Canto 10: The Summum BonumChapter 12: The Killing of the Demon Aghāsura

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.12.43

vayaḿ dhanyatamā loke

guro 'pi kṣatra-bandhavaḥ

vayaḿ pibāmo muhus tvattaḥ

puṇyaḿ kṛṣṇa-kathāmṛtam

SYNONYMS

vayam — we are; dhanya-tamāḥ — most glorified; lokein this world; guroO my lord, my spiritual master; api — although; kṣatra-bandhavaḥ — the lowest of the kṣatriyas (because we did not act like kṣatriyas); vayam — we are; pibāmaḥ — drinking; muhuḥ — always; tvattaḥ — from you; puṇyam — pious; kṛṣṇa-kathā-amṛtam — the nectar of kṛṣṇa-kathā.

TRANSLATION

O my lord, my spiritual master, although we are the lowest of kṣatriyas, we are glorified and benefited because we have the opportunity of always hearing from you the nectar of the pious activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

PURPORT

The pious activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are very confidential. It is not ordinarily possible to hear such activities unless one is very, very fortunate. Parīkṣit Mahārāja placed himself as kṣatra-bandhavaḥ, which means "the lowest of the kṣatriyas." The qualities of the kṣatriya are described in Bhagavad-gītā, and although the general quality of the kṣatriya is īśvara-bhāva, the tendency to rule, a kṣatriya is not supposed to rule over a brāhmaṇa. Thus Mahārāja Parīkṣit regretted that he had wanted to rule over the brāhmaṇas and had therefore been cursed. He considered himself the lowest of the kṣatriyas. Dānam īśvara-bhāvaś ca kṣātraḿ karma svabhāvajam (Bg. 18.43). There was no doubt that Mahārāja Parīkṣit had the good qualities of a kṣatriya, but as a devotee he presented himself, with submissiveness and humility, as the lowest of the kṣatriyas, remembering his act of wrapping a dead serpent around the neck of a brāhmaṇa. A student and disciple has the right to ask the guru about any confidential service, and it is the duty of the guru to explain these confidential matters to his disciple.

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