thieves & rogues

In the Twelfth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam there is a description of these thieves and rogues in government service. As stated: prajas te bhaksayisyanti mleccha rajanya-rūpinaḥ (Bhag. 12.1.42). "These proud mlecchas [persons who are less than sūdras], representing themselves as kings, will tyrannize their subjects, and their subjects, on the other hand, will cultivate the most vicious practices. Thus practicing evil habits and behaving foolishly, the subjects will be like their rulers." The idea is that in the democratic days of Kali-yuga, the general population will fall down to the standard of sūdras. As stated (kalau sūdra-sambhavaḥ), practically the whole population of the world will be sūdra. A sūdra is a fourth-class man who is only fit to work for the three higher social castes. Being fourth-class men, sūdras are not very intelligent. Since the population is fallen in these democratic days, they can only elect a person in their category, but a government cannot run very well when it is run by sūdras. The second class of men, known as ksatriyas, are especially meant for governing a country under the direction of saintly persons (brahmanas) who are supposed to be very intelligent. In other ages-in Satya-yuga, Treta-yuga and Dvapara-yuga-the general populace was not so degraded, and the head of government was never elected. The king was the supreme executive personality, and if he caught any ministers stealing like thieves and rogues, he would at once have them killed or dismissed from service. As it was the duty of the king to kill thieves and rogues, it was similarly his duty to immediately kill dishonest ministers in government service. By such strict vigilance, the king could run the government very well, and the citizens would be happy to have such a king. The conclusion is that unless the king is perfectly able to give protection to the citizens from rogues and thieves, he has no right to levy taxes from the citizens for his own sense gratification. However, if he gives all protection to the citizens and levies taxes on them, he can live very happily and peacefully in this life, and at the end of this life be elevated to the heavenly kingdom or even to the Vaikunthas, where he would be happy in all respects.    (More...)