Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.18.24

mainaḿ māyāvinaḿ dṛptaḿ

nirańkuśam asattamam

ākrīḍa bālavad deva

yathāśīviṣam utthitam

SYNONYMS

mā — do not; enam — him; māyā-vinam — skilled in conjuring tricks; dṛptam — arrogant; nirańkuśam — self-sufficient; asat-tamam — most wicked; ākrīḍa — play with; bāla-vat — like a child; deva — O Lord; yathā — as; āśīviṣam — a serpent; utthitam — aroused.

TRANSLATION

Lord Brahmā continued: My dear Lord, there is no need to play with this serpentine demon, who is always very skilled in conjuring tricks and is arrogant, self-sufficient and most wicked.

PURPORT

No one is unhappy when a serpent is killed. It is a practice among village boys to catch a serpent by the tail and play with it for some time and then kill it. Similarly, the Lord could have killed the demon at once, but He played with him in the same way as a child plays with a snake before killing it. Brahmā requested, however, that since the demon was more wicked and undesirable than a serpent, there was no need to play with him. It was his wish that he be killed at once, without delay.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness