102 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 9, Ch. 4
Therefore, as indicated here by the words tan-nistha-viprabhihitah,
Maharaja Ambarisa took advice from braéhmanas who were pure
devotees of the Lord, for ordinary brahmanas who are merely
learned scholars or experts in performing ritualistic ceremonies are not
competent to give advice.

In modern times, there are legislative assemblies whose members are
authorized to make laws for the welfare of the state, but according to this
description of the kingdom of Maharaja Ambarisa, the country or the
world should be ruled by a chief executive whose advisors are all devotee
brahmanas. Such advisors or members of the legislative assembly should
not be professional politicians, nor should they be selected by the ig-
norant public. Rather, they should be appointed by the king. When the
king, the executive head of the state, is a devotee and he follows the in-
structions of devotee brahmanas in ruling the country, everyone will be
peaceful and prosperous. When the king and his advisors are per-
fect devotees, nothing can be wrong in the state. All the citizens should
become devotees of the Lord, and then their good character will
automatically follow.

yasyasti bhaktir bhagavaty akiricana
sarvair gunais tatra samasate surah
harév abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna
manorathendsati dhavato bahih
‘One who has unflinching devotion for the Personality of Godhead has
all the good qualities of the demigods. But one who is not a devotee of the
Lord has only material qualifications that are of little value. This is be-
cause he is hovering on the mental plane and is certain to be attracted by
the glaring material energy.” (Bhag. 5.18.12) Citizens under the guid-
ance of a Krsna conscious king will become devotees, and then there will
be no need to enact new laws every day to reform the way of life in the
state. If the citizens are trained to become devotees, they will auto-
matically become peaceful and honest, and if they are guided by a de-
voted king advised by devotees, the state will not be in the material world
but in the spiritual world. All the states of the world should therefore
follow the ideal of the rule or administration of Maharaja Ambarisa, as
described here.
