मैनं पार्थार्हसि त्रातुं ब्रह्मबन्धुमिमं जहि ।
योऽसावनागसः सुप्तानवधीन्निशि बालकान् ॥३५॥

mainaá¹ pÄrthÄrhasi trÄtuá¹
brahma-bandhum imaá¹ jahi
yo 'sÄv anÄgasaḥ suptÄn
avadhÄ«n niÅ›i bÄlakÄn

1 times this text was mentioned in purports to other texts: LSB(1)

 mÄ enam - never unto him; pÄrtha - O Arjuna; arhasi - ought to; trÄtum - give release; brahma-bandhum - a relative of a brÄhmaṇa; imam - him; jahi - kill; yaḥ - he (who has); asau - those; anÄgasaḥ - faultless; suptÄn - while sleeping; avadhÄ«t - killed; niÅ›i - at night; bÄlakÄn - the boys.


Text

Lord ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa said: O Arjuna, you should not show mercy by releasing this relative of a brÄhmaṇa [brahma-bandhu], for he has killed innocent boys in their sleep.

Purport

The word brahma-bandhu is significant. A person who happens to take birth in the family of a brÄhmaṇa but is not qualified to be called a brÄhmaṇa is addressed as the relative of a brÄhmaṇa, and not as a brÄhmaṇa. The son of a high court judge is not virtually a high court judge, but there is no harm in addressing a high court judge’s son as a relative of the honorable justice. Therefore, as by birth only one does not become a high court judge, so also one does not become a brÄhmaṇa simply by birthright but by acquiring the necessary qualifications of a brÄhmaṇa. As the high court judgeship is a post for the qualified man, so also the post of a brÄhmaṇa is attainable by qualification only. The Å›Ästra enjoins that if good qualifications are seen in a person born in a family other than that of a brÄhmaṇa, the qualified man has to be accepted as a brÄhmaṇa, and similarly if a person born in the family of a brÄhmaṇa is void of brahminical qualification, then he must be treated as a non-brÄhmaṇa or, in better terms, a relative of a brÄhmaṇa. Lord ÅšrÄ« Kṛṣṇa, the supreme authority of all religious principles, the Vedas, has personally pointed out these differences, and He is about to explain the reason for this in the following Å›lokas.