Devanagari
इति भागवतो देव्या: प्रतिशप्तुमलन्तम: ।
मूर्ध्ना स जगृहे शापमेतावत्साधुलक्षणम् ॥ ३७ ॥
Verse text
iti bhāgavato devyāḥ
pratiśaptum alantamaḥ
mūrdhnā sa jagṛhe śāpam
etāvat sādhu-lakṣaṇam
Synonyms
iti
—
thus
;
bhāgavataḥ
—
the most exalted devotee
;
devyāḥ
—
of Pārvatī
;
pratiśaptum
—
to make a counter-curse
;
alantamaḥ
—
able in all respects
;
mūrdhnā
—
with his head
;
saḥ
—
he (Citraketu)
;
jagṛhe
—
accepted
;
śāpam
—
the curse
;
etāvat
—
this much
;
sādhu
—
lakṣaṇam — the symptom of a devotee .
Translation
The great devotee Citraketu was so powerful that he was quite competent to curse mother Pārvatī in retaliation, but instead of doing so he very humbly accepted the curse and bowed his head before Lord Śiva and his wife. This is very much to be appreciated as the standard behavior of a Vaiṣṇava.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Though able to curse Pārvatī in return, Citraketu accepted the curse on his head. Such is the good nature of the devotee.
Do not think that Citraketu had meager power because he was a new devotee. That is explained in this verse. He was able to the curse Devī in response. Devyāh should be devyai.
Purport
Upon being informed by Lord Śiva, mother Pārvatī could understand that she was wrong in cursing Citraketu. King Citraketu was so exalted in his character that in spite of being wrongly cursed by Pārvatī, he immediately descended from his airplane and bowed his head before the mother, accepting her curse. This has already been explained:
nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati.
Citraketu very sportingly felt that since the mother wanted to curse him, he could accept this curse just to please her. This is called
sādhu-lakṣaṇam,
the characteristic of a
sādhu,
or a devotee. As explained by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu,
tṛṇād api sunīcena taror api sahiṣṇunā.
A devotee should always be very humble and meek and should offer all respect to others, especially to superiors. Being protected by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, a devotee is always powerful, but a devotee does not wish to show his power unnecessarily. However, when a less intelligent person has some power, he wants to use it for sense gratification. This is not the behavior of a devotee.