SB 10.66.30 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

दक्षिणाग्निं परिचर ब्राह्मणै: सममृत्विजम् । अभिचारविधानेन स चाग्नि: प्रमथैर्वृत: ॥ ३० ॥ साधयिष्यति सङ्कल्पमब्रह्मण्ये प्रयोजित: । इत्यादिष्टस्तथा चक्रे कृष्णायाभिचरन् व्रती ॥ ३१ ॥

Verse text

dakṣiṇāgniṁ paricara brāhmaṇaiḥ samam ṛtvijam abhicāra-vidhānena sa cāgniḥ pramathair vṛtaḥ sādhayiṣyati saṅkalpam abrahmaṇye prayojitaḥ ity ādiṣṭas tathā cakre kṛṣṇāyābhicaran vratī

Synonyms

dakṣiṇa — agnim — to the Dakṣiṇa fire ; paricara — you should render service ; brāhmaṇaiḥ — brāhmaṇas ; samam — together with ; ṛtvijam — the original priest ; abhicāra — vidhānena — with the ritual known as abhicāra (meant for killing or otherwise harming an enemy) ; saḥ — that ; ca — and ; agniḥ — fire ; pramathaiḥ — by the Pramathas (powerful mystics who are in Lord Śiva’s retinue and who assume many different forms) ; vṛtaḥ — surrounded ; sādhayiṣyati — it will accomplish ; saṅkalpam — your intention ; abrahmaṇye — against one who is inimical to brāhmaṇas ; prayojitaḥ — utilized ; iti — so ; ādiṣṭaḥ — instructed ; tathā — in that way ; cakre — he did ; kṛṣṇāya — against Lord Kṛṣṇa ; abhicaran — intending to do harm ; vratī — observing the required vows .

Translation

Lord Śiva told him, “Accompanied by brāhmaṇas, serve the Dakṣiṇāgni fire — the original priest — following the injunctions of the abhicāra ritual. Then the Dakṣiṇāgni fire, together with many Pramathas, will fulfill your desire if you direct it against someone inimical to the brāhmaṇas.” So instructed, Sudakṣiṇa strictly observed the ritualistic vows and invoked the abhicāra against Lord Kṛṣṇa.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Lord Śiva told him, "Accompanied by brāhmaṇas, serve the Dakṣiṇāgni fire—the original priest—following the injunctions of the abhicāra ritual. Then the Dakṣiṇāgni fire, together with many Pramathas, will fulfill your desire if you direct it against someone inimical to the brāhmaṇas." So instructed, Sudakṣiṇa strictly observed the ritualistic vows and invoked the abhicāra against Lord Kṛṣṇa. KB 10.66.30-31 Lord Śiva advised that Sudakṣiṇa, assisted by the brāhmaṇas, execute the ritualistic ceremony for killing one’s enemy. This ceremony is also mentioned in some of the tantras. Lord Śiva informed Sudakṣiṇa that if such a black ritualistic ceremony were performed properly, then the evil spirit named Dakṣiṇāgni would appear and then carry out any order given to him. He would have to be employed, however, to kill someone other than a qualified brāhmaṇa. If all these conditions were met, then Dakṣiṇāgni, accompanied by Lord Śiva’s ghostly companions, would fulfill the desire of Sudakṣiṇa to kill his enemy. When Sudakṣiṇa was encouraged by Lord Śiva in that way, he was sure that he would be able to kill Kṛṣṇa. With a determined vow of austerity, he began to execute the black art of chanting mantras, assisted by the priests.

Purport

It is clearly stated here that the powerful Dakṣiṇāgni fire could be directed only against someone unfavorable to brahminical culture. Lord Kṛṣṇa, however, is most favorable to the brāhmaṇas and in fact maintains the brahminical culture. Lord Śiva thus knew that if Sudakṣiṇa attempted to direct the power of this ritual against Lord Kṛṣṇa, Sudakṣiṇa himself would perish.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

"Serve the Daksinagni, which is like the priest who carries out rituals on his own behalf." Vedas say: the fire is the rtvijam or deva of the sacrifice. When Siva said it should be used against one inimical to brahmanas, he hinted that used against Krsna the fire would have opposite effect. Hearing that brahmanas offer respects to Krsna, Sudaksina thought that since Krsna was greedy for brahmanas’ respect, he had no respect for the brahmanas.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

This was not a real sacrifice since they hated the Lord. The brāhmaṇas were not real brāhmaṇas. The fire will act against someone who is inimical to brāhmaṇas, and will not at all harm a person who serves brāhmaṇas. However it was directed towards Kṛṣṇa, who serves brāhmaṇas. He is called brahmaṇya-deva. Thus it would act against or destroy those who sent the fire, who were disrespectful to brāhmaṇas (abrahmaṇye prayojitaḥ). This was Śiva’s intention. Sudakṣiṇa thought that Kṛṣṇa was not devoted to brāhmaṇas (abrahmaṇye), since those persons devoted to brāhmaṇas offered Kṛṣṇa respect. However the following should be understood. The Lord, worthy of all worship, sometimes produces pastimes which cause others to worship him. The intention of the Lord was to have both parties develop prema for himself (sādhayisyati saṅkalpam). Kuntī said: tathā paramahaṁsānāṁ munīnām amalātmanām bhakti-yoga-vidhānārthaṁ kathaṁ paśyema hi striyaḥ You descend to propagate bhakti-yoga unto the hearts of the advanced transcendentalists and mental speculators, who are purified by being able to discriminate between matter and spirit. How, then, can we women know you perfectly? SB 1.8.20 Kṛṣṇa comes to give bhakti-yoga. This prema is the main motive of the Lord, with hundreds of scriptural statements to prove it such as sālokya-sārṣṭi….(SB 3.39.13). He gives benefit to brāhmaṇas and others (brāhmaṇa-hitāya) by having them worship him while overcoming the fault of excessive awe and veneration for him. Since the great devotees like Nārada never deviate, it is said that such a nature develops just by a sphūrti of the Lord what to speak of by developing prema. Worship of the Lord by the individual produces bhakti in the form of prema, but filled with realization of the Lord’s powers. By worship inspired by the Lord himself however, the Lord gives the person pure prema with absorption in his qualities like gentleness, even though he is also great. He even sometimes hides his manifestation powers. That pure prema is considered the best. nemaṁ viriñco labhate prasādaṁ na śrīr na śarvaḥ kim utāpare ’nye yan no ’surāṇām asi durga-pālo viśvābhivandyair abhivanditāṅghriḥ We have attained mercy that Brahmā, Lakṣmī or Śiva, what to speak of others, have not attained. You, whose lotus feet are worshiped by the most respected person in the universe, are the protector of us demons in all respects. SB 7.23.6 itthaṁ satāṁ brahma-sukhānubhūtyā dāsyaṁ gatānāṁ para-daivatena māyāśritānāṁ nara-dārakeṇa sākaṁ vijahruḥ kṛta-puṇya-puñjāḥ In this way with an abundance of splendor caused by Kṛṣṇa, they played with him, though he is pure consciousness or happiness known as Brahman for the jñānīs, the Supreme Lord for the devotees with dāsya-bhāva and an ordinary human child for those covered by material illusion.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Serve the fire with brāhmaṇas. The curse would fail since Kṛṣṇa was favorable to brāhmaṇas. Instead of samam sometimes samyak is seen: serve the fire attentively. They then engaged in actions to harm Kṛṣṇa, directly the supreme Lord (kṛṣṇāya abhicaran).