SB 1.16.5
saunaka uvaca
kasya hetor nijagraha
kalim digvijaye nrpah
nrdeva-cihna-dhrk sudra-
ko ’sau gam yah padahanat
tat kathyatam maha-bhaga
yadi krsna-kathasrayam
Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
Saunaka Rsi inquired: Why did Maharaja Pariksit simply punish him, since he was the lowest of the sudras, having dressed as a king and having struck a cow on the leg? Please describe all these incidents if they relate to the topics of Lord Krsna.
Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
Saunaka and the rsis were astonished to hear that the pious Maharaja Pariksit simply punished the culprit and did not kill him. This suggests that a pious king like Maharaja Pariksit should have at once killed an offender who wanted to cheat the public by dressing like a king and at the same time daring to insult the purest of the animals, a cow. The rsis in those days, however, could not even imagine that in the advanced days of the Age of Kali the lowest of the sudras will be elected as administrators and will open organized slaughterhouses for killing cows. Anyway, although hearing about a sudraka who was a cheat and insulter of a cow was not very interesting to the great rsis, they nevertheless wanted to hear about it to see if the event had any connection with Lord Krsna. They were simply interested in the topics of Lord Krsna, for anything that is dovetailed with the narration of Krsna is worth hearing. There are many topics in the Bhagavatam about sociology, politics, economics, cultural affairs, etc., but all of them are in relation with Krsna, and therefore all of them are worth hearing. Krsna is the purifying ingredient in all matters, regardless of what they are. In the mundane world, everything is impure due to its being a product of the three mundane qualities. The purifying agent, however, is Krsna.