358 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 5, Ch. 10
from the piercing trident of Lord Siva; na—nor; yamasya—of the
superintendent of death, Yamaraja; dandét—from the punishment;
na—nor; agni—of fire; arka—of the scorching heat of the sun; soma—
of the moon; anila—of the wind; vitta-pa—of the owner of riches,
Kuvera, the treasurer of the heavenly planets; astrat—from the weap-
ons; Sanke—I am afraid; bhrsam—very much; brahma-kula—the
group of the brahmanas; avamanat—from offending.
TRANSLATION |

My dear sir, I am not at all afraid of the thunderbolt of King In-
dra, nor am I afraid of the serpentine, piercing trident of Lord
Siva. I do not care about the punishment of Yamaraja, the superin-
tendent of death, nor am I afraid of fire, scorching sun, moon,
wind, nor the weapons of Kuvera. Yet I am afraid of offending a
brahmana. I am very much afraid of this.

PURPORT

When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was instructing Rapa Gosvami at the
Dasasvamedha-ghata in Prayaga, He pointed out very clearly the serious-
ness of offending a Vaisnava. He compared the vaisnava-apardadha to
hati mata, a mad elephant. When a mad elephant enters a garden, it
spoils all the fruits and flowers. Similarly, if one offends a Vaisnava, he
spoils all his spiritual assets. Offending a brahmana is very dangerous,
and this was known to Maharaja Rahigana. He therefore frankly admit-
ted his fault. There are many dangerous things—thunderbolts, fire,
Yamaraja’s punishment, the punishment of Lord Siva’s trident, and so
forth—but none is considered as serious as offending a brahmana like
Jada Bharata. Therefore Maharaja Rahigana immediately descended
from his palanquin and fell flat before the lotus feet of the brahmana
Jada Bharata just to be excused.

TEXT 18
a FaARt seafaye-
frarattat = aT: |
