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Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 1.16.5
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A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 5
- śaunaka uvāca
- kasya hetor nijagrāha
- kaliṁ digvijaye nṛpaḥ
- nṛdeva-cihna-dhṛk śūdra-
- ko 'sau gāṁ yaḥ padāhanat
- tat kathyatāṁ mahā-bhāga
- yadi kṛṣṇa-kathāśrayam
śaunakaḥŚaunaka Ṛṣi said uvācaŚaunaka Ṛṣi said — Śaunaka Ṛṣi said; kasyafor what — for what; hetoḥreason — reason; nijagrāhasufficiently punished — sufficiently punished; kalimthe master of the age of Kali — the master of the age of Kali; digvijayeduring the time of his world tour — during the time of his world tour; nṛpaḥthe King — the King; nṛroyal person-devaroyal person — royal person; cihnadecorated like-dhṛkdecorated like — decorated like; śūdrakaḥlowest of the śūdras — lowest of the śūdras; asauhe — he; gāmcow — cow; yaḥone who — one who; padāstruck on the leg ahanatstruck on the leg — struck on the leg; tatall that — all that; kathyatāmplease describe — please describe; mahāO greatly fortunate one-bhāgaO greatly fortunate one — O greatly fortunate one; yadiif, however — if, however; kṛṣṇaabout Kṛṣṇa — about Kṛṣṇa; kathārelated with His topics-āśrayamrelated with His topics — related with His topics.
Śaunaka Ṛṣi inquired: Why did Mahārāja Parīkṣit simply punish him, since he was the lowest of the śūdras, having dressed as a king and having struck a cow on the leg? Please describe all these incidents if they relate to the topics of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Śaunaka and the ṛṣis were astonished to hear that the pious Mahārāja Parīkṣit simply punished the culprit and did not kill him. This suggests that a pious king like Mahārāja Parīkṣit should have at once killed an offender who wanted to cheat the public by dressing like a king and at the same time daring to insult the purest of the animals, a cow. The ṛṣis in those days, however, could not even imagine that in the advanced days of the age of Kali the lowest of the śūdras will be elected as administrators and will open organized slaughterhouses for killing cows. Anyway, although hearing about a śūdraka who was a cheat and insulter of a cow was not very interesting to the great ṛṣis, they nevertheless wanted to hear about it to see if the event had any connection with Lord Kṛṣṇa. They were simply interested in the topics of Lord Kṛṣṇa, for anything that is dovetailed with the narration of Kṛṣṇa is worth hearing. There are many topics in the Bhāgavatam about sociology, politics, economics, cultural affairs, etc., but all of them are in relation with Kṛṣṇa, and therefore all of them are worth hearing. Kṛṣṇa is the purifying ingredient in all matters, regardless of what they are. In the mundane world, everything is impure due to its being a product of the three mundane qualities. The purifying agent, however, is Kṛṣṇa.