निमिः प्रतिददौ शापं गुरवेऽधर्मवर्तिने ।
तवापि पतताद् देहो लोभाद् धर्ममजानतः ॥५॥

nimiḥ pratidadau Å›Äpaá¹
gurave 'dharma-vartine
tavÄpi patatÄd deho
lobhÄd dharmam ajÄnataḥ

 nimiḥ - MahÄrÄja Nimi; pratidadau Å›Äpam - countercursed; gurave - unto his spiritual master, Vasiṣṭha; adharma-vartine - who was induced to irreligious principles (because he cursed his offenseless disciple); tava - of you; api - also; patatÄt - let it fall; dehaḥ - the body; lobhÄt - because of greed; dharmam - religious principles; ajÄnataḥ - not knowing.


Text

For unnecessarily cursing him when he had committed no offense, MahÄrÄja Nimi countercursed his spiritual master. “For the sake of getting contributions from the King of heaven,†he said, “you have lost your religious intelligence. Therefore I pronounce this curse: your body also will fall.â€

Purport

The religious principle for a brÄhmaṇa is that he should not be greedy at all. In this case, however, for the sake of more lucrative remunerations from the King of heaven, Vasiṣṭha neglected MahÄrÄja Nimi’s request on this planet, and when Nimi performed the sacrifices with other priests, Vasiṣṭha unnecessarily cursed him. When one is infected by contaminated activities, his power, material or spiritual, reduces. Although Vasiṣṭha was the spiritual master of MahÄrÄja Nimi, because of his greed he became fallen.