SB 10.64.34 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

हिनस्ति विषमत्तारं वह्निरद्भ‍ि: प्रशाम्यति । कुलं समूलं दहति ब्रह्मस्वारणिपावक: ॥ ३४ ॥

Verse text

hinasti viṣam attāraṁ vahnir adbhiḥ praśāmyati kulaṁ sa-mūlaṁ dahati brahma-svāraṇi-pāvakaḥ

Synonyms

hinasti — destroys ; viṣam — poison ; attāram — the one who ingests ; vahniḥ — fire ; adbhiḥ — with water ; praśāmyati — is extinguished ; kulam — one’s family ; sa — mūlam — to the root ; dahati — burns ; brahma — sva — a brāhmaṇa’s property ; araṇi — whose kindling wood ; pāvakaḥ — the fire .

Translation

Poison kills only the person who ingests it, and an ordinary fire may be extinguished with water. But the fire generated from the kindling wood of a brāhmaṇa’s property burns the thief’s entire family down to the root.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Poison kills only the person who ingests it, and an ordinary fire may be extinguished with water. But the fire generated from the kindling wood of a brāhmaṇa's property burns the thief's entire family down to the root. KB 10.64.34 “Ordinary poison affects only those who drink it, and ordinary fire can be extinguished simply by pouring water on it, but the araṇi fire ignited by the spiritual potency of a brāhmaṇa who is dissatisfied can burn to ashes the whole family of a person who provokes such a brāhmaṇa. [Formerly, the brāhmaṇas used to ignite the fire of sacrifice not with matches or any other external fire but with their powerful mantras, called araṇi.]

Purport

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī compares the fire ignited by stealing a brāhmaṇa’s property to the fire that blazes within the cavity of an old tree. Such a fire cannot be put out even with the water of numerous rainfalls. Rather, it burns the whole tree from within, all the way down to the roots in the ground. Similarly, the fire ignited by stealing a brāhmaṇa’s property is the most deadly and should be avoided at all costs.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

"Even taking poison is preferable to taking a brahmana's property. Poison destroys the drinker." "Can it be compared to fire, which inflicts death on those who contact it?" " Fire leaves the roots intact. The fire which burns the brahmana's property is a special type of fire, difficult to control. Just as a fire burning in an old tree increases and cannot be extinguished by rainfall for many years, this fire burns the tree even to the root under the earth---that is, it destroys the family at its root."

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Poison kills only the drinker of it, not his relatives. Fire is extinguished completely (pra—śamyati) with water. The brāhmaṇa’s property is like a forest fire. All remedies do not lessen the effect at all. That fire destroys sons and grandsons as well as fathers and grandfathers (sa-mūlam).