Why are rulers the cause for the current time?

Contents

• 1. Rulers are the cause for time (kal)
  • 1.1 Politicians and seekers
  • 1.2 Union leaders and seekers
  • 1.3 Irresponsible leaders of India plunged in debt
• 2. Punish evil administrators

1. Rulers are the cause for time (kal)

Once Yudhishthir wondered whether the subjects were suffering because Duryodhan was evil or the time (kal) was bad. When he asked Bhishmacharya this the latter replied -

कालो वा कारणं राज्ञो राजा वा कालकारणम्‌ ।
इति ते संशयो माभूद्राजा कालस्‍य कारणम्‌ ।। - महाभारत १२.६९.७९

Meaning: Do not get confused about whether time is the cause for a king or the king is the cause for time. Indeed the king himself is the cause for time. - Mahabharat 12.69.79

How reassuring this reply is! If it was reverse, that is if the king was bad because of the bad times then we would not be able to do anything; because we do not have the potential to destroy time itself. None of us have the potential to destroy the kaliyug part of the kaliyug part ...... of the kaliyug part of the Kaliyug. In the ancient times kings were so powerful that they possessed such potential. When King Parikshit came to know that the Dvaparyug would now end and the Kaliyug would commence and that in the Kaliyug all would struggle only to acquire happiness, that very few would undertake spiritual practice and evildoers would become rulers he got ready with his bow and arrow to destroy the Kaliyug. He decided that there would be a cycle comprising of only the Satyayug, Tretayug and Dvaparyug. He was about to release his arrow when the sages explained to him that though the Kaliyug is bad it also has its benefits. During the Kaliyug one can realise God within a very short span of time of undertaking spiritual practice like twenty years or so. When he came to know this he changed his mind. Kali also agreed that he would not extend his influence wherever there was devotion unto God. To acquire a degree in a particular subject we have to study for 17 to 18 years. In the Kaliyug The Lord has simplified Spirituality so much that undertaking spiritual practice for just 20 years is sufficient to successfully pass the examination of life and death.

The subjects benefit only if the king is righteous and truthful (Mahabharat 12.56). The king is the cause for time means that if the king is sattvik (sattva predominant) in nature and does spiritual practice in the best possible way then it is Satyayug for his subjects. If he does moderate spiritual practice then it is Tretayug and if he does very little spiritual practice then it is Dvaparyug for his subjects. However if he does not undertake any spiritual practice then it is Kaliyug for them. This is exactly what is happening today. Rulers are corrupt, receive bribes and have the attitude of hooliganism; hence such attitudes grow in the state as well. It is to change this that we need a king who undertakes spiritual practice. Only then will we be able to change everything. Besides it is quite a simple task. If evil kings are ousted and evil rulers are destroyed and replaced by sattvik ones then once again a miniature Satyayug will commence.

What we mean by the word king or ruler is a person having authority in a particular jurisdiction. A vegetable vendor becomes the ruler of the area which he occupies to sell his produce, a miller of his flour mill, etc. An employee in an office becomes the king there.

While describing Rama’s rule of Righteousness (Ramarajya) at one point it is mentioned that a young woman bedecked with jewellery is fearlessly walking alone along a lonely road, in the evening. What is happening in the present times appears in the newspapers everyday. Here is an incident which occurred some years back at Azad Maidan, a ground in Mumbai. This ground is frequented by quite a few passers-by. Children also play there. One summer evening in broad daylight around seven o’clock as a young woman was crossing that ground some youths began eveteasing her. When this question was posed in the legislative assembly, the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra replied, ‘Why should a woman walk alone at seven o’clock in the evening in a city like Mumbai?’. See the difference between the fearless atmosphere in the kingdom of those times and the reign of evildoers of today. If this continues then very soon women will not be able to step out of their homes. This includes all women - your mothers, wives, daughters, etc. Besides they will not be secure at home as well. To prevent this we should do something right now.

Given below are some quotes which indicate that time, that is happiness and unhappiness of subjects depends on the king.

• A. राजा कृतयुगस्‍त्रष्‍टा त्रेताया व्‍दापरस्‍य च ।
       युगस्‍य च चतुर्थस्‍य राजा भवति कारणम्‌ ।। - महाभारत १२.६९.९८

       Meaning: It is the king himself who creates the Krut (Satya) yug (era) in the world. The same is true for the Treta, Dvapar and the Kali yugs. - Mahabharat 12.69.98

• B. राजैव युगमुच्‍यते ।। - महाभारत १२.९१.६

       Meaning: The king himself is referred to as the yug. (This means that good or bad eras will be created depending on the king.) - Mahabharat 12.91.6

• C. दण्‍डनीत्‍यां यदा राजा सम्‍यक्‍कार्त्‍स्‍न्येन वर्तते ।
       तदा कृतयुगं नाम कालसृष्‍टं प्रवर्तते ।। - महाभारत १२.६९.८०

       Meaning: When the king behaves righteously in accordance with the principles of the code of punishment the onset of the Krutyug part of time occurs. - Mahabharat 12.69.80

• D. राजमूला महाबाहो योगक्षेमसुवृष्‍टय: ।
       प्रजासु व्‍याधयश्चैव मरणं च भयानि च ।। - महाभारत १२.१४१.९

       Meaning: (Bhishma tells Yudhishthir) The king is the main cause for fulfillment of the spiritual and worldly needs of subjects, for good rainfall, so also for the development of disease, death or fear among his subjects. - Mahabharat 12.141.9

• E. राजैव कर्ता भूतानां राजैव च विनाशक: ।
       धर्मात्‍मा य: स कर्ता स्‍यादधर्मात्‍मा विनाशक: ।। - महाभारत १२.९१.९

       Meaning: The king is both the bestower of happiness and the destroyer of living beings because if he behaves righteously then he becomes their benefactor and if he behaves unrighteously then he becomes their destroyer. - Mahabharat 12.91.9

• F. राज्ञ: प्रमाददोषेण दस्‍युभि: परिमुष्‍यताम्‌ ।
       अशरण्‍य: प्रजानां य: स राजा कलिरुच्‍यते ।। - महाभारत १२.१२.२९

       Meaning: A king who out of negligence cannot protect his subjects from thieves is Kali incarnate himself. - Mahabharat 12.12.29

• G. अहो तम इवेदं स्‍यान्‍न प्रज्ञायेत किंचन ।
       राजा चेन्‍न भवेल्‍लोके विभजन्‍साध्‍वसाधुनी ।। - रामायण २.६७.३६

       Meaning: If a king who is able to discern between right and wrong does not exist on the earth then it will be doomed and one will not understand anything (whether the action is right or wrong) - Ramayan 2.67.36

• H. नीत्‍या सुनीतया राजा धर्मं रक्षति रक्षिता ।
       यदा न पालयेद्राजा क्षिप्रं नश्‍यन्‍ति वै प्रजा: ।। - रामायण ७.५९ प्र. २.५

       Meaning: A king who protects his subjects, safeguards Righteousness by observing ethics meticulously. When the king does not protect Righteousness, the subjects are destroyed forthwith. - Ramayan 7.59 chapter 2.5

• I. राजदोषैर्विपद्यन्‍ते प्रजा ह्यविधिपालिता: ।
      असद्‌वृत्ते हि नृपतावकाले म्रियते जन: ।। - रामायण ७.७३.१६

       Meaning: Subjects nurtured by unrighteousness are destroyed by the king’s defects. If the king happens to be unrighteous then the subjects have untimely deaths. - Ramayan 7.73.16

• J. अकृतात्‍मानमासाद्य राजानमनये रतम्‌ ।
      समृद्धानि विनश्‍यन्‍ति राष्‍ट्राणि नगराणि च ।। - रामायण ५.२१.११

       Meaning: Prosperous nations and cities are destroyed if their king has no absolute knowledge impressed upon his mind and is engrossed in immorality. - Ramayan 5.21.11

[Refer to the point ‘Worldly and spiritual progress of subjects’ in ‘Science of Spirituality : Chapter 1 D B - Code of Righteousness of Rulers (Rajadharma)’.]

We simply say that the Ramayan and the Mahabharat are great holy texts enriching the spiritual heritage of India. Some of us buy them, try to read them and finally hoard them in the bookcase. We do not make any effort to understand and put into practice the great philosophy that these texts preach. That is why our state has become so miserable. Now we have to change all this and we are going to do so completely.

1.1 Politicians and seekers

Just as we say we want to destroy evildoers and establish a kingdom of seekers, every political party wishes to establish its own rule. Hence let us try to understand the differences between leaders of political parties and seekers.

• A. Objectives: The politicians of today want to establish their rule simply to acquire money, respect and power for themselves. We are practising Spirituality not to procure something but to learn how to sacrifice everything. We do not want anything.

• B. Expansiveness of perspective: In politics the attitude is self-centred. The ruling party allots ministerial berths only to people from their party. They do not think of the entire state. Even nomination of an external affairs minister or a chairman of a corporation is from within the party as if there is no suitable person from outside the party. Often there are persons more capable than the elected minister, in the opposition or in society. Yet the ruling party does not consider them. Contrary to this in a seekers’ kingdom only the most suitable candidate is allotted such a post.

• C. Ego: Politicians have a lot of ego. Just meet a municipal councillor, a municipal chairman, a member of legislative assembly, a member of Parliament, a minister, etc. Nowadays we can even watch them fighting in the Parliament, on television! As against this seekers aim at destroying ego.

• D. Components (guns): The proportion of tama-raja components in politicians is quite high. We have to become sattvik (sattva predominant) though temporarily to acquire the kingdom we have to develop sattva-raja predominant temperament.

• D. To what is importance attached?: Politicians cannot leave their positions of power while seekers consider power to be meaningless. One who has experienced the Bliss in Spirituality, spiritual practice, company of saints and the Guru find earthly designations such as a councillor or chairman of a municipality, a member of a legislative assembly or Parliament, a minister, Chief minister, Prime minister or President extremely insignificant. If a seeker were to be presented with the kingdom of even the entire world then he would still find it worthless.

• E. Surrendering power: Politicians can never give up their positions. In India, some members of the Lok Sabha elected lately are more than 70 years old. Indian history teaches us that when a prince came of age so as to be able to govern the kingdom the king would crown him the king and retire to the forest to undertake spiritual practice. Compare those kings to yourselves. The area of your residence may be 100-2000 square feet at the most. In comparison to the king’s, your entire property is insignificant yet you cannot sacrifice your small homes. But those kings would leave their kingdoms and retire to the forests. It is but natural then that they realised God and you do not. Arya Chanakya also is an ideal for us. During the reign of King Nanda anarchy prevailed like today. Chanakya helped Chandragupta to defeat Nanda. When Chandragupta became the emperor, instead of becoming his prime minister Chanakya chose Rakshas who was also the prime minister of King Nanda as his prime minister. Rakshas was an excellent politician but was loyal to Nanda. Chanakya explained to him that loyalty should be to the designation not to the king or an individual. Then appointing him as the prime minister He left for His hermitage, to undertake spiritual practice. This is our ideal.

The table below elucidates briefly the differences between the politicians of today and seekers.

1.2 Union leaders and seekers

Union leaders are a smaller version of politicians but are even more self-centred. They can never think about the entire society. Teachers, farmers and labourers, mill workers, rickshaw drivers all have unions. Doctors have associations. Each one thinks only about his section of society. When there is a bus strike rickshaw drivers try to take advantage of the situation. With the onset of heavy rains rickshaw and taxi drivers immediately hike their fares. Realising that employees were taking bribes to the tune of lakhs of rupees everyday when collecting octroi, the Municipal Corporation of Mumbai took action against them and tried to suspend them. But their union defended these corrupt officials! The union did not try to make them aware of their duties. Seekers have to think of the entire society and the whole world. Union officials are aware of and fight only for their rights. They are not aware of their duties. Their demands are like ‘hike salaries and privileges’, ‘reduce the hours of work’, etc. Does a seeker ever express any right? Never. A seeker has no rights he has only duties to fulfill. The table below shows the differences between union leaders and seekers.

1.3 Irresponsible leaders of India plunged in debt

In 1997 India had a debt of 10 lakh crore rupees which amounts to a debt of 11,000 rupees per head. The per capita annual income of Indians is 4000 rupees. Just to survive one would need a bare minimum of 10 rupees per day which makes it 3650 rupees for 365 days. Education, medical expenses, housing, etc. are excluded from this. If an annual amount of 250 rupees is considered for this then 3900 rupees will be required per year. If we give the remaining 100 rupees to the Indian Government for repayment of the loan; then to pay off 11,000 rupees 110 years will be required. In the intervening period interest on the loan goes on mounting. Children, the elderly, ailing and unemployed cannot contribute towards repayment of the loan. No one thinks of any of these things. Despite this workers’ unions ask for a hike in salaries! Has any union ever said, ‘Give us less pay. We will contribute towards repayment of India’s loans.’? Political leaders certainly do not think about it. In the last election campaign of Andhra Pradesh one political party campaigned ‘We will sell rice at 3 rupees a kilo’. In response to it another party said, ‘We will sell it at 2 rupees a kilo’. Can we afford all this with the brunt of the loan is what we do not think about. All these politicians and trade unions have an extremely narrow perspective, think of a very short period of time and are extremely selfish.

2. Punish evil administrators

Manu (in his book Manusmruti) has said that after Prajapati, that is Lord Brahma created the universe He endowed the Vaishyas with animals and Brahmans and kings (Kshatriyas) with subjects, rather entrusted them with the responsibility of looking after the animals and subjects respectively. If the king proves unfit in protecting the subjects then the responsibility passes on to the erudite Brahmans to do it. Our texts, the Purans describe how Lord Parshuram conquered the entire earth after unrighteous kings were generated and handed it over to righteous and knowledgeable Brahmans. There are numerous quotes about what should be done if the king behaves unrighteously and how he should be punished.

• A. राज्ञाऽन्‍यायेन यो दण्‍डो गृहीतो वरुणाय तम्‌ ।
       निवेद्य दद्याद्‌ विप्रेभ्‍य: स्‍वयं त्रिंशद्‌गुणीकृतम्‌ ।। याज्ञवल्‍क्‍यस्‍मृति २.३

       Meaning: After invoking deity Varun, the king himself should offer thirty times the amount which he has accumulated unrighteously to Brahmans. - Yadnyavalkyasmruti 2.3

• B. ‘Manu has clearly stated that if a king becomes unrighteous and tyrannical and begins behaving against political norms then even he should be considered an offender and should be fined a thousand times that a common man would be fined.

• C. अप्राप्‍तकारिणं भूपं रोधयन्‍ति च वै प्रजा: ।। योगवासिष्‍ठ ६.८४.२७

       Meaning: The subjects dethrone an unrighteous king. - Yogavasishtha 6.84.27

• D. Quotes with regard to banishment of an unrighteous king who does not protect the subjects are also found (Mahabharat 5.33.79-80). It is also stated that if a king goes astray then Brahmans and Vaishyas should wield weapons and bring him onto the right path. (Mahabharat 18.18).

• E. अरक्षितारं हर्तारं विलोप्‍तारमनायकम्‌ ।
       तं वै राजकलिं हन्‍यु: प्रजा: संनह्य निर्घुणम्‌ ।। - महाभारत १३.६१.३२

       Meaning: If a king levies taxes on his subjects without protecting them and instead of bringing the subjects onto the righteous path cheats them, the subjects should mercilessly kill this Kali in the form of the king by arming themselves. - Mahabharat 13.61.32

       It is clearly stated in the Mahabharat that an unrighteous king is the royal Kali and that such a king should either be ousted or if required even killed.’ ⁽¹⁾

• F.  अहं वो रक्षितेत्‍युक्‍त्‍वा यो न रक्षति भूमिप: ।
        स संहत्‍य निहन्‍तव्‍य: श्वेव सोन्‍माद आतुर: ।। - महाभारत १३.६१.३३

       Meaning: A king who makes promises that ‘he will protect his subjects’ but does not keep upto them should be collectively shot like a mad dog. - Mahabharat 13.61.33

• G.  आददानस्‍य चेद्राज्‍यं ये केचित्‍पारिपन्‍थिन: ।
        हन्‍तव्‍यास्‍त इति प्राज्ञा: क्षत्रधर्मविदो विदु: ।। - महाभारत १२.१०.७

       Meaning: Learned men who are well versed in the spiritual practice of protecting seekers and destroying evildoers say that if anyone obstructs the mission of acquiring a kingdom then he should be eliminated. - Mahabharat 12.10.7

Reference:

‘Spiritual practice of protecting seekers and destroying evildoers’, published by Sanatan Sanstha.

1. Bharatiya Sanskrutikosh. Publisher: Pandit Mahadevshastri Joshi, Secretary, Bharatiya Sanskrutikosh Mandal, 410, Shanivar Peth, Pune 411 030.
Vol. 8, Pg. 28 (First edition)