Shloka

सहयज्ञाः प्रजाः सृष्ट्वा पुरोवाच प्रजापतिः |
अनेन प्रसविष्यध्वमेष वोऽस्त्विष्टकामधुक् ||३-१०||

Transliteration

sahayajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā purovāca prajāpatiḥ .
anena prasaviṣyadhvameṣa vo.astviṣṭakāmadhuk ||3-10||

Translations

Dr.S.Sankaranarayan

3.10. Having created creatures formerly [at the time of creation] together with necessary action, the Lord of creatures declared : ‘By means of this, you shalll propagate yourselves; and let this be your wish-fulfilling-cow.’

Shri Purohit Swami

3.10 In the beginning, when God created all beings by the sacrifice of Himself, He said unto them: Through sacrifice you can procreate, and it shall satisfy all your desires.

Sri Abhinav Gupta

3.10 Saha-etc. The lord of creatures, the Supreme Soul, created creatures, just together with actions. It has also been declared by Him that the procreation i.e., lineage of creatures is through actions alone; these alone would give them what is desired viz., either the cycle of birth-and-death or emancipation - the cycle of birth-and-death is due to attachment and emancipation, due to the freedom from attachment. The sense-objects deserve to be enjoyed only by those for whom emancipation is the most important. This is declared :

Sri Ramanuja

3.10 As there is the scriptural text beginning with ‘The Lord of Universe’ (Tai. Na., 11.3), it is justifiable to take the term Prajapati in its wider connotation and interpret it to mean Narayana who is the Lord of all beings, the creator of the universe and the Self of the universe. In the beginning, i.e., during the creation, He, the Lord of beings, saw all beings helpless by their conjunction with beginningless non-conscient matter, bereft of the distinctions of name and form, and submerged in Himself. They were incapable of attaining the major ends of human existence, being almost one with non-conscient matter. He, the supremely compassionate, with a desire to resuscitate them, created them together with sacrifice in order that they might perform sacrifices as His worship and said: ‘By this sacrifice, shall you prosper,’ i.e., multiply and prosper. May this sacrifice fulfil your supreme object of desire called release (Moksa) and also the other desires that are in conformity with it.

How, then, should this be done?

Sri Shankaracharya

3.10 Pura, in the days of yore, in the beginning of creation; srstva, having created; prajah, the beings, the people of the three castes; saha-yajnah, together with the sacrifices; Prajapati, the creator of beings, uvaca, said; ‘Anena, by this sacrifice; prasavisyadhvam, you multiply.’ Prasava means origination, growth. ‘You accomplish that. Esah astu, let this sacrifice be; vah, your; ista-kama-dhuk, yielder of coveted objects of desire.’ That which yields (dhuk) coveted (ista) objects of desire (kama), particular results, is istakama-dhuk. How?

Swami Adidevananda

3.10 In the beginning the Lord of all beings, creating man along with the sacrifice, said: ‘By this shall you prosper; this shall be the cow of plenty granting all your wants.’

Swami Gambirananda

3.10 In the days of yore, having created the beings together with the sacrifices, Prajapati said: ‘By this you multiply. Let this be your yielder of coveted objects of desire.’

Swami Sivananda

3.10 The Creator, having in the beginning (of creation) created mankind together with sacrifice, said, “By this shall ye propagate; let this be the milch cow of your desires (the cow which yields all the desired objects).”

Commentaries

Swami Sivananda

3.10 सहयज्ञाः together with sacrifice? प्रजाः mankind? सृष्ट्वा having created? पुरा in the beginning? उवाच said? प्रजापतिः Prajapati? अनेन by this? प्रसविष्यध्वम् shall ye propagate? एषः this? वः your? अस्तु let be? इष्टकामधुक् milch cow of desires.Commentary Prajapati is the Creator or Brahma. Kamadhuk is another name for the cow Kamadhenu. Kamadhenu is the cow of Indra from which everyone can milk whatever one desires. (Cf.VIII.4IX.2427X.25).