Enlightened Monarchy

[ancient_paztriot]

Hayagriva dasa: In the Republic, Plato states that the best form of government is an enlightened monarchy.

 

Srila Prabhupada: Yes, we agree. Evam parampara-praptam imam rajarsayo viduh. “This supreme science was received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way.” (Bg. 4.2) A rajarsi is a saintly king who is an ideal ruler. We offer respect to Maharaja Yudhisthira, Maharaja Pariksit, and Lord Ramacandra because they set examples as ideal kings.

 

Hayagriva dasa: Plato maintained that when a monarchy degenerates, it becomes a tyranny. When an aristocratic rule deteriorates, it becomes an oligarchy, a governmnet ruled by corrupt men. He considered democracy to be one of the worst forms of government because it deteriorates, it degenerates to mob rule.

 

Srila Prabhupada: Yes, that is now the case. Instead of one saintly king, there are many thousands of so-called kings who are looting the people’s hard-earned money by income tax and other means. In the Vedic system, however, there was a way to keep the monarchy from degernerating into tyranny. The monarch was guided by a counsel of learned men, br¢hmaëas, great saintly persons. Even Maharaja Yudhisthira and Lord Ramacandra were guided by brahmanas. It was the duty of the monaarch to act according to the decisions of the learned scholars, br¢hmaëas, and s¢dhus, saintly persons. When Vena Maharaja was not ruling properly, the brahmanas came and advised him to act otherwise. When he refused, they cursed him, and he died. The great Prthu Maharaja was his son. A great sage is required to occupy the role of a monarch. Then everything is perfect in government. The present democratic systems are ludicrous because they are composed of rascals who simply bribe one another. When they attain their post, they plunder and take bribes. If the head of the state can understand Bhagavad-gita, his government will be automatically perfect. Formerly, Bhagavad-gita was explained to the monarchs for that reason. Imam rajarsayo viduh (Bg. 4.2).