The Danger of Offending Devotees

Sri Chaitanya Bhagavat, Madhya Kanda, English translation by Bhumipati dasa, Commentary by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Prabhupada 

Texts 29-30
thakura caitanya bale,—“suna sarva-jana
sakrt murari-ninda kare yei-jana

koti-ganga-snane ta’ra nahika nistara
ganga-hari-name tare kariba samhara//CB, Madhya 10.029-30//
TRANSLATION
Lord Caitanya said, “Listen, everyone, anyone who blasphemes Murari will not be delivered even if he takes millions of baths in the Ganges. Neither the Ganges nor the holy names of Hari will nullify his sins.
COMMENTARY
In order to remove the sinful mentality of those proud persons who are envious of the devotees and who blaspheme the devotees while considering themselves “engaged in taking bath in the Ganges and in chanting the names of Hari,” Mahaprabhu said, “If a person knowingly or unknowingly blasphemes a devotee constantly engaged in the service of the Lord like Murari and becomes envious of the devotees by claiming to have taken shelter of hari-nama and the Ganges, then the Ganges and the holy names destroy such a sinful person rather than award him any benefit.” Even today the place of Murari Gupta is found in Sridhama Mayapur in the tract of land between the residential areas of the Moslems and the Hindus. Those proud persons who blaspheme Murari Gupta by expressing hatred for the present pathetic condition of his place show disrespect for the dhama and cannot obtain any benefit from the waters that have emanated from the feet of Visnu. The syllables of Lord Hari’s holy names (namaparadha) that they have received from their unauthorized gurus vanquish such people by converting them into sense enjoyers birth after birth. Envy of Vaisnavas produces such a formidable poisonous result. Such people commit sinful activities on the strength of the holy names and, as offenders of the holy names, they fall into the jaws of death. If such people take bath in the waters of the Ganges ten million times, they will not be delivered. This is Sri Gaurasundara’s instruction and words of chastisement towards the averse living entities.
In the Dvaraka-mahatmya it is said:
pujito bhagavan visnur janmantara-satair api
prasidati na visvatma vaisnave capamanite
“Lord Hari, the Supersoul of the entire universe, is never pleased with the miscreant who insults a Vaisnava, even if he has worshiped Visnu for hundreds of births.” See also the purport to Adi-khanda (16.169).

Sri Chaitanya Bhagavat, Adi Kanda,
Text 169
yogya sasti karilena isvara tahara
hena papa ara yena nahe punar-bara”//CB, Adi 16.169//
TRANSLATION
“Therefore the Lord has given me an appropriate punishment so that I may not commit such sins in the future.”
COMMENTARY
With the imitative prakrta-sahajiya sampradayas in mind, Haridasa spoke the following words of instruction: “As a Vaisnava, I will never again hear blasphemy against Visnu and the Vaisnavas under the shelter of trnad api sunicata or on the pretext of taror api sahisnuta. I have had a sufficient lesson this time. The Lord is most merciful; He taught me by awarding a token punishment for a grave offense.” Due to misfortune, the prakrta-sahajiya sampradayas, who are offenders of the holy names,
cannot understand the actual purport and substance of these statements of Thakura Haridasa.