352 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 2, Ch. 7

livering; arthitah—so being prayed for; jagati—on the world; putra-padam—
the position of the son; ca—as well as; lebhe—achieved; dugdha--exploited;
vasiini—- produce ; vasudha—the earth; sakalani—all kinds of ;yena—by whom.

TRANSLATION

Maharaja Vena went astray from the path of righteousness, and the
brahmanas chastised him by the thunderbolt curse. By this King Vena was
burnt with his good deeds and opulence and was en route to hell. The
Lord, by His causeless mercy, descended as his son, by the name of Prthu,
delivered the condemned King Vena from hell, and exploited the earth by
drawing all kinds of crops as produce.

PURPORT

According to the system of varnasrama-dharma, the pious and learned
brahmanas were the natural guardians of society. The brahmanas, by their
learned labor of love, would instruct the administrator kings how to rule
the country in complete righteousness, and thus the process would go on
as a perfect welfare state. The kings or the ksatriya administrators would
always consult the council of learned brahmanas. They were never auto-
cratic monarchs. The scriptures like Manu-samhita and other authorized
books of the great sages were guiding principles for ruling the subjects,
and there was no need for less intelligent persons to manufacture a code
of law in the name of democracy. The less intelligent mass of people have
very little knowledge of their own welfare, as the child has very little
knowledge of its future well-being. The experienced father guides the
innocent child towards the path of progress, and the childlike mass of
people need similar guidance. The standard welfare codes are already there
in the Manu-samhita and other Vedic literatures. The learned brahmanas
would advise the king in terms of those standard books of knowledge and
with reference to the particular situation of time and place. Such
brahmanas were not paid servants of the king, and therefore they had the
strength to dictate to the king on the principles of scriptures. This system
continued even up to the time of Maharaja Candragupta, and the
brahmana Canakya was his unpaid prime minister.

Maharaja Vena did not adhere to this principle of ruling, and he dis-
obeyed the learned brahmanas. The broad-minded brahmanas were not
self-interested, but looked to the interest of complete welfare for all the
