SB 4.14.31

SB 4.14.31

Devanagari

हन्यतां हन्यतामेष पाप: प्रकृतिदारुण: । जीवञ्जगदसावाशु कुरुते भस्मसाद् ध्रुवम् ॥ ३१ ॥

Verse text

hanyatāṁ hanyatām eṣa pāpaḥ prakṛti-dāruṇaḥ jīvaṣ jagad asāv āśu kurute bhasmasād dhruvam

Synonyms

hanyatām kill him ; hanyatām kill him ; eṣaḥ this king ; pāpaḥ representative of sin ; prakṛti by nature ; dāruṇaḥ most dreadful ; jīvan while living ; jagat the whole world ; asau he ; āśu very soon ; kurute will make ; bhasmasāt into ashes ; dhruvam certainly .

Translation

All the great saintly sages immediately cried: Kill him! Kill him! He is the most dreadful, sinful person. If he lives, he will certainly turn the whole world into ashes in no time.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

This sinful person should be killed! He should be killed! If he continues living, certainly this sinful person of cruel nature will quickly turn the whole world to ashes. He will turn the world to ashes. Therefore he should be turned to ashes.

Purport

Saintly persons are generally very kind to all kinds of living entities, but they are not unhappy when a serpent or a scorpion is killed. It is not good for saintly persons to kill, but they are encouraged to kill demons, who are exactly like serpents and scorpions. Therefore all the saintly sages decided to kill King Vena, who was so dreadful and dangerous to all human society. We can appreciate the extent to which the saintly sages actually controlled the king. If the king or government becomes demonic, it is the duty of a saintly person to upset the government and replace it with deserving persons who follow the orders and instructions of saintly persons.