Text 17] Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa Meets Jaḍa Bharata
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you? Are you a learned brāhmaṇa and saintly person? I see that you are wearing a sacred thread. Are you one of those exalted, liberated saints such as Dattātreya and other highly advanced, learned scholars? May I ask whose disciple you are? Where do you live? Why have you come to this place? Is your mission in coming here to do good for us? Please let me know who you are.
PURPORT
Mahārāja Rahūgaṇa was very anxious to receive further enlightenment in Vedic knowledge because he could understand that Jaḍa Bharata belonged to a  brāhmaṇa  family either by disciplic succession or by birth in a  brāhmaṇa  dynasty. As stated in the  Vedas: tad vijñānārtham sa gurum evābhigacchet . Rahūgaṇa was accepting Jaḍa Bharata as a  guru , but a  guru  must prove his position not only by wearing a sacred thread but by advancing knowledge in spiritual life. It is also significant that Rahūgaṇa asked Jaḍa Bharata which family he belonged to. There are two types of families—one according to dynasty and the other according to disciplic succession. In either way, one can be enlightened. The word  śuklaḥ  refers to a person in the mode of goodness. If one wants to receive spiritual knowledge, he must approach a bona fide  brāhmaṇa-guru , either in the disciplic succession or in a family of learned  brāhmaṇas .
TEXT 17
नाहं विशङ्के सुरराजवज्रा- न त्र्यक्षशूलान्न यमस्य दण्डात् । नाग्न्यर्कसोमानिलवित्तपास्त्रा- च्छङ्के भृशं ब्रह्मकुलावमानात् ॥१७॥
nāham viśaṅke sura-rāja-vajrān na tryakṣa-śūlān na yamasya daṇḍāt nāgny-arka-somānila-vittapāstrāc chaṅke bhṛśam brahma-kulāvamānāt
na—not; aham—I; viśaṅke—am afraid; sura-rāja-vajrāt—from the thunderbolt of the King of heaven, Indra; na—nor; tryakṣa-śūlāt—