SB 1.17.14

SB 1.17.14

Devanagari

जनेऽनागस्यघं युञ्जन् सर्वतोऽस्य च मद्भयम् । साधूनां भद्रमेव स्यादसाधुदमने कृते ॥ १४ ॥

Verse text

jane ’nāgasy aghaṁ yuṣjan sarvato ’sya ca mad-bhayam sādhūnāṁ bhadram eva syād asādhu-damane kṛte

Synonyms

jane to the living beings ; anāgasi those who are offenseless ; agham sufferings ; yuṣjan by applying ; sarvataḥ anywhere and everywhere ; asya of such offenders ; ca and ; mat bhayam — fear me ; sādhūnām of the honest persons ; bhadram good fortune ; eva certainly ; syāt will take place ; asādhu dishonest miscreants ; damane curbed ; kṛte being so done .

Translation

Whoever causes offenseless living beings to suffer must fear me anywhere and everywhere in the world. By curbing dishonest miscreants, one automatically benefits the offenseless.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

He who commits violence against the innocent must certainly fear me in all ways. By punishing the sinful, the innocent will be peaceful.

Purport

Dishonest miscreants flourish because of cowardly and impotent executive heads of state. But when the executive heads are strong enough to curb all sorts of dishonest miscreants, in any part of the state, certainly they cannot flourish. When the miscreants are punished in an exemplary manner, automatically all good fortune follows. As said before, it is the prime duty of the king or the executive head to give protection in all respects to the peaceful, offenseless citizens of the state. The devotees of the Lord are by nature peaceful and offenseless, and therefore it is the prime duty of the state to arrange to convert everyone to become a devotee of the Lord. Thus automatically there will be peaceful, offenseless citizens. Then the only duty of the king will be to curb the dishonest miscreants. That will bring about peace and harmony all over human society.

Commentary (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

By telling me who he is, he will have fear of me. But even if you do not tell, under all conditions, he will fear me. He who harms the innocent will fear me by all causes (sarvataḥ).