यदि शूर्पणखाहेतोर्जनस्थानगतः खरः।
अतिवृत्तो हतः पूर्वं रामेणाक्लिष्टकर्मणा॥
अत्र ब्रूहि यथा तत्त्वं को रामस्य व्यतिक्रमः॥
yadi śūrpaṇakhā-hetor janasthāna-gataḥ kharaḥ
ativṛtto hataḥ pūrvaṁ rāmeṇākliṣṭa-karmaṇā
atra brūhi yathā-tattvaṁ ko rāmasya vyatikramaḥ
yadi = if; śūrpaṇakhā-hetoḥ = for the sake of Śūrpaṇakhā; janasthāna-gataḥ = goes to Janasthāna; kharaḥ = Khara; ativṛttaḥ = transgresses his limits; hataḥ pūrvam = and gets killed; rāmeṇa = by Rāma; akliṣṭa-karmaṇā = who endeavors tirelessly; atra = here; brūhi = tell me; yathā-tattvam = exactly; kaḥ = what; rāmasya = Rāma’s; vyatikramaḥ = is offense.
If Khara goes to Janasthāna for the sake of Śūrpaṇakhā, transgresses his limits, and gets killed by Rāma who endeavors tirelessly, tell me—what exactly is Rāma’s offense here?
1 Mārīca is able to sensibly understand Lord Rāma correctly because he retired from the sinful activity of assisting Rāvaṇa. Unless one gives up all sinful activities to fully engage in authorized penances in the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one will be perpetually caught up in the foolish endeavor to justify himself with the help of his sinfully contaminated intelligence. And so he will never become capable of engaging in śuddha-bhakti without which clear knowledge, understanding and realization of reality is impossible (see Gītā 7.28). Just as Mārīca had retired from all materialistic activities to engage in spiritual austerities in meditation on the Lord, we should also, under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master and pure Vaiṣṇavas, retire from all materialistic activities at the right age to fully discharge the three lifetime duties that constitute the very life of a śuddha-bhakti-sādhaka: (1) study the science of pure devotional service, (2) practice it and (3) promote it. To succeed in these activities, one has to base his life on the teachings of Vedic scriptures as explicated by the bona fide paramparā. Lord Kṛṣṇa has blessed us by sending Śrīla Prabhupāda who has given us several volumes of Vedic knowledge in the form of his books and we can take full advantage of them to understand what is right (tathya), what is wrong (vitathya) and what has been misrepresented as reality (anyathā-tathya) in today’s world. Retiring at the right age is called vānaprastha life in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and Prabhupāda has often stated that we should wind up our gṛhastha activities by the age of fifty as recommended in the scriptures: pañcāśordhvaṁ vanaṁ vrajet. It is a matter of common experience that entrance into the life of a vānaprastha becomes easier for those who have been bona fide brahmacārīs in the past when they fully engaged in the above-mentioned three items of śuddha-bhakti-vicāra, śuddha-bhakti-ācāra and śuddha-bhakti-pracāra, prior to their entrance into the gṛhastha-āśrama. Intelligent devotees should take full advantage of this and then they will be able to see reality for what it is, like Mārīca, and tangibly progress towards sādhana-siddhi.
When Sītā-devī was attacked, Śūrpaṇakhā was disfigured. And when Khara transgressed his limits by preparing to attack Rāmacandra, He killed him. So what was Rāma’s offense here? None.1