Dakṣa Curses Lord Śiva (Srimad Bhagavatam #48)

Sati, the youngest daughter of Daksa, left her body at a younger age without leaving any descendants, due to the enviousness of her father towards her husband. How could be this possible?

Feb 15, 2025

The first chapter of the 4th canto ended with Maitreya mentioning that Sati, the youngest daughter of Daksa, left her body at a younger age without leaving any descendants, due to the enviousness of her father towards her husband.

Vidhura inquires from Maitreya how this could be possible. He is astonished both about Sati voluntarily destroying her body and about how it was possible that Daksa, an exalted personality, could have been envious of Lord Shiva, the greatest of the Vaishnavas. Certainly, being so gentle and peaceful, Lord Shiva would never treat Daksa, his father-in-law as an enemy. How then could Daksa be envious of him, to the point his daughter had decided to abandon her body?

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"Vidura inquired: Why was Dakṣa, who was so affectionate towards his daughter, envious of Lord Śiva, who is the best among the gentle? Why did he neglect his daughter Satī?

Lord Śiva, the spiritual master of the entire world, is free from enmity, is a peaceful personality, and is always satisfied in himself. He is the greatest among the demigods. How is it possible that Dakṣa could be inimical towards such an auspicious personality?" (SB 4.2.1-2)

Answering this question, Maitreya describes the pastime of Daksa offending Lord Shiva, and the consequences, which goes all the way to the end of chapter seven.

Daksa was born as one of the sons of Brahma, with the mission of helping his father to populate the universe with good progeny. He was entrusted the position of the main prajapati of the universe, a position higher than even the demigods. Daksa was extremely powerful, and so effulgent that common people couldn't even look at him.

Daksa had 16 daughters, the youngest of Sati, became the wife of Lord Shiva under the order of Brahma. Daksa, however, resented this marriage. Because he was so involved in fruitive activities, his spiritual realization was not so great, and as a result he failed to understand the auspicious qualities of Lord Shiva, becoming instead focused on his external habits connected to being the Lord of the demons and spirits.

It is said that for one who is powerful like the sun or the fire, there is no consideration of purity or impurity. The sunshine can sterilize an impure place, whereas a common person residing in such a place would be affected. Similarly, Lord Shiva may stay in crematoriums and smear his body with ashes, and different from an ordinary person this doesn't affect his position of purity. There are other examples of perfect persons who would stay in impure places or cultivate apparently unclean habits with a certain purpose and not be contaminated due to their purity like Srila Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī chanting japa on the side of a latrine to avoid the undesirable attention of materialistic people. Daksa, however, couldn't understand that.

Once, Daksa performed a great sacrifice where all demigods were present, including Lord Shiva and Lord Brahma. When he entered the assembly, all stood in respect. Lord Brahma obviously didn't have to get up because he is the father of Daksa, and thus senior to him. Lord Shiva is also senior, higher than any conditioned soul. However, blinded by his ego, Daksa expected respect from him because he had accepted his daughter in marriage, and thus had become his son-in-law.

Often Vaishnavas offer respect to atheists in higher positions by offering their obeisances to the Supersoul inside the body, but in the case of Lord Shiva, even that was unnecessary because he is constantly offering respects to the Lord in his meditation.

Blinded by anger, Daksa proceeded to publicly offend Lord Shiva:

"All sages, brāhmaṇas and fire-gods present, please hear me with attention, for I speak about the manners of gentle persons. I do not speak out of ignorance or envy.

Śiva has spoiled the name and fame of the governors of the universe and has polluted the path of gentle manners. Because he is shameless, he does not know how to act. He has already accepted himself as my subordinate by marrying my daughter in the presence of fire and brāhmaṇas. He has married my daughter, who is equal to Gāyatrī, and has pretended to be just like an honest person.

He has eyes like a monkey’s, yet he has married my daughter, whose eyes are just like those of a deer cub. Nevertheless he did not stand up to receive me, nor did he think it fit to welcome me with sweet words.

I had no desire to give my daughter to this person, who has broken all rules of civility. Because of not observing the required rules and regulations, he is impure, but I was obliged to hand over my daughter to him just as one teaches the messages of the Vedas to a śūdra. He lives in filthy places like crematoriums, and his companions are the ghosts and demons. Naked like a madman, sometimes laughing and sometimes crying, he smears crematorium ashes all over his body. He does not bathe regularly, and he ornaments his body with a garland of skulls and bones. Therefore only in name is he śiva, or auspicious; actually, he is the most mad and inauspicious creature. Thus he is very dear to crazy beings in the gross mode of ignorance, and he is their leader.

On the request of Lord Brahmā I handed over my chaste daughter to him, although he is devoid of all cleanliness and his heart is filled with nasty things. (SB 4.2.9-16)

Daksa tried to cover his ignorant statements by saying that he was not speaking out of envy. Lord Shiva was surely highly respected by the sages and demigods present, so he tried to counter this by mentioning his supposedly unclean behavior and his supposed dishonest behavior in not offering respect to him despite having accepted his daughter in marriage.

In his purport to verse 10, Srila Prabhupada explains that the offenses of Daksa can also be interpreted in a positive way, just like other verses of the Srimad Bhagavatam where demons and other types of materialists offend the Lord or His devotees. The Lord inside the heart inspires them to speak words that indirectly serve as glorification. As Prabhupada mentions:

"The words used against Lord Śiva by Dakṣa can also be understood in a different way, in a good sense. For example, he stated that Śiva is yaśo-ghna, which means “one who spoils name and fame.” So this can also be interpreted to mean that he was so famous that his fame killed all other fame. Again, Dakṣa used the word nirapatrapa, which also can be used in two senses. One sense is “one who is stunted,” and another sense is “one who is the maintainer of persons who have no other shelter.” Generally Lord Śiva is known as the lord of the bhūtas, or lower grade of living creatures. They take shelter of Lord Śiva because he is very kind to everyone and is very quickly satisfied. Therefore he is called Āśutoṣa. To such men, who cannot approach other demigods or Viṣṇu, Lord Śiva gives shelter. Therefore the word nirapatrapa can be used in that sense."

Lord Shiva simply remained seated, without any hostility while Daksa spoke. He, however, took this as yet another affront, as if Shiva was challenging him by not protesting. Daksa then cursed Lord Shiva to not receive his share of the offerings in sacrifices.

Normally, receiving oblations in sacrifices is considered a great honor for demigods, apart from nourishing them and extending their pious credits. Lord Shiva however is not interested in honor, and he is not concerned about material piety like ordinary demigods. Thus, having to be present in sacrifices and accept oblations from materialistic people is unpleasant for him. In this way, the curse of Daksa was indirectly a blessing to him. As Prabhupada explains in his purport:

"Śrī Viśvanātha Cakravartī comments in this connection, that Lord Śiva was saved from the calamity of taking part with other demigods, who were all materialistic. Lord Śiva is the greatest devotee of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and it is not fitting for him to eat or sit with materialistic persons like the demigods. Thus the curse of Dakṣa was indirectly a blessing, for Śiva would not have to eat or sit with other demigods, who were too materialistic."

Even after cursing Lord Shiva, Daksa was so angry that he left the sacrifice, thinking that the auspicious arena where all the great sages and demigods were assembled was not fit for him. All the exalted personalities present there asked him to not be angry and to not leave, including his father Brahma, but Daksa didn't want to hear.

As Prabhupada mentions in his purport:

"In Bhagavad-gītā, therefore, it is advised that one who desires to make tangible advancement in spiritual consciousness must avoid three things — lust, anger and the mode of passion. Actually we can see that lust, anger and passion make a man crazy, even though he be as great as Dakṣa. The very name Dakṣa suggests that he was expert in all material activities, but still, because of his aversion towards such a saintly personality as Śiva, he was attacked by these three enemies — anger, lust and passion. Lord Caitanya therefore advised that one be very careful not to offend Vaiṣṇavas. He compared offenses toward a Vaiṣṇava to a mad elephant. As a mad elephant can do anything horrible, so when a person offends a Vaiṣṇava he can perform any abominable action."

Nandīśvara curses the Brahmanas

While Daksa acted against all norms of civility, unnecessarily offending a perfect Vaishnava, Lord Shiva acted exemplary by remaining composed during the whole situation, not protesting or retaliating. However, some of his followers, seeing his spiritual master being offended in this way started cursing the Brahmanas present, who did not protest the insults of Daksa. The Brahmanas then counter-cursed them, resulting in a great feud.

The first was Nandīśvara, who cursed Daksa and all the Brahmanas present to become bereft of transcendental knowledge. In other words, they would be reduced to a class of priests who just study rituals and have no knowledge about the Lord. In all eras, starting from Treta-yuga, Brahmanas have a tendency to become absorbed in Vedic norms and rituals and forget about the goal of the Vedas, and this is especially evident in Kali-yuga in the smarta-brahmanas. This all started with this curse.

He also directly cursed Daksa. Stating that he had accepted his body as his self and had become excessively attached to sex life, he cursed him to very soon have the face of a goat.

He further cursed the Brahmanas, stating that since they have purposefully engaged Lord Shiva, having become dull due to their materialistic pursuit of knowledge connected with fruitive activities, they should continue in the cycle of birth and death.

As Prabhupada comments: "The three curses mentioned above are sufficient to make one as dull as stone, void of spiritual knowledge and preoccupied with materialistic education, which is nescience. After uttering these curses, Nandīśvara then cursed the brāhmaṇas to continue in the cycle of birth and death because of their supporting Dakṣa in blaspheming Lord Śiva."

These curses help us to understand the trap of caste brahmanism. Brahmas who are devoted to serving the Supreme Lord are protected from these curses and can thus understand the real purpose of the Vedas and thus go back home, back to Godhead. Brahmas who become interested in the material knowledge contained in the Vedas, as well as fruitive performances, however, are condemned to miss the point of the scriptures and become dull-headed materialists, attached to fruitive activities and rituals.

In all ages, and especially in Kali-yuga, a real Brahmana is the one who comes to understanding the science of devotional service, and not the dull-headed who is simply interested in fruitive performances and material knowledge. Caste brāhmaṇas, however, often protest strongly when others try to perfect themselves attaining the status of real Brahmanas through their practice of Krsna Consciousness. This was firmly opposed by our acaryas, starting by Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Himself, who stated that regardless of whether a person is born in a brāhmaṇa family or śūdra family, regardless of whether he is a householder or a sannyāsī, if he knows the science of Kṛṣṇa he must be accepted as a spiritual master.

Bhṛgu counter-curses

Srila Prabhupada explains that it was right for Nandīśvara and other followers to not tolerate such an offense to his master, but it was not right to curse the Brahmanas present. The curses of Nandīśvara upset the Brahmanas, and Bhṛgu as a reaction cursed them back, starting a chain of curses and counter-curses that affected both the Brahmanas and the followers of Lord Shiva.

Bhṛgu cursed the followers of Lord Shiva to become atheists, deviating from the path of the Vedas, and immersed in ignorance trying to imitate Lord Shiva, keeping long hair on their heads, smearing ashes all over their bodies, wearing bones as ornaments, etc. He also cursed them to live on flesh, wine, and other untouchable things. Justifying this course, he said that by blaspheming the Vedas and the brāhmaṇas they had already taken shelter of the doctrine of atheism, by deviating from the path prescribed in the scriptures.

Lord Vishnu is generally worshiped by persons in the mode of Goodness, while Brahma takes charge of the mode of passion. Lord Shiva however gives shelter to the most fallen living entities and is thus generally worshiped by people and other entities in the mode of ignorance, such as ghosts, spirits, demons, etc. Because they are strongly affected by the mode of ignorance, they have a natural tendency to become involved in polluted habits, eat untouchable things, and create philosophical systems that go against the Vedic conclusion, and this tendency was reinforced by the curse of Bhṛgu.

In Kali-yuga, Lord Shiva comes as Sankaracarya to preach impersonalism. As Lord Śiva himself mentions in the Śiva Purāṇa, māyāvādam asac-chāstram. Māyāvāda is a fabricated philosophy that doesn't lead to God realization. Lord Shiva comes as Sankaracarya to reestablish the path of the Vedas when it is destroyed due to the spread of Buddhism, but his followers very eagerly take the philosophy he propounds as Sankaracarya and become mayavadis, rejecting the proper conclusion of the scriptures and becoming basically atheists. They fail to recognize Lord Shiva's real purpose as the greatest Vaishnava.

This exemplifies how it is important to accept the proper conclusions of the scriptures as transmitted by great acaryas in the parampara system and to practice the process of devotional service according to the regulations given by them. When we deviate from this path, we risk also becoming like the followers of Lord Shiva.

In his purports, Srila Prabhupada emphasizes the difference between sat-śāstras, scriptures that lead one to the path of God's realization, such as the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and Nārada-pañcarātra, and asat-śāstras, misleading philosophies that push people away from this path, such as Mayavada philosophy. The Vedas prescribe the Varnasrama-system to gradually elevate common people to the platform of self-realization, and the essence of the Varnasrama-system is to accept the guidance of Brahmanas and Vaishnavas who know the transcendental science. When one rejects this process and instead invents his own philosophy, nothing good can be expected.

As Prabhupada mentions in his purport to verse 31:

"Every living entity within this material world is subject to four deficiencies: he commits mistakes, he accepts one thing for another, he cheats, and he has imperfect senses. The Vedas, however, are not written by any living creature within this material world. Therefore they are said to be apauruṣeya. No one can trace out the history of the Vedas. Of course, modern human civilization has no chronological history of the world or the universe, and it cannot present actual historical facts older than three thousand years. But no one has traced out when the Vedas were written, because they were never written by any living being within this material world. All other systems of knowledge are defective because they have been written or spoken by men or demigods who are products of this material creation, but Bhagavad-gītā is apauruṣeya, for it was not spoken by any human being or any demigod of this material creation; it was spoken by Lord Kṛṣṇa, who is beyond the material creation."

Prabhupada makes the point that persons who rebel against the Vedic principles are themselves the evidence that the Vedas are authoritative, because by not following the Vedic principles they become degraded. By observing their degradation, like in the case of the ghostly followers of Lord Shiva who become engaged in intoxication and all kinds of other habits, as well as modern people in general, who also don't follow Vedic principles, we can practically see the importance of understanding and following the path of the Vedas.

In this way, both Brahmanas and followers of Lord Shiva have been cursed to not understand the real purpose of the Vedas and remain in this material world immersed in bad habits. What is the solution then? As Srila Prabhupada explains in his purport to verse 27, curses (even when uttered by Brahmas) are material creations. Both can affect us only as long as we are in the material platform, and therefore to get out of their effects we should take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, just as the Lord Himself explains in the Gita (7.14): mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te. Those who have surrendered unto the Lord can easily cross beyond the material energy. As long as one doesn't surrender to the Lord and become a devotee, he will be forced to remain dull-headed, incapable of freeing himself from illusion, be it as a Brahmana or as a follower of Lord Shiva.

What about Lord Shiva? What was his reaction in seeing all this cursing and counter-cursing between his followers and the Brahmanas?

"When such cursing and countercursing was going on between Lord Śiva’s followers and the parties of Dakṣa and Bhṛgu, Lord Śiva became very morose. Not saying anything, he left the arena of the sacrifice, followed by his disciples." (SB 4.2.33)

All this quarrel was going on under the influence of the material modes, without any consideration for the satisfaction of the Lord. Shiva was thus not satisfied with it. To stop the situation, he decided to leave the place, causing his followers to go after him, and end the feud.

"A Vaiṣṇava is always tolerant, and Lord Śiva is considered the topmost Vaiṣṇava, so his character, as shown in this scene, is excellent. He became morose because he knew that these people, both his men and Dakṣa’s, were unnecessarily cursing and countercursing one another, without any interest in spiritual life. From his point of view, he did not see anyone as lower or higher, because he is a Vaiṣṇava. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (5.18), paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ: one who is perfectly learned does not see anyone as lesser or greater, because he sees everyone from the spiritual platform. Thus the only alternative left to Lord Śiva was to leave in order to stop his follower, Nandīśvara, as well as Bhṛgu Muni, from cursing and countercursing in that way." (SB 4.2.33 purport)

After Lord Shiva and his followers left, the Brahmanas performed the sacrifice for the satisfaction of the Lord, continuing the performance for one thousand years. Despite Lord Shiva leaving, the sacrifice was still a success, because the sages and demigods performed it for the satisfaction of the Lord, and not as a fruitive performance. As Prabhupada explains, satisfying the Supreme Lord is independent of any kind of performance for the demigods, just as one does not need to bribe a policeman to be an honest citizen. On the contrary, an honest citizen will pay his taxes without trying to bribe anyone.

By worshiping the Supreme Lord, all purposes are satisfied in the most sublime way. In the age of Kali, sacrifices for demigods are not even really possible, because there are no qualified Brahmanas or pure ingredients, but saṅkīrtana-yajña can be performed without impediments.

After concluding the sacrifice, all the demigods went for a sacrificial bath at the confluence of the Ganges and the Yamunā and departed for their respective abodes.

Talks Between Lord Śiva and Satī (chapter 4.3)

One of the questions asked by Vidhura in the previous chapter was the reason for the enmity from Daksa towards Lord Shiva. This was answered in the previous chapter: Lord Shiva is a perfect Vaishnava, the reason Daksa became envious is simply due to his materialistic nature.

The second question is the reason for Sati destroying his body and leaving at a young age, before having the opportunity of leaving any descendants. This will be explained in the following chapters.

Daksa was very proud because of his position and never apologized to Lord Shiva for the offenses he committed. On the opposite: his envious attitude was never subdued. Even after a long time went by, he continued seeing Lord Shiva as an enemy, and in the process rejected his daughter Sati because she was associating with him.

He executed a great sacrifice called vājapeya and then another even greater sacrifice called bṛhaspati-sava. Lord Shiva was of course not invited to these performances. He thought that because he was performing sacrifices for Lord Vishnu, worshiping Lord Shiva was not necessary, and he was also confident in the support of his father, Brahma. Although as previously mentioned one doesn't need to worship demigods when worshiping Lord Vishnu, demigods are servants of the Lord and should not be disrespected. When any sacrifice is performed, the demigods should be welcomed into taking their respective places and accepting their shares of the offerings after they are offered to the Lord. Apart from that, Lord Shiva is not a common demigod, but a pure devotee of the Lord, and thus the offensive attitude of Daksa towards him was certainly not pleasing to the Lord.

As Prabhupada mentions in his purport to text 3: "Viṣṇu wants His followers to be satisfied first. Lord Kṛṣṇa says, mad-bhakta-pūjābhyadhikā: “The worship of My devotees is better than worship of Me.” Similarly, in the Śiva Purāṇa it is stated that the best mode of worship is to offer oblations to Viṣṇu, but better than that is to worship the devotees of Kṛṣṇa."

Both Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu refused to attend these two sacrifices of Daksa, and therefore his performances were incomplete. This makes the point that one cannot please the Supreme Lord while neglecting or offending His pure devotees. Still, due to his false pride, Daksa could not understand that.

These great sacrifices also worked as social functions, with all demigods and other important persons of the universe attending accompanied by their wives, everyone eager to meet with their friends. Women decorating themselves for such ceremonies is considered auspicious, because when the wives are nicely decorated, the husbands become cheerful, creating a nice atmosphere. This is all however in the context of pious material enjoyment.

As usual, all these great personalities were traveling through the universe to the location of the sacrifice using their celestial airplanes. From her abode, Sati could see these different airplanes traveling in space, observe the ladies richly decorated accompanied by their husbands, and hear their comments about the sacrifice being performed.

In his purport to verse 7, Prabhupada mentions: "It appears that the residence of Lord Śiva was not on this planet but somewhere in outer space; otherwise how could Satī have seen the airplanes coming from different directions towards this planet and heard the passengers talking about the great sacrifice being performed by Dakṣa?"

Some believe that Lord Shiva resides on Mount Kailash, located in the Tibetan region, but according to this passage, this is not entirely true.

The abode of Lord Shiva is not a geographical location on our planet, but a higher-dimensional realm, which is described as being situated in the northern part of Jambūdvīpa, close to the center of Bhu-Mandala. At the center of Jambūdvīpa rests Mount Sumeru, and Kailāsa Hill, the abode of Lord Shiva lies in a more secluded place to the North. This abode can be accessed only by qualified persons.

