तं शशाप कुलाचार्यः कृतागसमकामतः ।
न क्षत्रबन्धुः शूद्रस्त्वं कर्मणा भवितामुना ॥९॥

taá¹ Å›aÅ›Äpa kulÄcÄryaḥ
ká¹›tÄgasam akÄmataḥ
na ká¹£atra-bandhuḥ śūdras tvaá¹
karmaá¹‡Ä bhavitÄmunÄ

 tam - him (Pṛṣadhra); Å›aÅ›Äpa - cursed; kula-ÄcÄryaḥ - the family priest, Vasiṣṭha; ká¹›ta-Ägasam - because of committing the great sin of killing a cow; akÄmataḥ - although he did not want to do it; na - not; ká¹£atra-bandhuḥ - the family member of a ká¹£atriya; Å›Å«draḥ tvam - you have behaved like a śūdra; karmaá¹‡Ä - therefore by your fruitive reaction; bhavitÄ - you shall become a śūdra; amunÄ - because of killing the cow.


Text

Although Pṛṣadhra had committed the sin unknowingly, his family priest, Vasiṣṭha, cursed him, saying, “In your next life you shall not be able to become a ká¹£atriya. Instead, you shall take birth as a śūdra because of killing the cow.â€

Purport

It appears that Vasiṣṭha was not free from tamo-guṇa, the mode of ignorance. As the family priest or spiritual master of Pṛṣadhra, Vasiṣṭha should have taken Pṛṣadhra’s offense very lightly, but instead Vasiṣṭha cursed him to become a śūdra. It is the duty of a family priest not to curse a disciple but to give him relief through the performance of some sort of atonement. Vasiṣṭha, however, did just the opposite. Therefore ÅšrÄ«la ViÅ›vanÄtha CakravartÄ« ṬhÄkura says that he was durmati; in other words, his intelligence was not very good.