How much the earth gives forth her bounty depends
on the spiritual quality of those who rule her lands.
A lecture given in Tehran, Iran, on March 13, 1975
nisamya bhismoktam athacyutoktam
pravrtta-vijnana-vidhuta-vibhramah
sasasa gam indra ivajitasrayah
paridhyupantam anujanuvartitah
kamam vavarsa parjanyah
sarva-kama-dugha mahi
sisicuh sma vrajan gavah
payasodhasvatir muda
Maharaja Yudhisthira, after being enlightened by what was spoken by Bhismadeva and Lord Sri Krsna, the infallible, engaged himself in matters of perfect knowledge because all his misgivings were eradicated. Thus he ruled over the earth and seas and was followed by his younger brothers.
During the reign of Maharaja Yudhisthira, the clouds showered all the water that people needed, and the earth produced all the necessities of man in profusion. Due to its fatty milk bag and cheerful attitude, the cow used to moisten the grazing ground with milk. Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.10.3-4
After the Battle of Kuruksetra, Yudhisthira Maharaja was unwilling to accept the kingdom. He thought, "For me so many men have been killed on the battlefield. I am so sinful. I am not fit for the throne." But great personalities like Bhismadeva, Lord Krsna, and Vyasadeva requested, "No, there is no fault with you. It was a fight. It was right. So you can reign."
Yudhisthira thought, "These great personalities have given their opinion that there was no wrong on my part." So he agreed to rule.
It is said here, sasasa gam indra ivajitasrayah: "He ruled the earth as perfectly as King Indra rules heaven." How was Yudhisthira able to do that? Ajitasrayah he ruled completely as a devotee. The king can rule the country the world if he takes shelter of Krsna. Ajitasrayah means "Krsna conscious, God conscious." A Krsna conscious person, one advised by the sastra, scripture, can rule the whole world or any part of the world exactly like Indra, the king of heaven, who rules perfectly.
[Reads from his purport to text 3:] "The modern English law of primogeniture, or the law of inheritance by the firstborn, was also prevalent in those days when Maharaja Yudhisthira ruled the earth and the seas. In those days the king of Hastinapura (now part of New Delhi) was the emperor of the world, including the seas, up to the time of Maharaja Pariksit, the grandson of Maharaja Yudhisthira. Maharaja Yudhisthira's younger brothers were acting as his minister and commanders of state, and there was full cooperation between the perfectly religious brothers of the king.
"Maharaja Yudhisthira was the ideal king or representative of Lord Sri Krsna to rule over the kingdom of earth and was comparable to King Indra, the representative ruler of the heavenly planet. The demigods like Indra, Candra, Surya, Varuna, and Vayu are representative kings of different planets of the universe. And similarly Maharaja Yudhisthira was also one of them, ruling over the kingdom of the earth.
"Maharaja Yudhisthira was not a typically unenlightened political leader of modern democracy. Maharaja Yudhisthira was instructed by Bhismadeva and the infallible Lord also, and therefore he had full knowledge of everything in perfection.
"The modern elected executive head of the state is just like a puppet because he has no kingly power. Even if he is enlightened like Maharaja Yudhisthira, he cannot do anything out of his own good will due to his constitutional position. Therefore, there are so many states over the earth quarreling because of ideological differences or other selfish motives. But a king like Maharaja Yudhisthira had no ideology of his own. He had but to follow the instruction of the infallible Lord and the Lord's representative and the authorized agent, Bhismadeva.
"It is instructed in the sastras that one should follow the great authority and the infallible Lord without any personal motive and manufactured ideology. Therefore, it was possible for Maharaja Yudhisthira to rule the whole world, including the seas, because the principles were infallible and universally applicable to everyone.
"The conception of one world state can only be fulfilled if we can follow the infallible authority. An imperfect human being cannot create an ideology acceptable to everyone. Only the perfect and the infallible can create a program which is applicable at every place and can be followed by all in the world. It is the person who rules, and not the impersonal government. If the person is perfect, the government is perfect. If the person is a fool, the government is a fool's paradise. That is the law of nature.
"There are so many stories of imperfect kings or executive heads. Therefore, the executive head must be a trained person like Maharaja Yudhisthira, and he must have the full autocratic power to rule over the world. The conception of a world state can take shape only under the regime of a perfect king like Maharaja Yudhisthira. The world was happy in those days because there were kings like Maharaja Yudhisthira to rule over the world."
Everything from the Earth
Let the king follow Maharaja Yudhisthira and show an example of how monarchy can make a perfect state. He can do that if he follows the instructions in the sastras. He will get the power.
Because Yudhisthira Maharaja was a perfect king, a representative of Krsna, it is said of his rule, kamam vavarsa parjanyah: "During the reign of Maharaja Yudhisthira, the clouds showered all the water people needed."
Parjanyah means "rainfall." Rainfall is the basic principle of supply for all necessities of life. Therefore Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita:
annad bhavanti bhutani
parjanyad anna-sambhavah
yajnad bhavati parjanyo
yajnah karma-samudbhavah
"All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rains. Rains are produced by performance of yajna [sacrifice], and yajna is born of prescribed duties."
The head of state is responsible to see that everyone is happy both man and animal. The rascal state executives sometimes make a show of benefiting man, but they do nothing to benefit the animals. Why this injustice? The animals are also born in this land. They are also living entities. They may be animals, with less intelligence than man, but does that mean slaughterhouses should be constructed for killing them? Is that justice?
Also, the king should give shelter to anyone who comes to his state. Why should he make distinctions? If a person comes and says, "Sir, I want to live in your state," that person must be given all facilities. Why this, "No, no, you cannot come. You are American. You are Indian. You are … "?
If a king follows the Vedic principles, he will be an ideal king. He will be a good leader. And nature will help him. Therefore it is said that during the reign of Maharaja Yudhisthira, sarva-kama-dugha mahi: "The earth produced all the necessities of man in profusion." Mahi means "the earth." You get all your necessities from the earth. They fall from the sky in the form of rain. People do not know the science of how things come from the earth. Under certain conditions and astral influences the rain falls, and then so many things are produced the valuable stones, the pearls. People do not know how these things come.
If the king is pious, nature cooperates to help him. And if the king or the government is impious, then nature will not cooperate. We get information about this from the Fourth Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam. When the earth was not supplying, the king, Prthu Maharaja, was about to punish her. She said, "This is my duty. Because people are demons, I must restrict the supply."
Leaders think that simply by passing a resolution in the Parliament they will make everything come. They think they can be rascals and everyone will be happy. But the leaders will not make the world happy, and their behavior will simply deteriorate more and more.
The Only Sacrifice
Krsna never says, "The factory will make the people healthy and strong." But government rascals are promoting factories. Then how will the people be happy? By performing ugra-karma "horrible work" the people will be unhappy, dissatisfied rogues. Where has Krsna said, "Open factories for economic development"? Nowhere.
Here it is said that all economic development will be complete simply by regular rainfall. Kamam vavarsa parjanyah. Kamam means "all necessities of life." Modern scientists, philosophers, and politicians do not know this. We are getting so many things. How are they supplied? It is clearly said, kamam vavarsa parjanyah: "The necessities are supplied by rain." And how will the rain be regular? Yajnad bhavati parjanyah: "By yajna, sacrifice."
Where are sacrifices to be found? In Kali-yuga, the present age of quarrel and hypocrisy, sacrifices are very difficult to perform. There is no money. There are no qualified brahmanas. Therefore the sastra says, yajnaih sankirtana-prayair yajanti hi sumedhasah: "In Kali-yuga intelligent persons will perform the sacrifice of chanting the holy names of the Lord." Those who have brain substance, not cow dung, in their heads will take this process.
Let everyone chant Hare Krsna, in every home. Whatever people have, all right. Just begin chanting. Just see what happens. We are trying to introduce the chanting, but rascals will not take it. There is no loss if people chant Hare Krsna worldwide. Where is the loss? But still, they will not.
Everything can be had from the chanting. Sarva-kama-dugha mahi. The earth is the mother, and Krsna has arranged that everything will come from the earth. Everything is coming. The rose is coming, the mine is coming, the gold is coming, the coal is coming, the petrol is coming. Everything is there in the earth. And if there is regular rainfall, you get everything you need. And by performing sacrifice, you get regular rainfall. In this age all other types of sacrifice are impossible:
harer nama harer nama
harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva
nasty eva gatir anyatha
"In the Age of Kali one can attain the goal of life by chanting the holy names of the Lord. There is no other way."
So introduce the chanting of Hare Krsna. What is the loss for people? Let the chanting go on home to home, office to office, factory to factory. Let there be factories, but let all the factory members be engaged in chanting, and supply them prasadam,food offered to Krsna. There will be no more strikes. There will be no more communist movements. Everything is available. Everything will be all right.
The Krsna consciousness movement is not sentimental fanaticism. It is not a religious movement. It is a scientific movement for the good of the whole world. We have to convince people of this by our character, by our behavior. Then people will accept the Krsna consciousness movement.
Now they think it is a type of religious movement. And for them "religious" means fanaticism. Krsna consciousness is not like that. It is not meant for fighting other religions. The British created fighting between Hindus and Muslims. Before that, there was no religious fight in the history of India. The Kuruksetra fight was political. That was not a religious fight on the basis of "You are Hindu. I am Muslim. Therefore we must fight." There was no such fighting in Indian history.
On the material platform your interest and mine sometimes clash, and there may be fighting. But why fight in God consciousness? If everyone is God conscious, where is the question of fighting?
Thank you very much.