408 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 5, Ch. 12
injustice. Their condition is very lamentable because you have
forcibly engaged them in carrying your palanquin. This proves
that you are cruel and unkind, yet due to false prestige you were
thinking that you were protecting the citizens. This is ludicrous.
You were such a fool that you could not have been adored as a
great man in an assembly of persons advanced in knowledge.
PURPORT

King Rahigana was proud of being king, and he felt he had the right
to control the citizens as he liked, but actually he was engaging men in
carrying his palanquin without payment, and therefore he was causing
them trouble without reason. Nonetheless, the King was thinking that he
was the protector of the citizens. Actually the king should be the repre-
sentative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. For this reason he is
called nara-devata, the Lord among human beings. However, when a
king thinks that because he is the head of the state, he can utilize the
citizens for his sense gratification, he is in error. Such an attitude is not
appreciated by learned scholars. According to the Vedic principles, the
king should be advised by learned sages, brahmanas and scholars, who
advise him according to the injunctions given in the dharma-sastra. The
duty of the king is to follow these instructions. Learned circles do not ap-
preciate the king’s utilizing public endeavor for his own benefit. His duty
is to give protection to the citizens instead. The king should not become
such a rogue that he exploits the citizens for his own benefit.

It is stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam that in Kali-yuga the heads of
government will be plunderers and thieves. These thieves and plun-
derers take the money and property of the public by force or connivance.
Therefore it is said in Srimad-Bhagavatam, rajanyair nirghrnair dasyu-
dharmabhih. As Kali-yuga advances, we can see that these charac-
teristics are already visible. We can certainly imagine how deteriorated
human civilization will be by the end of Kali-yuga. Indeed. there will no
longer be a sane man capable of understanding God and our relationship
with Him. In other words, human beings will be just like animals. At that
time, in order to reform human society, Lord Krsna will come in the
form of the Kalki avatara. His business will be to kill all the atheists
because ultimately the real protector is Visnu, or Krsna.

The Lord incarnates and sets things in order when things are
