Text 8]
Rahūgaṇa Converses with Jaḍa Bharata
409
mismanaged by so-called kings and heads of government. As Kṛṣṇa says in  Bhagavad-gītā ,  yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata . Of course this takes many years, but the principle is there. When the king or governmental head does not follow the proper principles, nature deals out the punishments in the forms of war, famine and so forth. Therefore if the governmental head is not aware of life's goal, he should not take charge of ruling the people. Actually the supreme proprietor of everything is Lord Viṣṇu. He is the maintainer of everyone. The king, the father, and the guardian are simply representatives of Lord Viṣṇu, empowered by Him to look after the management and maintain things. It is therefore the duty of the head of the state to maintain the general populace in such a way that people will ultimately know the goal of life.  Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatim hi viṣṇum . Unfortunately the foolish governmental head and the general populace do not know that the ultimate goal of life is to understand and approach Lord Viṣṇu. Without this knowledge, everyone is in ignorance, and all society is crowded with cheaters and cheated.
TEXT 8
यदा क्षितावेव चराचरस्य 
    विदाम निष्ठां प्रभवं च नित्यम् । 
    तन्नामतोऽन्यद् व्यवहारमूलं 
    निरूप्यतां सत्क्रिययानुमेयम् ॥ ८ ॥
yadā kṣitāv eva carācarasya 
    vidāma niṣṭhām prabhavam ca nityam 
    tan nāmato 'nyad vyavahāra-mūlam 
    nirūpyatām sat-kriyayānumeyam
yadā —therefore;  kṣitau —in the earth;  eva —certainly;  cara-acarasya —of different bodies, some moving and some not moving;  vidāma —we know;  niṣṭhām —annihilation;  prabhavam —appearance;  ca —and;  nityam —regularly by the principles of nature;  tat —that;  nāmataḥ —than simply by name;  anyat —other;  vyavahāra-mūlam —cause of material activities;  nirūpyatām —let it be ascertained;  sat-kriyayā —by actual employment;  anumeyam —to be inferred.