THE PRABHUPADA CONNECTION
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The Rascal Leaders
(Click to enlarge photo of Srila Prabhupada preaching Vaiṣṇava philosophy)

"The leaders, the rascal leaders spoiling the whole world situation. In India also. In India, by nature, they are aloof from these four principles of sinful life. Eighty percent of the population, by nature. But government, at the present moment, the leaders, they're inducing them to eat meat, to drink. And gambling also, introducing. Gambling. Government is issuing that gambling cards. Because government means some rascal just like Nixon has gone to the power. Now he's proved he's a rascal. So everywhere, the government leaders means all rascals."

(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, Stockholm, September 10, 1973)

"Rākṣasa means almost man-eaters. Rākṣasa are called man-eaters, more than tigers. They, for their self-satisfaction, they can eat, I mean to say, even, even their own sons. You see? They are called rākṣasas. No shame. 'My sense gratification should be satisfied. Never mind. You go to hell.' So this is the age. So we, we create a machine that everyone comes and becomes smashed in that machine, and my sense satisfaction is there. Although I'll never be happy by that sense satisfaction. This is going on. You can know this world is now managed by the rākṣasas. Rākṣasa. They don't mind what is happening. They are prepared to sacrifice everything for fulfilling their whimsical nonsense. They are called rākṣasa. Rākṣasīm āsurīṁ caiva prakṛtiṁ mohinīṁ śritāḥ. Why they are? Now, they are very much enamored by this material beauty. Not beauty. The material civilization. So they cannot. They cannot understand. It is very difficult for them. They cannot understand. And they'll never try to understand because they are rākṣasas."

(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, New York, November 27, 1966)

"Rākṣasas are understood to be accustomed to eating their own sons, as snakes and many other animals sometimes do. At the present moment in Kali-yuga, Rākṣasa fathers and mothers are killing their own children in the womb, and some are even eating the fetus with great relish. Thus the so-called civilization is gradually advancing by producing Rākṣasas."

(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 10.4.15, Purport)

"Government men are always like carnivorous demons called Rākṣasas [man-eaters]. Sometimes these government men turn against the conditioned soul and take away all his accumulated wealth. Being bereft of his life’s reserved wealth, the conditioned soul loses all enthusiasm. Indeed, it is as though he loses his life."

(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.14.16)

"Those who are demoniac do not know what is to be done and what is not to be done. Neither cleanliness nor proper behavior nor truth is found in them. They say that this world is unreal, that there is no foundation and that there is no God in control. It is produced of sex desire, and has no cause other than lust. Following such conclusions, the demoniac, who are lost to themselves and who have no intelligence, engage in unbeneficial, horrible works meant to destroy the world."

(Bhagavad-gīta 16.7-9)

"It is stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that in Kali-yuga the heads of government will be plunderers and thieves. These thieves and plunderers take the money and property of the public by force or connivance. Therefore it is said in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, rājanyair nirghṛṇair dasyu-dharmabhiḥ. As Kali-yuga advances, we can see that these characteristics 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 Kṛṣṇa will come in the form of the Kalki avatāra. His business will be to kill all the atheists because ultimately the real protector is Viṣṇu, or Kṛṣṇa.

The Lord incarnates and sets things in order when things are mismanaged by so-called kings and heads of government. As Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā, yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata (BG 4.7). Of course this takes many years, but the principle is there. When the king or governmental head does not follow the proper principles, nature deals out the punishments in the forms of war, famine and so forth. Therefore if the governmental head is not aware of life's goal, he should not take charge of ruling the people. Actually the supreme proprietor of everything is Lord Viṣṇu. He is the maintainer of everyone. The king, the father, and the guardian are simply representatives of Lord Viṣṇu, empowered by Him to look after the management and maintain things. It is therefore the duty of the head of the state to maintain the general populace in such a way that people will ultimately know the goal of life. Na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). Unfortunately the foolish governmental head and the general populace do not know that the ultimate goal of life is to understand and approach Lord Viṣṇu. Without this knowledge, everyone is in ignorance, and all society is crowded with cheaters and cheated."

(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 5.12.7, Purport)

"The king, or in modern times the government, should act as the guardian of the citizens by teaching them the proper goal of life. The human form of life is especially meant for realization of one's self and one's relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead because this cannot be realized in animal life. The duty of the government, therefore, is to take charge of training all the citizens in such a way that by a gradual process they will be elevated to the spiritual platform and will realize the self and his relationship with God. This principle was followed by kings like Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, Mahārāja Parīkṣit, Lord Rāmacandra, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa and Prahlāda Mahārāja. The leaders of the government must be very honest and religious because otherwise all the affairs of the state will suffer. Unfortunately, in the name of democracy, rogues and thieves are electing other rogues and thieves to the most important posts in the government. Recently this has been proven in America, where the president had to be condemned and dragged down from his post by the citizens. This is only one case, but there are many others. Because of the importance of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, people should be Kṛṣṇa conscious and should not vote for anyone who is not Kṛṣṇa conscious. Then there will be actual peace and prosperity in the state. When a Vaiṣṇava sees mismanagement in the government, he feels great compassion in his heart and tries his best to purify the situation by spreading the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement."

(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.2.3, Purport)
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