Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 4.20.18

spriśantam pādayoh premnā

vrīditam svena karmanā

śata-kratum parishvajya

vidvesham visasarja ha

SYNONYMS

spriśantam — touching; pādayoh — the feet; premnā — in ecstasy; vrīditam — ashamed; svena — his own; karmanā — by activities; śata-kratum — King Indra; parishvajya — embracing; vidvesham — envy; visasarja — gave up; ha — of course.

TRANSLATION

As King Indra was standing by, he became ashamed of his own activities and fell down before King Prithu to touch his lotus feet. But Prithu Mahārāja immediately embraced him in great ecstasy and gave up all envy against him for his having stolen the horse meant for the sacrifice.

PURPORT

There are many cases in which a person becomes an offender to the lotus feet of a Vaishnava and later becomes repentant. Here also we find that although the King of heaven, Indra, was so powerful that he accompanied Lord Vishnu, he felt himself a great offender for stealing Prithu Mahārāja's horse that was meant for sacrifice. An offender at the lotus feet of a Vaishnava is never excused by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There are many instances illustrating this fact. Ambarīsha Mahārāja was offended by Durvāsā Muni, a great sage and mystic yogī, and Durvāsā also had to fall down at the lotus feet of Ambarīsha Mahārāja. Indra decided to fall down at the lotus feet of King Prithu, but the King was so magnanimous a Vaishnava that he did not want Mahārāja Indra to fall down at his feet. Instead, King Prithu immediately picked him up and embraced him, and both of them forgot all the past incidents. Both King Indra and Mahārāja Prithu were envious and angry with each other, but since both of them were Vaishnavas, or servants of Lord Vishnu, it was their duty to adjust the cause of their envy. This is also a first-class example of cooperative behavior between Vaishnavas. In the present days, however, because people are not Vaishnavas, they fight perpetually among one another and are vanquished without finishing the mission of human life. There is a great need to propagate the Krishna consciousness movement in the world so that even though people sometimes become angry and malicious toward one another, because of their being Krishna conscious such rivalry, competition and envy can be adjusted without difficulty.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness