SB 4.21.25

SB 4.21.25

Devanagari

तत् प्रजा भर्तृपिण्डार्थं स्वार्थमेवानसूयव: । कुरुताधोक्षजधियस्तर्हि मेऽनुग्रह: कृत: ॥ २५ ॥

Verse text

tat prajā bhartṛ-piṇḍārthaṁ svārtham evānasūyavaḥ kurutādhokṣaja-dhiyas tarhi me ’nugrahaḥ kṛtaḥ

Synonyms

tat therefore ; prajāḥ my dear citizens ; bhartṛ of the master ; piṇḍa artham — welfare after death ; sva artham — own interest ; eva certainly ; anasūyavaḥ without being envious ; kuruta just execute ; adhokṣaja the Supreme Personality of Godhead ; dhiyaḥ thinking of Him ; tarhi therefore ; me unto me ; anugrahaḥ mercy ; kṛtaḥ being done .

Translation

Pṛthu Mahārāja continued: Therefore, my dear citizens, for the welfare of your king after his death, you should execute your duties properly in terms of your positions of varṇa and āśrama and should always think of the Supreme Personality of Godhead within your hearts. By doing so, you will protect your own interests, and you will bestow mercy upon your king for his welfare after death.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Citizens! Therefore, perform your duties without envy for the welfare of me, your protector, after death. Thinkers of the Lord! By that, you will show me mercy. Therefore (tat) O citizens! Like offerings after death for the person’s welfare, you should do your duties for my benefit after death. If you do your duties, I will become successful. Let me not have rebirth in this world. He describes the individual duty. O persons who place their intelligence in the Lord (adhokṣaja-dhiyaḥ) Worship the Lord! This is confirmed by the Gītā statement mayyeva mana ādhatsva mayi buddhiṁ niveśaya: fix your mind in me and place your intelligence in me. (BG 12.8)

Purport

The words adhokṣaja-dhiyaḥ, meaning “Kṛṣṇa consciousness,” are very important in this verse. The king and citizens should both be Kṛṣṇa conscious; otherwise both of them will be doomed to lower species of life after death. A responsible government must teach Kṛṣṇa consciousness very vigorously for the benefit of all. Without Kṛṣṇa consciousness, neither the state nor the citizens of the state can be responsible. Pṛthu Mahārāja therefore specifically requested the citizens to act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and he was also very anxious to teach them how to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. A summary of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is given in Bhagavad-gītā (9.27) : yat karoṣi yad aśnāsi yaj juhoṣi dadāsi yat yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kuruṣva mad-arpaṇam “Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you give in charity and whatever penances you undergo should be done in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or for the satisfaction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” If all the people of the state, including the government servants, are taught the techniques of spiritual life, then although everyone is liable to be punished in different ways by the stringent laws of material nature, they will not be implicated.