Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Srimad Bhagavatam: Pearl 8


ON STEALING FROM A BRAHMIN: KING NRGA A CHAMELEON

I am not a Brahmin but my personal views on Brahminism have attracted certain views that need further explanation. Since these days I am posting pearls from ‘Srimad Bhagwatam’ and was going though this section I came across several verses which endorse that confiscating a Brahmin's money is highly sinful.


Chapter 64, verses 12: Donating a cow and that too to a Brahmin is a great virtue.


Chapter 64, verses 14-15: And this statement is uttered by none other than Lord Krishna Himself while He narrates King Nrga’s story to His clan. The king firmly believes in performing vedic sacrifices and undertaking various pious welfare activities as recommended by Rukmaniji and Satyaji. The king had offered, gold, houses, elephants, marriageable girls, silver, jewellery and many cows to Brahmins but unknowingly treated a Brahmin’s cow as his own and hence had to pay heavily for it. He was turned into a chameleon.


Chapter 64, verse 31: -- Nobody, not even the mighty Fire can impound the assets of a Brahmin, leave alone ordinary mortals namely Yadavs, Kings or other Kshatriyas who presume they are Lords.


Chapter 64, verse 32: – We have a cure for halahala or poison but there is no antidote for the deadliest poison which is stealing a Brahmin’s property. Truly speaking the first one merely kills a person but the second destroys his entire lineage. The same theme persists till verse 44. This further highlights the fact that Lord Krishna can be appeased only by His Grace and not by following any other route.


Chapter 63, verse 45:
Before this occurrence Lord Shiva invokes the grace of Lord Krishna on Banasur, son of Vairocani, pleading that he hails from the family of Prahladji, a great devotee. Lord Krishna sincerely honours this commitment since He had already promised Prahaldji of not killing any demon who happened to be his descendant (47).

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