Text 34] Birth of Emperor Pariksit 657

Marutta also did not recollect such heaps of gold given away in charity.
Besides that, all the golden plates and utensils which were used in the
sacrifice were also thrown in the dustbins, and all such heaps of gold re-
mained unclaimed property for a long time, till Maharaja Yudhisthira
collected them for his own purposes. Lord Sri Krsna advised the brothers
of Maharaja Yudhisthira to collect the unclaimed property because it be-
longed to the King. The more astonishing thing is that no subject of the
state also collected such unclaimed gold for industrial enterprise, or any-
thing like that. This means that the state citizens were completely satisfied
with all necessities of life and therefore not inclined to accept unnecessary
productive enterprises for sense gratification. Maharaja Yudhisthira also
requisitioned the heaps of gold for performing sacrifices and for pleasing
the Supreme Hari Personality of Godhead. Otherwise he had no desire to
collect them for the state treasury.

One should take lessons from the acts of Maharaja Yudhisthira. He was
afraid of sins committed on the battlefield, and therefore he wanted to
satisfy the supreme authority. This indicates that unintentional sins are
also committed in our daily occupational discharge of duties, and to coun-
teract even such unintentional crimes, one must perform sacrifices as they
are recommended in the revealed scriptures. The Lord says in the Bhagavad-
gita (yajnarthat karmano ‘nyatra loko ’yart karma-bandhanah) that one
must perform sacrifices recommended in the scriptures in order to get rid of
commitments of all unauthorized work, or even unintentional crimes
which we are apt to commit. By doing so, one shall be freed from all
kinds of sins. And those who do not do so, but work for self-interest or
sense gratification, have to undergo all tribulations accrued from com-
mitted sins. Therefore, the main purpose of performing sacrifices is to
satisfy the Supreme Personality Hari. The process of performing sacrifices
may be different in terms of different times, places, and persons, but the
aim of such sacrifices is one and the same at all times and in all circum-
stances, viz., satisfaction of the Supreme Lord Hari. That is the way of
pious life, and that is the way of peace and prosperity in the world at
large. Maharaja Yudhisthira did all these as the ideal pious King in the
world.

If Maharaja Yudhisthira is a sinner in his daily discharge of duties, in
royal administration of state affairs, wherein killing of man and animals
is a recognized art, then we can just imagine the amount of sins committed
consciously or unconsciously by the untrained population of the Kali-yuga
who have no way to perform sacrifice to please the Supreme Lord. The
