Characteristics of Effective Leadership| SB1.12.20 | Moscow |30.01.2002| Śrīla Gopāl Kṛṣṇa Goswāmī

Hagavad Gītā, Kanto 1, Chapter 12, Text 20. Is that the words on the board? Well, let us speak. Ina asurīnālām, asurīnālām, sīvī, sīvī, yāśo, yāśo, vitāṇitā, vitāṇitā, māṇa, māṇa, dośyante, dośyante. So we are reading in this chapter about the birth of the great King Parikṣit. At this point in the Bhāgavatam, the brahmanas are responding to the concerns of Yudhiṣṭhira Vṛhāda. The sages in our śrāṇya were very excited about hearing of the birth of King Parikṣit. As you probably know, the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam consists of the dialogue between Śrīla Deva Gosvāmī and Parikṣit Mahārāja on the one hand, and dialogue between the great sages in Navadvipaṣraya with Śrīla Gosvāmī. So the sages Who were assembled in our shranya were asking questions about King Parikṣit, how he was saved in the womb of his mother Uttara from the brahmāsura that was released by Asvatama. When Parikṣit was in the womb of his mother Uttara, Parikṣit's father was Abhimanyu, and he was attacked by the brahmāsura of Asvatama. The Lord, who is in everyone's heart as the Prabhupāda, expanded Himself in His transcendental form and protected Parikṣit from Asvatthana's weapon. And for a fraction of a second, Parikṣit Mahārāja had the opportunity to see the personal form of the Lord. Was beautifully decorated, four-handed. The Lord appeared and instantly disappeared. But Parikṣit Mahārāja got such great pleasure when he saw the form of the Lord that everyone he saw from there onwards, he would look at his face and see, "Does this person look like the person I saw in my mother's womb?" The word Parikṣit in Sanskrit means examiner. And he is called Parikṣit because everyone he saw, he would examine it to see if the face resembled that of the face he saw in the mother's womb. Now, after Parikṣit Mahārāja was born, Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja and others gave the brahmanas a lot of charity. It is Vedic tradition to give charity to the genuine brahmanas and the sannyasis. Of course, the brahmanas must be very genuine also, not that we take on to the brahmanical profession for some livelihood. During the rule of Lord Ramachandra, the brahmanas were very exemplary. On one occasion, Lord Ramachandra called all the brahmanas and asked them, "Please ask as much land as you need for your maintenance." The brahmanas said, "Please give us only as much as we need and no more." If the modern-day Brahmins were asked to ask for as much land as they need, they would have definitely given 10 times of what they need as a demand. Sita Devi on one occasion distributed all her jewelry to the Brahminical women except her nose ring. The Brahminical ladies took the jewelry and offered it back to Sita. So this was was the standard of the brahmanas. So Yudhishthira Maharaj gave a chariot to the brahmanas, and he asked the brahmanas questions about this young child who was just born. The brahmanas wanted to know, "Will this boy be a saintly king? Will he be as glorious as his ancestors were?" So a king is considered to be a representative of the Lord. In Nepal, they have a king, and they call him the representative of Vishnu. They call him the representative of Vishnu, but unfortunately these kings, they drink, eat meat, everything. So they are not really true representatives of Vishnu. But the king is considered to be a representative of the Lord. Lord. And in Vedic history, we see so many wonderful kings who ruled over the planet, considering the citizens to be like their children. In the Vedic days, any citizen could run inside the palace, ring a bell, and get an audience with the king. Can you do that today? Can you go to the cabinet, ring a bell, and get an audience with the president of your King, go to India, Delhi, and go to the Prime Minister's office and get the— ring the bell and get an audience with the Prime Minister. These days, you know, we get their darshan every evening on television, where you can see them and hear them, but they can't see you or hear you. So it's one-way traffic. So in the old days, you could just go to the King and express your grievance. And then the king would address the grievance. It's a duty of the head of state, it's a duty of the government to see that all the necessities of life are provided to the citizens. Unfortunately, the modern-day leaders don't realize their duties. Once the king called King Ranthideva He had fasted for a period of 48 days along with his wife. He was about to break his fast. He was just about to break his fast. When a hungry Brahmana ran into his palace and said, "King, I am hungry. Give me something to eat." King gave him something to eat. Then he was— he fasted for 48 days and when a hungry man approached him, he parted with a little bit of