Canto 11: General HistoryChapter 23: The Song of the Avanti Brahmana.

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 11.23.5

kenacid bhiksuna gitam

paribhutena durjanaih

smarata dhrti-yuktena

vipakam nija-karmanam

SYNONYMS

kenacit -- by a certain; bhiksuna -- sannyasi; gitam -- sung; paribhutena -- who was insulted; durjanaih -- by impious persons; smarata -- remembering; dhrti-yuktena -- fixing his resolution; vipakam -- the consequences; nija-karmanam -- of his own past activities.

TRANSLATION

Once a certain sannyasi was insulted in many ways by impious men. However, with determination he remembered that he was suffering the fruit of his own previous karma. I will narrate to you his story and that which he spoke.

PURPORT

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura comments as follows. "Often those who give up the materialistic path and devote themselves to renunciation are attacked by impious persons. This analysis, however, is superficial, since the punishment is actually the cumulative result of one's past karma. Some renunciants show lack of tolerance when presented with the remnants of their previous sins and thus are forced to enter again onto the path of impious life. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu therefore instructs that one should become as tolerant as a tree. If a neophyte on the path of devotional service to the Lord's pure devotees is attacked by envious persons, he must accept it as a consequence of his previous fruitive activities. One should be intelligent and avoid future unhappiness by rejecting the ethic of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If one refuses to enter into enmity with envious men, they will automatically leave him alone."

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari