TEXT 79
tara madhye purva-vidhi 'prasamsa' chadiya
para-vidhi 'ninda' kare 'balistha' janiya
SYNONYMS
tara madhyebetween the two; purva-vidhithe former rule; prasamsapraising; chadiyagiving up; para-vidhithe other rule; nindacriticizing; karedoes; balistha janiyaknowing it to be more prominent.
TRANSLATION
"Of the two rules, Ramacandra Puri obeys the first by abandoning praise, but although he knows that the second is more prominent, he neglects it by criticizing others.
PURPORT
The above-mentioned verse from Srimad-Bhagavatam gives two injunctions. The first, called purva-vidhi, is that one should not praise, and the second, para-vidhi, is that one should not criticize. As will be apparent from the following verse, the injunction against praise is less important than the injunction against blasphemy. One should carefully observe the para-vidhi, although one may neglect the purva-vidhi. Thus the actual injunction is that one may praise but should not criticize. This is called slesokti, or a statement having two meanings. Ramacandra Puri, however, acted in just the opposite way, for he neglected the para-vidhi but strictly observed the purva-vidhi. Since he avoided following the principle of not criticizing, Ramacandra Puri broke both the rules.

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