Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam · Text 5.9.17
Who is speaking and story frame
इति तेषां वृषलानां रजस्तम:प्रकृतीनां धनमदरजउत्सिक्तमनसां भगवत्कलावीरकुलं कदर्थीकृत्योत्पथेन स्वैरं विहरतां हिंसाविहाराणां कर्मातिदारुणं यद्ब्रह्मभूतस्य साक्षाद्ब्रह्मर्षिसुतस्य निर्वैरस्य सर्वभूतसुहृद: सूनायामप्यननुमतमालम्भनं तदुपलभ्य ब्रह्मतेजसातिदुर्विषहेण दन्दह्यमानेन वपुषा सहसोच्चचाट सैव देवी भद्रकाली ॥ १७ ॥
iti teṣāṁ vṛṣalānāṁ rajas-tamaḥ-prakṛtīnāṁ dhana-mada-raja-utsikta-manasāṁ bhagavat-kalā-vīra-kulaṁ kadarthī-kṛtyotpathena svairaṁ viharatāṁ hiṁsā-vihārāṇāṁ karmāti-dāruṇaṁ yad brahma-bhūtasya sākṣād brahmarṣi-sutasya nirvairasya sarva-bhūta-suhṛdaḥ sūnāyām apy ananumatam ālambhanaṁ tad upalabhya brahma-tejasāti-durviṣaheṇa dandahyamānena vapuṣā sahasoccacāṭa saiva devī bhadra-kālī.
All the rogues and thieves who had made arrangements for the worship of Goddess Kālī were low minded and bound to the modes of passion and ignorance. They were overpowered by the desire to become very rich; therefore they had the audacity to disobey the injunctions of the Vedas, so much so that they were prepared to kill Jaḍa Bharata, a self-realized soul born in a brāhmaṇa family. Due to their envy, these dacoits brought him before the goddess Kālī for sacrifice. Such people are always addicted to envious activities, and therefore they dared to try to kill Jaḍa Bharata. Jaḍa Bharata was the best friend of all living entities. He was no one’s enemy, and he was always absorbed in meditation on the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He was born of a good brāhmaṇa father, and killing him was forbidden, even though he might have been an enemy or aggressive person. In any case, there was no reason to kill Jaḍa Bharata, and the goddess Kālī could not bear this. She could immediately understand that these sinful dacoits were about to kill a great devotee of the Lord. Suddenly the deity’s body burst asunder, and the goddess Kālī personally emerged from it in a body burning with an intense and intolerable effulgence.
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