Text 12
paraṁ śuśrūṣaṇaṁ mahyaṁ
syāt prajā-rakṣayā nṛpa
bhagavāṁs te prajā-bhartur
hṛṣīkeśo ’nutuṣyati
param — the greatest; śuśrūṣaṇam — devotional service; mahyam — unto me; syāt — should be; prajā — the living entities born in the material world; rakṣayā — by saving them from being spoiled; nṛpa — O King; bhagavān — the Personality of Godhead; te — with you; prajā-bhartuḥ — with the protector of the living beings; hṛṣīkeśaḥ — the Lord of the senses; anutuṣyati — is satisfied.
O King, if you can give proper protection to the living beings in the material world, that will be the best service for me. When the Supreme Lord sees you to be a good protector of the conditioned souls, certainly the master of the senses will be very pleased with you.
The whole administrative system is arranged for the purpose of going back home, back to Godhead. Brahmā is the representative of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Manu is the representative of Brahmā. Similarly, all other kings on different planets of the universe are representatives of Manu. The lawbook for the entire human society is the Manu-saṁhitā, which directs all activities towards the transcendental service of the Lord. Every king, therefore, must know that his responsibility in administration is not merely to exact taxes from the citizens but to see personally that the citizens under him are being trained in Viṣṇu worship. Everyone must be educated in Viṣṇu worship and engaged in the devotional service of Hṛṣīkeśa, the owner of the senses. The conditioned souls are meant not to satisfy their material senses but to satisfy the senses of Hṛṣīkeśa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the purpose of the complete administrative system. One who knows this secret, as disclosed here in the version of Brahmā, is the perfect administrative head. One who does not know this is a show-bottle administrator. By training the citizens in the devotional service of the Lord, the head of a state can be free in his responsibility; otherwise he will fail in the onerous duty entrusted to him and thus be punishable by the supreme authority. There is no other alternative in the discharge of administrative duty.