Text 27] Bhisma’s Passing Away 473

renounced order should practice penances and austerities. Those are the
general functions of all the asramas or orders of life on the path of self-
realization. In the brahmacari life the training is sufficiently imparted to
understand that the world as property belongs to the Supreme Lord, the
Personality of Godhead. No one, therefore, can claim to be the proprietor
of anything in the world. Therefore, in the life of a householder, which is
a sort of license for sex enjoyment, one must give in charity for the service
of the Lord. Everyone’s energy is generated or borrowed from the reser-
voir of energy of the Lord; therefore, the resultant actions of such energy
must be given to the Lord in the shape of transcendental loving service for
Him. As the rivers draw water from the sea through the clouds and again
go down to the sea, similarly our energy is borrowed from the supreme
source, the Lord’s energy, and it must return to the Lord. That is the per-
fection of our energy. The Lord, therefore, in the Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 9.27)
says that whatever we do, whatever we undergo as penance, whatever we
sacrifice, whatever we eat or whatever we give in charity must be offered
to Him (the Lord). That is the way of utilizing our borrowed energy. When
our energy is utilized in that way, our energy is purified from the contami-
nation of material inebrieties, and thus we become fit for our original
natural life of service to the Lord.

Raja-dharma is a great science, unlike modern diplomacy for political
supremacy. The kings were trained systematically to become munificent
and not merely tax collectors. They were trained to perform different
sacrifices only for the prosperity of the subjects. To lead the prajas to the
attainment of salvation was a great duty of the king. The father, the
spiritual master and the king are not to become irresponsible in the
matter of leading their subjects to the path of ultimate liberation from
birth, death, diseases and old age. When these primary duties are properly
discharged, there is no need of government of the people, by the people.
In modern days the people in general occupy the administration by the
strength of manipulated votes, but they are never trained in the primary
duties of the king, and that is also not possible for everyone. Under the
circumstances the untrained administrators play havoc to make the sub-
jects happy in all respects. On the other hand, these untrained adminis-
trators gradually become rogues and thieves and increase the taxation to
finance a top-heavy administration that is useless for all purposes. Actually
the qualified brahmanas are meant to give direction to the kings for proper
administration in terms of the scriptures like the Manu-samhita and
Dharma-Sastras of Paragara. A typical king is the ideal of the people in
general, and if the king is pious, religious, chivalrous and munificent, the
