The Vedic civilization accepts the king or the ruler as representative of God, and he is given the . . . not only in India; in other countries also, so far we know, in England also the royal family, the king and the queen, is given respect as good as to the God. In every country, in Japan also. That was the system all over the world, the relationship between the citizen and the king.
Gradually, with the progress of the Kali-yuga, Mahārāja Parīkṣit was the last kṣatriya king to give protection all over the world. And when he was cursed by a Brahmin boy, his father regretted that, "My dear boy, you have brought a scar amongst the Brahmin society by cursing a king like Mahārāja Parīkṣit."
So Mahārāja Parīkṣit was protected by Kṛṣṇa. He could counteract it, but still, he tolerated that punishment, or the curse given by a Brahmin boy. He immediately resigned from his royal throne, handing over the charge to his son, and he retired on the bank of the Ganges, although he had only seven days' time to live. And during those seven days the whole Bhāgavata was recited.
So, I mean to say, the royal family has got very intimate relationship with Kṛṣṇa consciousness. And as soon as that was broken—because sometimes it breaks—the religious process declined and the royal power also declined. That is the whole history of the world.
Now, at the present moment, we have started this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement from the Western world so that people may become again happy and come to their original consciousness. And that is being accepted by the Western world. I have got within four years forty-two branches all over the world. In America especially, practically in every principal city, I have got a branch. Especially in Los Angeles and New York we have got the biggest temple. And in England also, London, we have got our temple, 7 Bury Place.