeds needed for the offerings.
My dear King, not only are grains and herbs being used by nondevotees, but, as far as I am concerned, I am not being properly maintained. Indeed, I am being neglected by kings who are not punishing these rascals who have turned into thieves by using grains for sense gratification. Consequently I have hidden all these seeds, which were meant for the performance of sacrifice. (Vedabase)
Due to being within me for such a long time have those herbs and seeds deteriorated and thus should Your Majesty take them out the way it is prescribed.
Due to being stocked for a very long time, all the grain seeds within me have certainly deteriorated. Therefore you should immediately arrange to take these seeds out by the standard process, which is recommended by the âcâryas or s'âstras. (Vedabase)
O hero, arrange for a calf from me; from my affection for it I will, if you also arrange for a milking pot and a milkman, fulfill all your desires for milk for each of you, as well as, o mighty-armed one, o protector of the living beings, the food you wanted for feeding yourselves, if you so desire.
O great hero, protector of living entities, if you desire to relieve the living entities by supplying them sufficient grain, and if you desire to nourish them by taking milk from me, you should make arrangements to bring a calf suitable for this purpose and a pot in which the milk can be kept, as well as a milkman to do the work. Since I will be very much affectionate towards my calf, your desire to take milk from me will be fulfilled. (Vedabase)
Also will you have to engage in preparing me, the earth, o King; so that the waters that fell by the mercy of the godhead, keeping them for my sake, will also be of use to you after the rainy season has ended, o mighty one.'
My dear King, may I inform you that you have to make the entire surface of the globe level. This will help me, even when the rainy season has ceased. Rainfall comes by the mercy of King Indra. Rainfall will remain on the surface of the globe, always keeping the earth moistened, and thus it will be auspicious for all kinds of production. (Vedabase)
In consideration of the pleasing and good words of the earth, set the king, wise with a calf, himself to the task and got he, thus milking, hold of all the grains and herbs.
After hearing the auspicious and pleasing words of the planet earth, the King accepted them. He then transformed Svâyambhuva Manu into a calf and milked all the herbs and grains from the earth in the form of a cow, keeping them in his cupped hands. (Vedabase)
So also did all other men of intelligence that everywhere else accordingly taking care, milking Prithu's planet earth to their desire.
Others, who were as intelligent as King Prithu, also took the essence out of the earthly planet. Indeed, everyone took this opportunity to follow in the footsteps of King Prithu and get whatever he desired from the planet earth. (Vedabase)
O good one, the sages milking to the senses [as the pot], produced, by sage Brihaspati as the calf, milk in the pure form of vedic hymns.
All the great sages transformed Brihaspati into a calf, and making the senses into a pot, they milked all kinds of Vedic knowledge to purify words, mind and hearing. (Vedabase)
Producing from Indra, the king of heaven, as the calf, milked the godly into a golden pot the nectar of the milk of mental power and strength of body and senses.
All the demigods made Indra, the King of heaven, into a calf, and from the earth they milked the beverage soma, which is nectar. Thus they became very powerful in mental speculation and bodily and sensual strength. (Vedabase)
The sons of Diti, the enemies of God, produced from Prahlâda, the most important [devotee] among the godless, as the calf, the milk of fermented and distilled beverages in an iron pot.
The sons of Diti and the demons transformed Prahlâda Mahârâja, who was born in an asura family, into a calf, and they extracted various kinds of liquor and beer, which they put into a pot made of iron. (Vedabase)
The singers and indwellers of heaven produced from him who was named Vis'vâvasu as the calf, into a vessel in the form of a lotus, the milk of sweet music and beauty.
The inhabitants of Gandharvaloka and Apsaroloka made Vis'vâvasu into a calf, and they drew the milk into a lotus flower pot. The milk took the shape of sweet musical art and beauty. (Vedabase)
The ones of great fortune, the demigods of faith, produced, from the realm of the ancestors, from Aryamâ, the milk of the offerings of food into an unbaked earthen pot.
The fortunate inhabitants of Pitriloka, who preside over the funeral ceremonies, made Aryamâ into a calf. With great faith they milked kavya, food offered to the ancestors, into an unbaked earthen pot. (Vedabase)Text 19:
To Kapila as the calf as settled by the perfected ones and the scholars and alike [Vidyâdharas], came the knowledge of proceeding at will to yogic mystic powers with the ether [as the milkingpot].
After this, the inhabitants of Siddhaloka, as well as the inhabitants of Vidyâdhara-loka, transformed the great sage Kapila into a calf, and making the whole sky into a pot, they milked out specific yogic mystic powers, beginning with animâ. Indeed, the inhabitants of Vidyâdhara-loka acquired the art of flying in the sky. (Vedabase)
Others of magical and mystical powers [the Kimpurushas] produced from Maya [the astronomer and poet or the likewise asura architect of the Daityas] as the calf, with concentration the milk of the wonderous ability of making the body invisible.
Others also, the inhabitants of planets known as Kimpurusha-loka, made the demon Maya into a calf, and they milked out mystic powers by which one can disappear immediately from another's vision and appear again in a different form. (Vedabase)
The descendants of Kuvera, the demons, ghosts and witches [respectively the Yakshas, Râkshasas, Bhûtas and Pis'âcas] who are all habituated to eating meat, milked out with Lord S'iva's incarnation Rudra [Bhûtanâtha] as the calf, a beverage made of blood in a pot of skulls.
Then the Yakshas, Râkshasas, ghosts and witches, who are habituated to eating flesh, transformed Lord S'iva's incarnation Rudra [Bhûtanâtha] into a calf and milked out beverages made of blood and put them in a pot made of skulls. (Vedabase)
Likewise produced the snakes with and without hoods, the scorpions and the constrictor snakes, with Takshaka, their chief, as the calf, the milk of poison in the pot of the snakepit.
Thereafter cobras and snakes without hoods, large snakes, scorpions and many other poisonous animals took poison out of the planet earth as their milk and kept this poison in snake holes. They made a calf out of Takshaka. (Vedabase)
The four-legged produced from the calf of the bull-carrier of Lord S'iva [Nandi] of the green grasses their milk in the pot of the wilderness, the other sharp toothed animals, the predators, took to the lion as the calf the flesh of other beings and to the calf of Garuda took the birds into the pot of their own body the moving as also the nonmoving living beings as the milk.
The four-legged animals like the cows made a calf out of the bull who carries Lord S'iva and made a milking pot out of the forest. Thus they got fresh green grasses to eat. Ferocious animals like tigers transformed a lion into a calf, and thus they were able to get flesh for milk. The birds made a calf out of Garuda and took milk from the planet earth in the form of moving insects and nonmoving plants and grasses. (Vedabase)
Producing from the calf of the Banyan tree gave the different trees milk in the form of juices while the hills and mountains with the Himalayas as the calf, produced the various minerals from their peaks.
The trees made a calf out of the banyan tree, and thus they derived milk in the form of many delicious juices. The mountains transformed the Himalayas into a calf, and they milked a variety of minerals into a pot made of the peaks of hills. (Vedabase)
That way was, with the calves that were their chiefs, into their own different milking pots everything desired supplied as the milk procured from the planet earth controlled by King Prithu.
The planet earth supplied everyone his respective food. During the time of King Prithu, the earth was fully under the control of the King. Thus all the inhabitants of the earth could get their food supply by creating various types of calves and putting their particular types of milk in various pots. (Vedabase)
O chief of the Kuru's, milking the earth with the different calfs, pots and milkers, was thus by Prithu and the others following his example, the milk obtained of all the different forms of food as were desired by the living entities in need.
My dear Vidura, chief of the Kurus, in this way King Prithu and all the others who subsist on food created different types of calves and milked out their respective eatables. Thus they received their various foodstuffs, which were symbolized as milk. (Vedabase)
Thereafter treated the king, Prithu, being very pleased with all desirables produced as milk, the planet earth, full of affection for her, as if she were his own daughter.
Thereafter King Prithu was very satisfied with the planet earth, for she sufficiently supplied all food to various living entities. Thus he developed an affection for the planet earth, just as if she were his own daughter. (Vedabase)
By the power of his bow had the emperor broken open all the hilltops of the entire earth and thus had the mighty son of Vena cultivated her almost completely.
After this, the king of all kings, Mahârâja Prithu, leveled all rough places on the surface of the globe by breaking up the hills with the strength of his bow. By his grace the surface of the globe almost became flat. (Vedabase)
So was the Supreme Lord present on this earth as the son of Vena, as a father to the citizens, employing them and setting left and right for numbers of suitable dwelling-places according the need:
To all the citizens of the state, King Prithu was as good as a father. Thus he was visibly engaged in giving them proper subsistence and proper employment for subsistence. After leveling the surface of the globe, he earmarked different places for residential quarters, inasmuch as they were desirable. (Vedabase)
villages, settlements and forts of different kinds, as also habitations for the milkmen, pens for livestock, camps, mines and agricultural towns and mountain villages.
In this way the King founded many types of villages, settlements and towns and built forts, residences for cowherdsmen, stables for the animals, and places for the royal camps, mining places, agricultural towns and mountain villages. (Vedabase)
Before Prithu was there on this earth surely never this kind of planning of towns and villages; one used to live everywhere unrestricted to ones convenience.
Before the reign of King Prithu there was no planned arrangement for different cities, villages, pasturing grounds, etc. Everything was scattered, and everyone constructed his residential quarters according to his own convenience. However, since King Prithu plans were made for towns and villages. (Vedabase)
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