Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 5.9.17

iti teṣāḿ vṛṣalānāḿ rajas-tamaḥ-prakṛtīnāḿ dhana-mada-raja-utsikta-manasāḿ bhagavat-kalā-vīra-kulaḿ kadarthī-kṛtyotpathena svairaḿ viharatāḿ hiḿsā-vihārāṇāḿ karmāti-dāruṇaḿ yad brahma-bhūtasya sākṣād brahmarṣi-sutasya nirvairasya sarva-bhūta-suhṛdaḥ sūnāyām apy ananumatam ālambhanaḿ tad upalabhya brahma-tejasāti-durviṣaheṇa dandahyamānena vapuṣā sahasoccacāṭa saiva devī bhadra-kālī

SYNONYMS

iti — thus; teṣām — of them; vṛṣalānām — the śūdras, by whom all religious principles are destroyed; rajaḥ — in passion; tamaḥ — in ignorance; prakṛtīnām — having natures; dhana-mada — in the form of infatuation by material wealth; rajaḥ — by passion; utsikta — puffed up; manasām — whose minds; bhagavat-kalā — an expansion of the plenary expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; vīra-kulam — the group of elevated personalities (the brāhmaṇas); kat-arthī-kṛtya — disrespecting; utpathena — by a wrong path; svairam — independently; viharatām — who are proceeding; hiḿsā-vihārāṇām — whose business is to commit violence against others; karma — the activity; ati-dāruṇam — very fearful; yat — that which; brahma-bhūtasya — of a self-realized person born in a brāhmaṇa family; sākṣāt — directly; brahma-ṛṣi-sutasya — of the son born of a brāhmaṇa exalted in spiritual consciousness; nirvairasya — who had no enemies; sarva-bhūta-suhṛdaḥ — a well-wisher to all others; sūnāyām — at the last moment; api — even though; ananumatam — not being sanctioned by law; ālambhanam — against the desire of the Lord; tat — that; upalabhya — perceiving; brahma-tejasā — with the effulgence of spiritual bliss; ati-durviṣaheṇa — being too bright and unbearable; dandahyamānena — burning; vapuṣā — with a physical body; sahasā — suddenly; uccacāṭa — fractured (the deity); sā — she; eva — indeed; devī — the goddess; bhadra-kālī — Bhadra Kālī.

TRANSLATION

All the rogues and thieves who had made arrangements for the worship of goddess Kālī were low minded and bound to the modes of passion and ignorance. They were overpowered by the desire to become very rich; therefore they had the audacity to disobey the injunctions of the Vedas, so much so that they were prepared to kill Jaḍa Bharata, a self-realized soul born in a brāhmaṇa family. Due to their envy, these dacoits brought him before the goddess Kālī for sacrifice. Such people are always addicted to envious activities, and therefore they dared to try to kill Jaḍa Bharata. Jaḍa Bharata was the best friend of all living entities. He was no one's enemy, and he was always absorbed in meditation on the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He was born of a good brāhmaṇa father, and killing him was forbidden, even though he might have been an enemy or aggressive person. In any case, there was no reason to kill Jaḍa Bharata, and the goddess Kālī could not bear this. She could immediately understand that these sinful dacoits were about to kill a great devotee of the Lord. Suddenly the deity's body burst asunder, and the goddess Kālī personally emerged from it in a body burning with an intense and intolerable effulgence.

PURPORT

According to the Vedic injunctions, only an aggressor can be killed. If a person comes with an intent to kill, one can immediately take action and kill in self-defense. It is also stated that one can be killed if he comes to set fire to the home or to pollute or kidnap one's wife. Lord Rāmacandra killed the entire family of Rāvaṇa because Rāvaṇa kidnapped His wife, Sītādevī. However, killing is not sanctioned in the śāstras for other purposes. The killing of animals in sacrifice to the demigods, who are expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is sanctioned for those who eat meat. This is a kind of restriction for meat-eating. In other words, the slaughter of animals is also restricted by certain rules and regulations in the Vedas. Considering these points, there was no reason to kill Jaḍa Bharata, who was born in a respectable, highly exalted brāhmaṇa family. He was a God-realized soul and a well-wisher to all living entities. The Vedas did not at all sanction the killing of Jaḍa Bharata by rogues and thieves. Consequently the goddess Bhadra Kālī emerged from the deity to give protection to the Lord's devotee. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains that due to the Brahman effulgence of such a devotee as Jaḍa Bharata, the deity was fractured. Only thieves and rogues in the modes of passion and ignorance and maddened by material opulence offer a man in sacrifice before the goddess Kālī. This is not sanctioned by the Vedic instructions. Presently there are many hundreds and thousands of slaughterhouses throughout the world that are maintained by a puffed-up population mad for material opulence. Such activities are never supported by the Bhāgavata school.

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