BHAGAVAD-GITA 3:21

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 3:21

 

yad yad acarati sresthas

tat tad evetaro janah

sa yat pramanam kurute

lokas tad anuvartate

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

yat yat--whatever; acarati--he does; sresthah--a respectable leader;

tat--that; tat--and that alone; eva--certainly; itarah--common;

janah--person; sah--he; yat--whichever; pramanam--example;

kurute--does perform; lokah--all the world; tat--that;

anuvartate--follows in the footsteps.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow. And whatever

standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.

 

PURPORT

 

People in general always require a leader who can teach the public by

practical behavior. A leader cannot teach the public to stop smoking

if he himself smokes. Lord Caitanya said that a teacher should behave

properly before he begins teaching. One who teaches in that way is

called acarya, or the ideal teacher. Therefore, a teacher must follow

the principles of sastra

(scripture) to teach the common man. The teacher cannot manufacture rules

against the principles of revealed scriptures. The revealed

scriptures, like Manu-samhita and similar others, are considered the

standard books to be followed by human society. Thus the leader's

teaching should be based on the principles of such standard sastras.

One who desires to improve himself must follow the standard rules as

they are practiced by the great teachers. The Srimad-Bhagavatam also

affirms that one should follow in the footsteps of great devotees, and

that is the way of progress on the path of spiritual realization. The

king or the executive head of a state, the father and the school

teacher are all considered to be natural leaders of the innocent

people in general. All such natural leaders have a great

responsibility to their dependents; therefore they must be conversant

with standard books of moral and spiritual codes.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.