Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.10.21

tiraścām aṣṭamaḥ sargaḥ

so 'ṣṭāviḿśad-vidho mataḥ

avido bhūri-tamaso

ghrāṇa-jñā hṛdy avedinaḥ

SYNONYMS

tiraścām — species of lower animals; aṣṭamaḥ — the eighth; sargaḥ — creation; saḥ — they are; aṣṭāviḿśat — twenty-eight; vidhaḥ — varieties; mataḥ — considered; avidaḥ — without knowledge of tomorrow; bhūri — extensively; tamasaḥ — ignorant; ghrāṇa-jñāḥ — can know desirables by smell; hṛdi avedinaḥ — can remember very little in the heart.

TRANSLATION

The eighth creation is that of the lower species of life, and they are of different varieties, numbering twenty-eight. They are all extensively foolish and ignorant. They know their desirables by smell, but are unable to remember anything within the heart.

PURPORT

In the Vedas the symptoms of the lower animals are described as follows: athetareṣāḿ paśūnāḥ aśanāpipāse evābhivijñānaḿ na vijñātaḿ vadanti na vijñātaḿ paśyanti na viduḥ śvastanaḿ na lokālokāv iti; yad vā, bhūri-tamaso bahu-ruṣaḥ ghrāṇenaiva jānanti hṛdyaḿ prati svapriyaḿ vastv eva vindanti bhojana-śayanādy-arthaḿ gṛhṇanti. "Lower animals have knowledge only of their hunger and thirst. They have no acquired knowledge, no vision. Their behavior exhibits no dependence on formalities. Extensively ignorant, they can know their desirables only by smell, and by such intelligence only can they understand what is favorable and unfavorable. Their knowledge is concerned only with eating and sleeping." Therefore, even the most ferocious lower animals, such as tigers, can be tamed simply by regularly supplying meals and accommodations for sleeping. Only snakes cannot be tamed by such an arrangement.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness