Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.64.41
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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kṛta - āgasam api
—
even one who has committed sin
Kṛta (done) + āgas (sin) + api (even). The Lord deliberately includes brāhmaṇas who have sinned. The protection of brāhmaṇa-status does not depend on the brāhmaṇa's personal merit — the station carries the protection.
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druhyata
—
(do not) treat inimically
Imperative of √druh (to be hostile). Strong verb — not 'do not strike' but 'do not even harbour enmity.' The internal posture is what is forbidden, not only the external act.
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ghnantam bahu śapantam vā
—
even striking (you) or repeatedly cursing (you)
Ghnant (striking, from √han) + bahu (much) + śapant (cursing, from √śap). The two extreme cases — physical assault and verbal curse. Even these do not authorise retaliation.
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namaḥ - kuruta nityaśaḥ
—
always offer obeisances
Namaḥ (obeisance) + √kṛ (to do) + nityaśaḥ (constantly). The unconditional positive command. Gauḍīyas note: Mahāprabhu's tṛṇād-api-sunīcena śloka (CC Ādi 17.31) is the same posture intensified — humility unilateral, regardless of provocation.
Lord Kṛṣṇa offers this instruction not only to His personal associates but to all those who claim to be followers of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
"But what if a brahmana takes my property or hates me even if i did no wrong, what should I do?" The answer is given in two verses. "O my followers (mamaka), I am instructing anyone who is my devotee, not just you. Otherwise I would have to give up thinking of them as my followers."
“If the brāhmaṇa steals my money or becomes hostile, what should be done?” Do not desire to kill him or harm (ghanatam) him, at all, at any time (eva). That is rejected. O people who follow me, you should not harm him. Otherwise you are not my followers. You will not be protected by me
- Whose holy office am I tempted to dismiss because their conduct disappointed me?
- How does maintaining obeisance to a category, even when an individual fails, protect my own heart?
A brāhmaṇa striking you and cursing you is still a brāhmaṇa; an offence against him is still an offence regardless of his conduct. The Bhāgavata's vector is unilateral — śaraṇāgati to brāhmaṇas is not a response to their behaviour but a posture toward their station.
Mahārāja Parīkṣit, faulted for a moment's lapse, was cursed to die in seven days by the brāhmaṇa boy Śṛṅgi. The boy was hot-headed, the curse arguably excessive — and Parīkṣit accepted it without protest, using the seven days to hear Śukadeva recite the Bhāgavatam (SB 1.18–19).
This verse and Parīkṣit's response sit beside one another: even a brāhmaṇa boy's hasty curse is to be received with namaḥ, not retaliation. The Bhāgavata's first listener modelled the chapter's instruction in his own death.
My note
Source: vedabase.io