980
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 1, Ch. 18]
great sin of cursing a person who was completely free from all sins, who was subordinate and who deserved to be protected.
PURPORT
Everyone is responsible for his own action, either pious or sinful. The Rṣi Śamīk could foresee that his son had committed a great sin by cursing Mahārāja Parīkṣit, who deserved to be protected by the  brāhmaṇas , for he was a pious ruler and completely free from all sins because of his being a first-class devotee of the Lord. When an offense is done unto the devotee of the Lord, it is very difficult to overcome the reaction. The  brāhmaṇas , being at the head of the social orders, are meant to give protection to their subordinates and not to curse them. There are occasions when a  brāhmaṇa  may furiously curse a subordinate  kṣatriya  or  vaiśya , etc., but in the case of Mahārāja Parīkṣit there was no grounds as already explained. The foolish boy had done it out of sheer vanity in being a  brāhmaṇa's  son, and thus he became liable to be punished by the law of God. The Lord never forgives a person who condemns His pure devotee. Therefore the foolish Śrṇgi had not only committed a sin by cursing a king, but also the greatest offense. Therefore the rṣi could foresee that only the Supreme Personality of Godhead could save his boy from his sinful act. He therefore directly prayed for pardon from the Supreme Lord who alone can undo a thing which is impossible to change. The appeal was made in the name of a foolish boy who had developed no intelligence at all.
A question may be raised herein that since it was the desire of the Lord that Parīkṣit Mahārāja was put into that awkward position so that he might be delivered from material existence, then why was a  brāhmaṇa's  son made responsible for this offensive act? The answer is that the offensive act was performed by a child only so that he could be excused very easily, and thus the prayer of the father was accepted. But if the question is raised why the  brāhmaṇa  community as a whole was made responsible for allowing Kali into the world affairs, the answer is given in the  Varāha Purāṇa  that the demons who acted inimically toward the Personality of Godhead but were not killed by the Lord were allowed to take birth in the families of the  brāhmaṇas  to take advantage of the age of Kali. The all-merciful Lord gave them a chance to have their births in the families of the pious  brāhmaṇas  so that they could progress toward salvation. But the demons, instead of utilizing the good opportunity, misused the brahminical culture due to being puffed-up by vanity in becoming  brāhmaṇas . The typical example is the son of Śamīk Rṣi, and all the foolish sons of  brāhmaṇas  are warned