The Mount Kailash situated on our planet is a representation of this higher-dimensional abode, just like Badarīkāśrama in the Himalayas is the earthen representation of the higher-dimensional Badarīkāśrama where Vyasadeva lives, and the Moon that orbits our planet is a gross representation of the celestial moon. However, one who goes to Tibet expecting to see Lord Shiva will be frustrated.

Satī desires to attend the sacrifice

"The chaste lady Satī, the daughter of Dakṣa, heard the heavenly denizens flying in the sky conversing about the great sacrifice being performed by her father. When she saw that from all directions the beautiful wives of the heavenly denizens, their eyes very beautifully glittering, were near her residence and were going to the sacrifice dressed in fine clothing and ornamented with earrings and necklaces with lockets, she approached her husband, the master of the bhūtas, in great anxiety, and spoke as follows." (SB 4.3.7)

Although a greatly exalted personality, Sati was a young lady, and thus it was normal for her to also desire to dress in beautiful clothes and ornaments and attend the ceremony together with her husband, meeting all her relatives and friends, etc. In this mood, she approached her husband to suggest they go together. Although Daksa had previously offended Lord Shiva, a long time had passed since. She very politely presented her idea by saying "your father-in-law is now executing great sacrifices, and all the demigods, having been invited by him, are going there. If you desire, we may also go."

In his purport to verse 9, Srila Prabhupada makes the point that in Sanskrit the word for woman is strī, which means “one who expands the field of material enjoyment”. Women have a natural propensity to enjoy this material world, and when combined with a man, this natural propensity leads to the increase of the scope of their material activities, with house, wealth, children, friendship, etc. This propensity can be positively applied if engaged in regulated family life in Krsna Consciousness, but outside this scope, this tendency makes one more entangled in illusion.

Lord Shiva however was different. He was not like an ordinary man interested in material enjoyment. He is always absorbed in trance, meditating in the Supreme Lord. He has thus no interest in decorating his wife and taking part in social life. Because he is not involved in material activities, he never experiences frustration, and he is thus called abhava, which may be taken to mean “one who has never felt material miseries.”

Sati pleaded to her husband in different ways, addressing him as śiti-kaṇṭha (O blue-throated one), arguing that Lord Shiva is so magnanimous that he drank an ocean of poison to save the universe, and therefore he should be also compassionate to his wife.

"This manifested cosmos is a wonderful creation of the interaction of the three material modes, or the external energy of the Supreme Lord. This truth is fully known to you. Yet I am but a poor woman, and, as you know, I am not conversant with the truth. Therefore I wish to see my birthplace once more.

O never-born, O blue-throated one, not only my relatives but also other women, dressed in nice clothes and decorated with ornaments, are going there with their husbands and friends. Just see how their flocks of white airplanes have made the entire sky very beautiful.

O best of the demigods, how can the body of a daughter remain undisturbed when she hears that some festive event is taking place in her father’s house? Even though you may be considering that I have not been invited, there is no harm if one goes to the house of one’s friend, husband, spiritual master or father without invitation." (SB 4.3.11-13)

Lord Shiva, however, remained very sober despite Sati's pleas, examining the situation from a detached perspective. With his three eyes, Lord Shiva can see past present, and future, and thus he could see that Daksa was still envious of him and what would be the result if either him or Sati would attend the ceremony. In this way, he tried to persuade his wife to not go. Even if he was not willing to go, Sati was pledging that he should at least allow her to go by herself, but Shiva tried to explain that this was not a good idea:

"My dear beautiful wife, you have said that one may go to a friend’s house without being invited, and this is true, provided such a friend does not find fault with the guest because of bodily identification and thereby become angry towards him. Although the six qualities education, austerity, wealth, beauty, youth and heritage are for the highly elevated, one who is proud of possessing them becomes blind, and thus he loses his good sense and cannot appreciate the glories of great personalities.

One should not go to anyone’s house, even on the consideration of his being a relative or a friend, when the man is disturbed in his mind and looks upon the guest with raised eyebrows and angry eyes. If one is hurt by the arrows of an enemy, one is not as aggrieved as when cut by the unkind words of a relative, for such grief continues to rend one’s heart day and night. (SB 4.3.16-19)

Blinded by his arrogance, Daksa would not receive Sati well due to his enmity towards her husband. Despite her being innocent, and being his younger daughter, he would be angry and merciless towards her, which would be extremely painful. Such attacks on the part of relatives and other dear persons are much more painful than the attacks of enemies.

