Individual verses with meanings
Hari Om.
Let us begin the fifty third sarga of the bAlakAnDam with offering our prostrations at the lotus feet of SrIrAma and our sathguru. Sage vasisTha and king kauSika have a hearty conversation after which the sage asks the king to accept his hospitality. After some initial hesitation, kauSika accepts and vaSisTha summons Sabala, the wish-fulfilling cow to make arrangements for the feast. Onwards…
SatAnanda continued, O rAma, charged thus by her master vaSisTha, sabala created honey, sugar cane juice, tasty syrup, high quality intoxicating drinks coupled with fried grains and variety of food. Further, sumptuous delicacies including heaps of rice, varieties of food of six tastes that can be eaten, slurped, drunk were created and served such that each one of the guests were satisfied. Every single soldier in viSwAmitra’s army and brAhmins were satiated and so were the royals. Even the inhabitants of the hermitage felt fulfilled at this whole event. At the end of it, kauSika acknowledged to vaSisTha and said that they entire entourage was very well fed and taken care of. And he said further…
O revered brAhmin, this wish fulfilling cow is verily a gem! And a gem rightfully belongs to the king. I shall give you a hundred thousand cows in exchange for this. Please give sabala to me. At this request, the great sage vaSisTha said, O king, not for a hundred crore cows can I exchange Sabala. My relationship with her is as eternal as the fame of a righteous man. All my rituals, offering oblations to gods and forefathers, hOmam, feeding of all creatures, offerings to fire god and our sustenance depends on this cow. I cannot part with it. svAha, vashaT and other branches of learning are verily dependent on this cow. This cow is everything to me and keeps me contented. This and there are several reasons why I can’t part with this cow at all. As vaSisTha, made these justifications skilfully, viSwAmitra upped the ante and made another offer.
O sage, I shall give you a fourteen thousand elephants whose necks and girths have fittings of gold. Further I shall give you eight hundred gold chariots each yolked to four white horses of highest breed decked with jingling golden bells. Further, O great sage, I shall gift you eleven thousand horses of high breed collected from different countries. One crore young cows shall be yours. You ask for any amount of jewels and gold and all that will be yours. Give me this wonderful Sabala. The sage was not at all impressed with this bargain. He flatly refused and politely said, O king, this cow is verily my jewel, my wealth, my everything and my very life!
My vows during the full moon and no moon days and all other times, all my rituals are enabled by this cow. Hence why all this banter about it, I shall not part with Sabala – the wish-fulfilling cow.
Here we conclude the fifty third sarga of the bAla kAnDam of SrImath vAlmiKi rAmAyaNam and humbly offer it at the lotus feet of SrIrAma. Hari: Om!
jAi SrIrAma.
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rAmabhaktisAmrAjyam 