अपराध: सकृद् भर्त्रा सोढव्य: स्वप्रजाकृत: ।
क्षन्तुमर्हसि शान्तात्मन् मूढस्य त्वामजानत: ॥
aparādhaḥ sakṛd bhartrā soḍhavyaḥ sva-prajā-kṛtaḥ |
kṣantum arhasi śāntātman mūḍhasya tvām ajānataḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.16.51)
“An aparādha committed by one’s own dependent is to be excused once by a maintainer. O you of peaceful nature, you are right to forgive the aparādha of this fool who is ignorant about you.”
Commentary
evaṁ tavāpriyācaraṇādy-aparādhas tarhi soḍhavya iti |
(Bhāvārtha-dīpikā)
“In this way then, an aparādha, that is, an action which is not pleasing to you and so forth, is to be excused.”
tatra cājñāsyāvaśyaṁ kṣantavya evety āhuḥ—mūḍhasya tamo-jāti-svabhāvena jñāna-hīnasya, tatrāpi tvām ajānataḥ, tvad adbhuta-līlādinā tvāṁ jñātum aśaknuvataḥ, athavā sakṛd api yo bhartā, tenāpi tvan tu sraṣṭṛtvādinā nityeśvaraḥ | vayaṁ ca jīvāḥ sevakā eva, ato muhur apy asmākam aparādhas tvayā soḍhum eva yogya iti bhāvaḥ, kiṁ ca, kṣantum iti | anyat samānam ||
(Excerpt from the Bṛhad Vaiṣṇava-toṣaṇī-ṭīkā)
“In this regard too, an aparādha of an ignorant person certainly is to be forgiven. Thus, it is said, ‘of this fool’ (mūḍhasya), that is, of this person devoid of understanding because of his svabhāva (character) of the nature of ignorance (tamo), who here too is ‘ignorant about you’ (tvām ajānataḥ), that is, unable to understand you on account of your astonishing līlās and so forth. Alternately, [an aparādha is to be excused] even by one who is a maintainer even once, but you are the eternal Īśvara by virtue of your being the emanator [of the universe] and so forth [i.e., as an aparādha should be excused even by someone who is only once a maintainer of others, so certainly an aparādha is to be excused by you who are eternally the maintainer of all]. We, further, are jīvas, simply servants. Therefore, even a repeated aparādha on our part is certainly fit to be excused by you. This is the purport. Furthermore, ‘you are right to forgive ….’ The rest is the same.”
ataḥ śānta-loka-vipriyakāritva-lakṣaṇo’syāparādho’bhūd eva sa ca sakṛt soḍhavya iti adhunā daṇḍayitvā śikṣito’py ayaṁ tvadīya-śānta-janeṣu yadi punar apy aparādhyati, tadā na soḍhavya iti bhāvaḥ |
(Excerpt from the Sārārtha-darśinī-ṭīkā)
“Therefore, his [i.e., Kāliya’s] aparādha was that of disturbing peaceful persons, and that certainly is to be excused once. Thus, even though he has now been taught by being punished, if he again commits an aparādha against peaceful persons of yours, then that is not to be excused. This is the purport.”