Canto 1 - Boyhood
Bāla-kāṇḍa
Chapter 53: Śabalā Feeds King Viśvāmitra and his Entourage
Text 1.53.26
अदोमूलः क्रियाः सर्वा मम राजन्न संशयः।
बहुना किं प्रलापेन न दास्ये कामदोहिनीम्॥
ado-mūlaḥ kriyāḥ sarvā mama rājan na saṁśayaḥ
bahunā kiṁ pralāpena na dāsye kāma-dohinīm
1 Śabalā is a wish-fulfilling cow in the restricted sense of the term, unlike Kṛṣṇa’s cows in Goloka Vṛndāvana.
“What is the need of much useless talk?” means “You are talking a lot uselessly.”
NOTE. Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, notes in Bhagavad-gītā 10.28—dhenūnām asmi kāmadhuk: “Among cows I am the surabhi.”
Śrīla Prabhupāda informs us, “In Kṛṣṇaloka in the spiritual sky there are cows which can be milked at any time, and they give as much milk as one likes. Of course such cows do not exist in this material world, but there is mention of them in Kṛṣṇaloka. The Lord keeps many such cows, which are called surabhi. It is stated that the Lord is engaged in herding the surabhi cows.”
It is to be understood that Vasiṣṭha’s Śabalā was slightly blessed with the potency of the cows in the spiritual world.1