Kṛṣṇa Conscious Politics

In the present day we lament that lower class men are voted in and voted out of high posts of political power, but in Maharaja Pariksit we can see the example of a practical king who could progressively advance society and who was intolerant of all kinds of corruption. Often people ask if the Krsna Conscious movement is apolitical, but the answer is no. Krsna consciousness offers the political principle followed by rulers such as Maharaja Pariksit, and the Krsna consciousness society wishes to put such a God conscious man in office.

Further activities of Maharaja Pariksit show how, because of the king's complete surrender to the Absolute Truth, the Lord used him as an instrument to bring about the narration of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, which, after the departure of Krsna and after the death of Maharaja Pariksit, was to be the standard of religion for all people in the midst of the Age of Kali. Srimad-Bhagavatam is declared to be the transcendental literary incarnation of the Personality of Godhead, and it is only because of Maharaja Pariksit's relationship to Krsna that this story is narrated. All Krsna conscious activities are meant to help us remember Him. The purpose of Srimad-Bhagavatam and all spiritual literature is to continually glorify God. To hear these literatures is purifying and sublime. When spoken, especially by pure devotees of the Lord, these narratives carry the full potencies of bhakti-yoga, or devotion to Krsna.

Srimad-Bhagavatam, First Canto, Chapter 18, text 26, relates: "Once upon a time, Maharaja Pariksit, while engaged in hunting in the forest with his bows and arrows, became extremely fatigued, hungry and thirsty while following some stags. In search of a reservoir of water, he entered the hermitage of the well-known Rsi Saunaka and saw the sage sitting silently with closed eyes." The birth of Maharaja Pariksit is wonderful because Pariksit was saved in the womb by the Supersoul when the demon Asvatthama sent a fire weapon to kill him. His career as king was wonderful, for he upheld religious principles and drove out Kali. This present description of Maharaja Pariksit's becoming thirsty begins the story of his death, which proved to be most wonderful because it was engineered directly by the will of the Lord in order to bring about a much greater transcendental event-the narration of Srimad-Bhagavatam.

As a man of controlled senses, Maharaja Pariksit would never have been disturbed by thirst or hunger. His hunger and thirst on this occasion were irregular in that he became perturbed by these bodily demands. It is therefore explained that the situation was created by the Lord in order to bring about Pariksit's renunciation of worldly activities. As a worldly king, even though a great king, Maharaja Pariksit was necessarily involved in much worldly diplomacy, and the Lord was making it possible for him to be forced into a complete state of renunciation. The awkward situation by which the devotee Pariksit was obliged to renounce all worldly affairs is to be taken as the grace of the Lord and not as a matter of unfavorable frustration.