Text 69
upāyaṁ kathayiṣyāmi
tava vipra śṛṇuṣva tat
ayaṁ hy ātmābhicāras te
yatas taṁ yāhi mā ciram
sādhuṣu prahitaṁ tejaḥ
prahartuḥ kurute ’śivam
upāyam — the means of protection in this dangerous position; kathayiṣyāmi — I shall speak to you; tava — of your deliverance from this danger; vipra — O brāhmaṇa; śṛṇuṣva — just hear from me; tat — what I say; ayam — this action taken by you; hi — indeed; ātma-abhicāraḥ — self-envy or envious of yourself (your mind has become your enemy); te — for you; yataḥ — because of whom; tam — to him (Mahārāja Ambarīṣa); yāhi — immediately go; mā ciram — do not wait even a moment; sādhuṣu — unto devotees; prahitam — applied; tejaḥ — power; prahartuḥ — of the executor; kurute — does; aśivam — inauspiciousness.
O brāhmaṇa, let Me now advise you for your own protection. Please hear from Me. By offending Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, you have acted with self-envy. Therefore you should go to him immediately, without a moment’s delay. One’s so-called prowess, when employed against the devotee, certainly harms he who employs it. Thus it is the subject, not the object, who is harmed.
A Vaiṣṇava is always an object of envy for nondevotees, even when the nondevotee happens to be his father. To give a practical example, Hiraṇyakaśipu was envious of Prahlāda Mahārāja, but this envy of the devotee was harmful to Hiraṇyakaśipu, not to Prahlāda. Every action taken by Hiraṇyakaśipu against his son Prahlāda Mahārāja was taken very seriously by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and thus when Hiraṇyakaśipu was on the verge of killing Prahlāda, the Lord personally appeared and killed Hiraṇyakaśipu. Service to a Vaiṣṇava gradually accumulates and becomes an asset for the devotee. Similarly, harmful activities directed against the devotee gradually become the ultimate cause of the performer’s falldown. Even such a great brāhmaṇa and mystic yogī as Durvāsā was in a most dangerous situation because of his offense at the lotus feet of Mahārāja Ambarīṣa, a pure devotee.