74 Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

are unlimited. You are the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of
Godhead and the Supreme Brahman. I therefore offer my respectful
obeisances unto You again and again. My dear Lord, Your body is full of
transcendental bliss and knowledge, and You are eternal. You are the
master of all mystic powers; therefore You are known as Y ogegvara. Kindly
accept me as insignificant dust at Your lotus feet.”

Before entering the heavenly planets, King Nrga circumambulated the
Lord. He touched his helmet to the lotus feet of the Lord and bowed
before Him. Seeing the airplane from the heavenly planets present before
him, he was given permission by the Lord to board it. After the departure
of King Nrga, Lord Krsna expressed His appreciation for the King’s devo-
tion to the brahmanas as well as his charitable disposition and his perform-
ance of Vedic rituals. Therefore, it is recommended that if one cannot
directly become a devotee of the Lord, one should follow the Vedic prin-
ciples of life. This will enable him, one day, to see the Lord by being
promoted either directly to the spiritual kingdom or indirectly to the
heavenly kingdom, where he has hope of being transferred to the spiritual
planets.

At this time, Lord Krsna was present among His relatives who were
members of the ksatriya class. To teach them through the exemplary
character of King Nrga, He said: “‘Even though a ksatriya king may be as
powerful as fire, it is not possible for him to usurp the property of a
brahmana and utilize it for his own purpose. If this is so, how can ordinary
kings, who falsely think of themselves as the most powerful beings within
the material world, usurp a brahmana’s property? I do not think that
taking poison is as dangerous as taking a brahmana’s property. For ordinary
poison there is treatment—one can be relieved from its effects; but if one
drinks the poison of taking a brahmana’s property, there is no remedy for
the mistake. The perfect example was King Nrga. He was very powerful
and very pious, but due to the small mistake of unknowingly usurping a
brahmana’s cow, he was condemned to the abominable life of a lizard.
Ordinary poison affects only those who drink it, and ordinary fire can be
extinguished simply by pouring water on it; but the arani fire ignited by
the spiritual potency of a brahmana can burn to ashes the whole family of
a person who provokes such a brahmana.” (Formerly, the brahmanas used
to ignite the fire of sacrifice not with matches or any other external fire
but with their powerful mantras, called arani.) “If someone even touches
a brahmana’s property, he is ruined for three generations. However, if a
brahmana’s property is forcibly taken away, the taker’s family for ten
generations before him and for ten generations after him will become
