There was a king who was famous for distributing food to Brahmins.
Once, during the distribution of food, an eagle flew over the venue where the banquet was taking place; it was clawing to a dead snake.
A drop of venom accidentally fell from the snake’s mouth and fell into one of the plates of food the king was handing out.
No one knew or saw what had happened, so the King just kept handing out food like nothing happened.
A Brahmin who received a plate of poisoned food ate and died and it saddened the king.

One of the servants of Yamaraja (Superintendent of Death), whose service was to return karma to living beings, was confused about who should get karma for the sin of poisoning a Brahmin: it was not the fault of the eagle, who carried the dead snake in its claws, and it was not the blame of the dead snake. The king was also not guilty, for he didn’t know that the poison had accidentally fallen into the food.

Meanwhile, many other Brahmins have come to this kingdom. They wanted to meet the king. Seeing a woman sitting on the roadside, they asked her: “Do you know where the king’s palace is and how we can get there?”

The woman replied, “Yes, I know.” She pointed out the direction Brahmins should take. “But be careful,” she added, “the king is known as a murderer of Brahmins!”

The moment she said that, the servant Yamaraja realized who should he give the karma for that Brahmin’s death, and gave it to this woman!

Moral of the story:
If you criticize someone and are right in your accusations, you receive half the bad karma.
But if you criticize someone and blame them undeservingly, you’ll receive 100% of all the bad karma.

This story inspires us to be careful about what we think or say about others.

The Lion Guru His Divine Grace Srila Bhaktisidanta Sarasvati Thakur Jagad Guru Prabhupada.