मूर्ध्ना स जगृहे शापमेतावत्साधुलक्षणम् ॥३७॥
iti bhÄgavato devyÄḥ
pratiśaptum alantamaḥ
mÅ«rdhnÄ sa jagá¹›he Å›Äpam
etÄvat sÄdhu-laká¹£aṇam
iti - thus; bhÄgavataḥ - the most exalted devotee; devyÄḥ - of PÄrvatÄ«; pratiÅ›aptum - to make a counter-curse; alantamaḥ - able in all respects; mÅ«rdhnÄ - with his head; saḥ - he (Citraketu); jagá¹›he - accepted; Å›Äpam - the curse; etÄvat - this much; sÄdhu-laká¹£aṇam - the symptom of a devotee.
The great devotee Citraketu was so powerful that he was quite competent to curse mother PÄrvatÄ« in retaliation, but instead of doing so he very humbly accepted the curse and bowed his head before Lord Åšiva and his wife. This is very much to be appreciated as the standard behavior of a Vaiṣṇava.
Upon being informed by Lord Åšiva, mother PÄrvatÄ« 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 PÄrvatÄ«, he immediately descended from his airplane and bowed his head before the mother, accepting her curse. This has already been explained: nÄrÄyaṇa-parÄḥ sarve na kutaÅ›cana 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 sÄdhu-laká¹£aṇam, the characteristic of a sÄdhu, or a devotee. As explained by ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu, tṛṇÄd api sunÄ«cena taror api sahiṣṇunÄ. 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.