the foodstuff. And then as he was about to eat, Another hungry Chandala came. Gradually everything was given away. Just a cup of water was left. And as he was about to drink the water, a thirsty man ran into his palace and said, "King, I'm thirsty. Give me some water to drink." And the king parted with the water also. So, why you they say, what did they know? From the brahmanas who were present, "This boy Parikṣit, is he going to be in the family tradition in which the kings in the past were great devotees of the Lord and very charitable, generous, magnanimous?" The brahmanas are like spiritual astrologers. They can foresee these symptoms and they can make very accurate predictions. In the Vedic days, the Brahmanas would produce fire just by chanting mantras and not with the help of matchbox or cigarette lighters. Can any of you produce fire by chanting mantras? Tum, why not? The modern-day Brahmanas can't do that. The Vedic Brahmanas had great power. They were able to even curse. The Chalit Brahmanas, even if you curse, it won't— So the Brahmanas are beginning to reply. When the Brahmanas began to reply to King Yudhishthira's inquiry, from the words that we discussed yesterday, they said, "This child will be exactly like King Ikshvaku." But King Ikshvaku ruled over the planet in the beginning of Kreta Yuga. So, Treta Yuga ran for 1.2 million years. Dwapara Yuga ran for 800,000 years. So, King Śvaku, the son of Manu, was ruling over the planet over 2 million years ago. In the Bhagavad Gītā, Kṛṣṇa says, 'I imparted this knowledge to the Sangha of Vivasvan.' But who did he turn and impart it? To Ikshaku. But Ikshaku is very famous as the son of Manu for having received this knowledge through the reflected session and then having established this knowledge as a basis for life in his entire kingdom. Then the Brahmanas said, "This boy Parikshit will be as famous as Lord Rama." King Yashwaku had appeared in the family dynasty or heritage of Lord Rama. Lord Rama is famous for many things. Especially people talk about Ram Rajya or the golden rule of Lord Rama. Why do people talk of Ram Rajya even today? We were about to accept it. Everyone was happy, okay, why were they happy? Because they could choose the time of death. Okay, they could choose the time of death, okay, one point. What else? Okay, what else? During the rule of Lord Ramachandra, there was absolutely no anxiety in society. There was no mental anxiety. There was no— all the necessities were provided. There was no old age or disease. One of the 6 qualities is the quality of gratitude. So, Mahāprabhu was about to be coronated king. Everything was ready in the kingdom. All the streets were decorated. And all the streets were cleaned, and he was about to be coronated king the next day. King Dasharatha, the father of Lord Rama, had 3 wives, and once when the king was in pain, he was greatly helped by Kakai, one of his wives. So she had— the king had told her, "You saved my life. Can I do something for you in exchange?" She said, He said, "I'll ask you at the appropriate time." So she waited all along. But when Rama was about to be crowned as a king, she wasn't happy. She wanted her son to be the king. So when Rama was about to be crowned as a king, she went to Dasharatha. "You remember you promised me a favor? You said I could ask you at any time when I got and ask you anything. So now I want to ask you." The king said, Go ahead. And someone said, "Amit Shree, well, ah." To the Kshatriya kings, a word given would always be honored. They would never go back on their word, even if it meant sacrificing a lot of their life. These days, people have no value for their words. They sign written agreements and then break it the next day. I tell you, God, the lawyers make money because people love to lie. And there's so many court cases. So Kakadeva said, now I want to ask you a favor today. Please banish Ram in the forest for 14 years and install my son Bharat on the throne. King Dasharatha, when he heard this, he almost died. Because he attached to Lord Ram and he wanted Lord Ram to become the king. But Lord Ram, when his father asked him to go to the forest He did not protest, "Oh my father, how can I go? Everyone is expecting me to be the king. My palace is ready, the streets are ready." He took his father's boat, just like a bird, as soon as the bird brings her develop, she flies out of the nest, came out, took his father's boat, left the palace. So the Brahminess said, "This boy, will be as famous as King Yudhishthira and as famous as the wise Lord Rādhā. Then they said in the words we are discussing today, this child will be a magnificent donor of charity. He will be very charitable and he will be protector of the surrendered souls and he will expand the name and fame of his family. Just like in a material situation, if somebody becomes very famous or