# SB 1.7.35 > मैनं पार्थार्हसि त्रातुं ब्रह्मबन्धुमिमं जहि । > योऽसावनागसः सुप्तानवधीन्निशि बालकान् ॥३५॥ ## Text > mainaṁ pārthārhasi trātuṁ > brahma-bandhum imaṁ jahi > yo 'sāv anāgasaḥ suptān > avadhīn niśi bālakān ## Synonyms *mā enam*—never unto him; *pārtha*—O Arjuna; *arhasi*—ought to; *trātum*—give release; *brahma-bandhum*—a relative of a *brāhmaṇa*; *imam*—him; *jahi*—kill; *yaḥ*—he (who has); *asau*—those; *anāgasaḥ*—faultless; *suptān*—while sleeping; *avadhīt*—killed; *niśi*—at night; *bālakān*—the boys. ## Translation **Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa said: O Arjuna, you should not show mercy by releasing this relative of a brāhmaṇa [brahma-bandhu], for he has killed innocent boys in their sleep.** ## Purport The word *brahma-bandhu* is significant. A person who happens to take birth in the family of a *brāhmaṇa* but is not qualified to be called a *brāhmaṇa* is addressed as the relative of a *brāhmaṇa,* and not as a *brāhmaṇa.* The son of a high-court judge is not virtually a high-court judge, but there is no harm in addressing a high-court judge's son as a relative of the Honorable Justice. Therefore, as by birth only one does not become a high-court judge, so also one does not become a *brāhmaṇa* simply by birthright but by acquiring the necessary qualifications of a *brāhmaṇa.* As the high-court judgeship is a post for the qualified man, so also the post of a *brāhmaṇa* is attainable by qualification only. The *śāstra* enjoins that even if good qualifications are seen in a person born in a family other than that of a *brāhmaṇa,* the qualified man has to be accepted as a *brāhmaṇa,* and similarly if a person born in the family of a *brāhmaṇa* is void of brahminical qualification, then he must be treated as a non-*brāhmaṇa* or, in better terms, a relative of a *brāhmaṇa.* Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the supreme authority of all religious principles, the *Vedas,* has personally pointed out these differences, and He is about to explain the reason for this in the following *ślokas.*