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Library » Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Bhāgavata Purāṇa) » Canto 10: The Summum Bonum » CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

ŚB 10.64.34

Devanagari

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

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.

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.