Text 70] Ambarisa Maharaja Offended by Durvisi Muni 145

acted with self-envy. Therefore you should go to him immediately,
without a moment’s delay. One’s so-called prowess, when em-
ployed against the devotee, certainly harms he who employs it.
Thus it is the subject, not the object, who is harmed.

PURPORT

A Vaisnava is always an object of envy for nondevotees, even when the
nondevotee happens to be his father. To give a practical example,
Hiranyakasipu was envious of Prahlada Maharaja, but this envy of the
devotee was harmful to Hiranyakasipu, not to Prahlada. Every action
taken by Hiranyakasipu against his son Prahlada Maharaja was taken
very seriously by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and thus when
Hiranyakasipu was on the verge of killing Prahlada, the Lord personally
appeared and killed Hiranyakasipu. Service to a Vaisnava gradually ac-
cumulates and becomes an asset for the devotee. Similarly, harmful ac-
tivities directed against the devotee gradually become the ultimate cause
of the performer’s falldown. Even such a great brahmana and mystic
yogi as Durvasa was in a most dangerous situation because of his offense
at the lotus feet of Maharaja Ambarisa, a pure devotee.

TEXT 70

ant frat a frat fatrarat se |
a aq seals HII FATT lel

tapo vidya ca vipranam
nihsreyasa-kare ubhe
te eva durvinitasya

kalpete kartur anyatha

tapah—austerities; vidya—knowledge; ca—also; vipranadm—of the
brahmanas; nihsreyasa—of what is certainly very auspicious for uplift-
ment; kare—are causes; ubhe—both of them; te—such austerity and
knowledge; eva—indeed; durvinitasya—when such a person is an
upstart; kalpete—become; kartuh—of the performer; anyatha—just
the opposite.
