Text 20] The Story of King Vena 599
PURPORT

It is a fact that the government’s duty is to see that the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead is satisfied by the activities of the people as well as by
the activities of the government. There is no possibility of happiness if the
government or citizenry have no idea of Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality
of Godhead, who is the original cause of the cosmic manifestation, or if
they have no knowledge of bhiita-bhavana, who is visvatma, or the Super-
soul, the soul of everyone’s soul. The conclusion is that without engaging
in devotional service, neither the citizens nor the government can be happy
in any way. At the present moment neither the king nor the governing
body is interested in seeing that the people are engaged in the devotional
service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Rather, they are more in-
terested in advancing the machinery of sense gratification. Consequently
they are becoming more and more implicated in the complex machinery of
the stringent laws of nature. People should be freed from the entanglement
of the three modes of material nature, and the only process by which this
is possible is surrender unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is
advised in Bhagavad-gita. Unfortunately neither the government nor the
people in general have any idea of this; they are simply interested in sense
gratification and in being happy in this life. The word nija-Sdsane (in his
own governmental duty) indicates that both the government and the
citizens are responsible for the execution of varnadsrama-dharma. Once the
populace is situated in the varndsrama-dharma, there is every possibility of
real life and prosperity both in this world and in the next.

TEXT 20
afeeqe famed sararitrta |
STAT: ATTY ae aches afoATEAT: Roll
tasmims tuste kim aprapyam
Jagatam isvaresvare
lokah sapala hy etasmai
haranti balim adrtah

tasmin—when He; tuste—is satisfied; kim—what; aprapyam—impossible
to achieve; jagatam—of the universe; isvara-isvare—controller of the control-
lers; lokah—the inhabitants of the planets; sa-palah—with their presiding
deities; hi—for this reason; etasmai—unto Him; haranti—offer; balim—
paraphernalia for worship; adrtah—with great pleasure.