Daksa was certainly very elevated from a material perspective, being a rich and well-educated person, descending from a great father, etc. and surely these high qualities offer advantages, but when a person is arrogant, they cause degradation, just as milk mixed with poison puts one life in danger.

As Prabhupada explains in his purport for verse 17: "When a serpent bites another creature, it is not necessarily because the other creature is at fault; it is the habit of the serpent to bite innocent creatures. Similarly, although Dakṣa was qualified by many material assets, because he was proud of his possessions and because he was envious, all those qualities were polluted."

Because Daksa was so envious, Lord Shiva argues that Sati should not go to visit him, even though he was his father, warning that if she would go, his attitude would cause great pain and suffering for her, warning that "You are most respectable, and when you are insulted by your relative, this insult will immediately be equal to death."

In verse 21, Lord Shiva reveals the real reason Daksa became envious of him:

"One who is conducted by false ego and thus always distressed, both mentally and sensually, cannot tolerate the opulence of self-realized persons. Being unable to rise to the standard of self-realization, he envies such persons as much as demons envy the Supreme Personality of Godhead." (SB 4.3.21)

As Prabhupada explains:

"The real reason for the enmity between Lord Śiva and Dakṣa is explained here. Dakṣa was envious of Lord Śiva because of Śiva’s high position as an incarnation of a quality of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and because Śiva was directly in contact with the Supersoul and was therefore honored and given a better sitting place than he. There were many other reasons also. Dakṣa, being materially puffed up, could not tolerate the high position of Lord Śiva, so his anger at Lord Śiva’s not standing up in his presence was only the final manifestation of his envy."

The real problem was not the habits or appearance of Lord Shiva, but the fact he had a higher position than Daksa and was offered greater honor than him. A materialistic person always strives to ascend to the highest position and Daksa came close to that by becoming the main prajapati of the universe. He could somehow tolerate Lord Brahma being higher than him because he was his father, as well as tolerate Lord Vishnu because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but could not tolerate Lord Shiva. When he gave his daughter to him in marriage, he expected that Lord Shiva would assume an inferior position to him, but when this plan failed, he became angry. His accusations against Lord Shiva based on his habits and appearance were thus not the main cause of his anger, but just a justification for it. As Prabhupada explains, "Dakṣa, being materially puffed up, could not tolerate the high position of Lord Śiva, so his anger at Lord Śiva’s not standing up in his presence was only the final manifestation of his envy."

In verses 22 and 23, Lord Shiva explains the reasons for him not offering respects to Daksa when he entered the assembly:

"My dear young wife, certainly friends and relatives offer mutual greetings by standing up, welcoming one another and offering obeisances. But those who are elevated to the transcendental platform, being intelligent, offer such respects to the Supersoul, who is sitting within the body, not to the person who identifies with the body. I am always engaged in offering obeisances to Lord Vāsudeva in pure Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Kṛṣṇa consciousness is always pure consciousness, in which the Supreme Personality of Godhead, known as Vāsudeva, is revealed without any covering." (SB 4.3.22-23)

The first reason is that when Daksa entered the arena, Lord Shiva was fixed in meditation on the Supreme Lord and might have not seen him. The second reason is that, as Lord Shiva explains, obeisances should not be offered to the material body, but to the Supersoul inside the body.

Due to material illusion, a conditioned soul like Daksa identifies with a particular material body and expects everyone to offer respects to such body, but pure devotees have a clearer vision and see every individual body as a temple, because the Lord, as Paramātmā resides in all bodies. When a pure devotee offers obeisances, he offers respects not to the body, but to the Supersoul inside the body. In the case of Lord Shiva, however, he was already engaged in meditation on the Supreme Lord and thus already offering Him obeisances, and there was no necessity to stop this process to offer obeisances to someone. Daksa, however, seeing that Lord Shiva was not offering obeisances to his body, became angry and unnecessarily cursed him. As Prabhupada puts it, "Such persons, being unable to rise to the standard of self-realized souls like Lord Śiva, are always envious."