very well known, then he expands the name and fame of his family, doesn't he? A king becomes famous by his performance of sacrifice and yajña and by protecting those who surrender to him. So it's said that Mahāprasāda would be very famous as protecting his population, and he will be very magnanimous and charitable. And the Rāgṇa said he will be as famous in giving charity as King Sibi was. Long ago, there was a very charitable king called King Sibi. He is known in history as the most charitable king. So once the demon gods wanted to test how charitable he was. So one of them took on the role of a pigeon and the other took on the role of an eagle. The eagle started chasing the pigeon. The pigeon came to the palace of King Siddhi and said, "King, please protect me. This eagle is chasing me. He wants to eat me. Please protect me." He said, "You have come to me for protection. Of course I'll protect you." And then came the ego. "Did a pigeon come here?" He said, "Yes." "Give me that pigeon. I want to eat it. I'm hungry. I want to eat his flesh." The king said, "No, you can't eat. I can't return this pigeon to you." The ego said, "No, you must return. I'm hungry." "It's not your property," the king said. He has come to me for protection. I can't give him away. In your words, I will give you the flesh of my own body equal to the weight of the pigeon. And the king agreed to give flesh from his own body equal to the weight of the pigeon. And by the arrangement of the Lord, the weight of the pigeon went on increasing, which meant the king had to give more and more flesh. Does Richard also say you prepare But he did not answer this. Then the demigods were so pleased that they revealed their identity. So the king must be charitable and the king must protect the entire Prajapati. What's the meaning of Prajapati? Prasada. Prasada. Huh? What's the meaning of Prajapati? All those who were born in this country. All! This means animals also. Hmm? It means animals also. In every country they do a census. Census means they want to count how many people, what is the population of the country. Like when they publish Russian population, what is Russia's population? 179 million. 50. So when they talk about the population of Russia, what do they say? What's the population? They don't take into account all the animals. They only take into account the human population. That means the entire population. So it is the king's duty to protect everyone, and the king's duty to provide protection. In the Bhagavad Gītā, Krishna says Whatever great men do, others will follow. So when the kings were God-conscious, the population was God-conscious. And if the kings are not God-conscious, mature nature doesn't cooperate. For our living, we're all dependent upon the resources being provided by nature, isn't it? Whether you want water to eat, breathe, water to drink, grains to eat. Who provides all this? Who? Krishna. Krishna. I was in Washington a few weeks ago. Yes, sir. They've had a severe drought there. They don't have water. Well, they may have all the technology, but they can't produce food. They didn't have rain. So, unless you— and this prakriti works under the Lord's direction and Krishna's Mayāntaḥ kṛṣṇaṁ prabhuḍīḥ śrīteṣāca ācāraḥ. So, whether leaders have got conscious, have to be fully corporate. Just like there's a very wonderful prayer by Queen Kunti in the first canto of the Bhāgavata. Queen Kunti says, my dear Lord, by your merciful glance, all the trees are full of fruits. The earth is full of rain. The rivers are full of water and the oceans are full of minerals and diamonds. All this is aid in your merciful arms. So when the leaders have got conscious, the society prospers. And what happens when the leaders— what happens? Mutilator goes on strike. Like, you know, the laborers in the comm— the laborers go on strike when they don't get enough salary. Calorie. As the material nature goes on strike, the resources, the natural resources are in short supply. The oceans run dry, the fruits, the trees don't carry fruits, the earth doesn't release the grains. So it is important that the leaders be God conscious and then the society will also be God conscious. In the Vedas you read about a story of a king called King He was completely conscious. He stopped all the Brahmins from doing the animal sacrifice. He showed nature will destroy. The earth stopped producing rains. The rivers became dry. The fruits, the trees did not have any fruits. People were suffering. Then his son, King Pritu, became the king. When he became the king, the citizens went up to him and said, "King, it's your duty to provide the necessary food." of life. And the king said, there's nothing I can do. He was incarnation of God and still he said this. If you go and glorify the Supreme Lord, then all the necessities of life will be provided. So that's what they did, and all the necessities were provided. So the king must be God-conscious, must give charity, and must be a protector of the And Parikṣit Mahārāja was such a king. When he saw that a sudra had disguised himself as a king and he was attacking the cow, ah, he protested. So King Parikṣit was so famous that wherever he would travel, the citizens would honor him. And sing the praise of his ancestors. Do you see that happening today? In these democracies around the world, no leader can stay in power beyond one or two terms of office. And has ever seen a praise of the ancestors? When the president of any country or prime minister goes to the citizens, greet them and say, "Oh, how great is Fatherland." father was, or great-grandfather was, or great-great-grandfather was. The kings and the people become— people become— people enter politics, become, well, hold positions, not to do welfare work for the citizens. So they maybe lip service, but they all eventually see what's good for them, follow the What the world needs is God-conscious leaders of society. You are aware in the Vedic system, the system of monarchy is preferable to the system of democracy. You can have many different forms of government. One is monarchy, another is dictatorship. What is that? Aftakaracha. You had experience of dictatorship in your country, and then you can have democracy. Well, regarding devil crazy, probably we should call it demon crazy. Because in this system, anyway, all the cheetahs get together and act like another cheetah. Where in monarchy, the monarch is brought up from his childhood in the spirit of doing service to the people in his God consciousness. Of course, if the monarch is not God conscious, conscious, then it is as good as democracy. Only the monarch is God conscious and considers himself to be a representative of the Lord and a guardian of society, then the society will prosper. Just like, I mean, so many kings around the world are not so God conscious. Prasad Raaval is God conscious. So, the kings must be God conscious, and then there will be prosperity and happiness. Happens in society. Some of you may say, but we know in today's environment you're never going to get a king like King Parashurama. Any hope? Yes, sir. So, but how do we benefit from this information? We benefit by meditating on the transcendental pastime of the great sage. As his kings were called Rajarshi, Raja Rishi means king and sage at the same time. Do we have any Raja Rishi today somewhere? There are kings in the Middle East and all, but they are not Raja Rishis. So to summarize the words, Yudhishthira Maharaj was very happy when King Parikshit was born. He gave big charity to the brahmanas. Then he asked the brahmanas, please, what will this child be? In many parts of the world, even in India, it's a tradition that after a child is born, the parents make his horoscope. What is this child going to be like? This is what I had asked the Brahmanas. What is this child going to be like? Is he going to be a great devotee like his ancestors? And the Brahmanas replied, yes, he will be. He will be in the same league as his ancestors. And in the words he's been compared to King Sibi and King Bharata, the son of Bharata, Dushyanta. So by hearing the Bhāgavatam, by meditating on what you hear in the Bhāgavatam, our heart will get purified and we will be able to make spiritual advancement. So we should attentively hear the Bible regardless of who the speaker is and you'll make spiritual advancement. It's a little late for your class, and I keep thinking I wanted to question. Well, it's all along, we just seen the Lord may not be making any in some other form. Prasad RAVAL is constantly thinking of Krishna. Yes, then I don't know who in ISKCON is speaking English. Obviously I didn't mean professional reciters speaking for money. Sometimes in ISKCON also we see the devotees say, oh, okay, if he's lecturing, then I'll go to the class. Somebody else is acting in that role. It's not like watching a movie where you would want to know who the star of the movie is. If it's your favorite star, then I'll watch the movie. We should, as a matter of principle, make it a point to hear the Bhagavad Gita. Hearing is the key through which we make spiritual advancement. So you should hear attentively. And then, even if we are not fully understanding the message, hearts. Once devotees asked Prabhupāda how is he preaching so enthusiastically. Prabhupāda said, "Because I heard attentively, I'm now preaching enthusiastically." He would hear very attentively. Many times he couldn't even understand what Bhaktisiddhānta Mahāprabhu was saying, still he would hear attentively. So Bhaktisiddhānta Mahāprabhu said, "This boy hears attentively, one day he'll preach attentively." Any other question? Yeah. Lama Lama Ale Ale. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna.