316 Sri Caitanya-caritamrta [Antya-lila, Ch. 3
TEXT 213
SS-YSlA,—ASV-CHlA FIA SCA |
FB-QSlA,— SS- fey) AACS MN ACA NAsve i
bhakta-svabhava, ——ajfia-dosa ksama kare
krsna-svabhava, ——bhakta-ninda sahite nd pare
SYNONYMS
bhakta-svabhava—the characteristic of a pure devotee; ajfia-dosa—offense by
an ignorant rascal; ksama kare—excuses; krsna-svabhava—the characteristic of
Krsna; bhakta-ninda—blaspheming the devotees; sahite nd pare—cannot toler-
ate.
TRANSLATION
A characteristic of a pure devotee is that he excuses any offense by an ig-
norant rascal. The characteristic of Krsna, however, is that He cannot tolerate
blasphemy of His devotees.
PURPORT
§ri Caitanya Mahaprabhu taught:
trnad api sunicena
taror api sahisnuna
amdanind manadena
kirtaniyah sada harih
A Vaisnava strictly follows this principle of being humbler than the grass and more
tolerant than a tree, expecting no honor from others but offering honor to every-
one. In this way, a Vaisnava is simply interested in chanting about the Supreme
Personality of Godhead and glorifying Him. Haridaésa Thakura epitomized this
foremost order of Vaisnavism. Krsna cannot tolerate any insults or blasphemy
against a Vaisnava. For example, Prahlada Maharaja was chastised by his father,
HiranyakaSipu, in so many ways, but although Prahlada tolerated this, Krsna did
not. The Lord therefore came in the form of Nrsirhhadeva to kill Hiranyakasipu.
Similarly, although Srila Haridasa Thakura tolerated the insult by Gopala Cakravarti,
Krsna could not. The Lord immediately punished Gopala Cakravarti by making him
suffer from leprosy. While instructing Srila Rapa Gosvami about the many restric-
tive rules and regulations for Vaisnavas, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has very vividly
described the effects of offenses at the lotus feet of a Vaisnava. Yadi vaisnava-
aparadha uthe hati mata (Madhya 19.156). Offending or blaspheming a Vaisnava
