SB 6.2.5 · Srimad Bhagavatam

Devanagari

यस्याङ्के शिर आधाय लोक: स्वपिति निर्वृत: । स्वयं धर्ममधर्मं वा न हि वेद यथा पशु: ॥ ५ ॥ स कथं न्यर्पितात्मानं कृतमैत्रमचेतनम् । विस्रम्भणीयो भूतानां सघृणो दोग्धुमर्हति ॥ ६ ॥

Verse text

yasyāṅke śira ādhāya lokaḥ svapiti nirvṛtaḥ svayaṁ dharmam adharmaṁ vā na hi veda yathā paśuḥ sa kathaṁ nyarpitātmānaṁ kṛta-maitram acetanam visrambhaṇīyo bhūtānāṁ saghṛṇo dogdhum arhati

Synonyms

yasya — of whom ; aṅke — on the lap ; śiraḥ — the head ; ādhāya — placing ; lokaḥ — the general mass of people ; svapiti — sleep ; nirvṛtaḥ — in peace ; svayam — personally ; dharmam — religious principles or the goal of life ; adharmam — irreligious principles ; vā — or ; na — not ; hi — indeed ; veda — know ; yathā — exactly like ; paśuḥ — an animal ; saḥ — such a person ; katham — how ; nyarpita — ātmānam — unto the living entity who has fully surrendered ; kṛta — maitram — endowed with good faith and friendship ; acetanam — with undeveloped consciousness, foolish ; visrambhaṇīyaḥ — deserving to be the object of faith ; bhūtānām — of the living entities ; sa — ghṛṇaḥ — who has a soft heart for the good of all people ; dogdhum — to give pain ; arhati — is able .

Translation

People in general are not very advanced in knowledge by which to discriminate between religion and irreligion. The innocent, unenlightened citizen is like an ignorant animal sleeping in peace with its head on the lap of its master, faithfully believing in the master’s protection. If a leader is actually kindhearted and deserves to be the object of a living entity’s faith, how can he punish or kill a foolish person who has fully surrendered in good faith and friendship?

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

The common people, like animals, sleeping peacefully with their heads on the lap of the master, do not know dharma and adharma. How can the compassionate leader, who should have the trust of all beings, give pain to those who have surrendered in friendship, and have undeveloped consciousness? Because of the betrayal of trust, we speak of further adharma. This is expressed in two verses. Nyarpitātmānam means to the person who has completely offered himself. Why should he trust the leader? The leader should be worthy of being trusted and should be compassionate to all beings.

Purport

The Sanskrit word viśvasta-ghāta refers to one who breaks faith or causes a breach of trust. The mass of people should always feel security because of the government’s protection. Therefore, how regrettable it is for the government itself to cause a breach of trust and put the citizens in difficulty for political reasons. We actually saw during the partition days in India that although Hindus and Muslims were living together peacefully, manipulation by politicians suddenly aroused feelings of hatred between them, and thus the Hindus and Muslims killed one another over politics. This is a sign of Kali-yuga. In this age, animals are kept nicely sheltered, completely confident that their masters will protect them, but unfortunately as soon as the animals are fat, they are immediately sent for slaughter. Such cruelty is condemned by Vaiṣṇavas like the Viṣṇudūtas. Indeed, the hellish conditions already described await the sinful men responsible for such suffering. One who betrays the confidence of a living entity who takes shelter of him in good faith, whether that living entity be a human being or an animal, is extremely sinful. Because such betrayals now go unpunished by the government, all of human society is terribly contaminated. The people of this age are therefore described as mandāḥ sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā hy upadrutāḥ. As a consequence of such sinfulness, men are condemned ( mandāḥ ), their intelligence is unclear ( sumanda-matayaḥ ), they are unfortunate ( manda-bhāgyāḥ ), and therefore they are always disturbed by many problems ( upadrutāḥ ). This is their situation in this life, and after death they are punished in hellish conditions.