Text 37] Nārada Muni Cursed by Prajāpati Dakṣa
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PURPORT
As soon as a  brāhmaṇa  takes birth, he assumes three kinds of debts—debts to great saints, debts to the demigods and debts to his father. The son of a  brāhmaṇa  must undergo celibacy ( brahmacarya ) to clear his debts to the saintly persons, he must perform ritualistic ceremonies to clear his debts to the demigods, and he must beget children to become free from his debts to his father. Prajāpati Dakṣa argued that although the renounced order is recommended for liberation, one cannot attain liberation unless one fulfills his obligations to the demigods, the saints and his father. Since Dakṣa's sons had not liberated themselves from these three debts, how could Nārada Muni have led them to the renounced order of life? Apparently, Prajāpati Dakṣa did not know the final decision of the  śāstras . As stated in  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  (11.5.41):
devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛṇām pitṛṇām 
        na kiṅkaro nāyam ṛṇī ca rājan 
        sarvātmanā yaḥ śaraṇam śaraṇyam 
        gato mukundam parihṛtya kartam
Everyone is indebted to the demigods, to living entities in general, to his family, to the  pitās  and so on, but if one fully surrenders to Kṛṣṇa, Mukunda, who can give one liberation, even if one performs no  yajñas , one is freed from all debts. Even if one does not repay his debts, he is freed from all debts if he renounces the material world for the sake of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose lotus feet are the shelter of everyone. This is the verdict of the  śāstra . Therefore Nārada Muni was completely right in instructing the sons of Prajāpati Dakṣa to renounce this material world immediately and take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Unfortunately, Prajāpati Dakṣa, the father of the Haryaśvas and Savalāśvas, did not understand the great service rendered by Nārada Muni. Dakṣa therefore addressed him as  pāpa  (the personality of sinful activities) and  asādhu  (a nonsaintly person). Since Nārada Muni was a great saint and Vaiṣṇava, he tolerated all such accusations from Prajāpati Dakṣa. He merely performed his duty as a Vaiṣṇava by delivering all the sons of Prajāpati Dakṣa, enabling them to return home, back to Godhead.