SB 01.08.50 naino rajnah praja-bhartur... cited

Expressions researched:
"dharma-yuddhe vadho dvisam" |"iti me na tu bodhaya" |"kalpate sasanam vacah" |"naino rajnah praja-bhartur"

SB Canto 1

SB 1.8.50, Translation and Purport:

There is no sin for a king who kills for the right cause, who is engaged in maintaining his citizens. But this injunction is not applicable to me.

Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira thought that although he was not actually involved in the administration of the kingdom, which was being carried on well by Duryodhana without harm to the citizens, he caused the killing of so many living beings only for his personal gain of the kingdom from the hands of Duryodhana. The killing was committed not in the course of administration but for the sake of self-aggrandizement, and as such he thought himself responsible for all the sins.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.8.50 -- Los Angeles, May 12, 1973:

Pradyumna: (leads chanting, etc.)

naino rājñaḥ prajā-bhartur

dharma-yuddhe vadho dviṣām

iti me na tu bodhāya

kalpate śāsanaṁ vacaḥ

(SB 1.8.50)

Translation: "There is no sin for a king who kills for the right cause, who is engaged in maintaining his citizens. But this injunction is not applicable to me."

Prabhupāda: Explain.

Pradyumna: Nama om... (recites praṇāma mantras) The first part of this verse, the first half of this verse, naino rājñaḥ prajā-bhartur dharma-yuddhe vadho dviṣām iti, this is a statement or an injunction of śāstra, that for the killing, or the vadha, dviṣām, of the enemies, dharma-yuddhe, in religious fight, rājñaḥ prajā-bhartur, of a king who is maintaining his citizens He has to maintain his citizens. So if there is some danger, then he has to eliminate the enemy.

Prabhupāda: What is religious fight? Religious fight means you have got right to kill your aggressor. If somebody takes your property, if somebody sets fire in your house, if somebody kidnaps your wife, or somebody is trying to kill you, they are called aggressor. So aggressor should be killed immediately. It is not that somebody has become an aggressor, and if I say, "Now I have become a Vaiṣṇava, I'll not be violent. I shall tolerate. Caitanya Mahāprabhu has taught us to be tolerant like the tree or the grass. So I shall become tolerant. Let him do." Just like Gandhi used to say. Somebody questioned him that "If somebody comes and violates the chastity of your daughter in your presence, what will you do?" He said, "I shall remain nonviolent." But that is not śāstric injunction. This is foolishness.

Lecture on SB 1.8.50 -- Los Angeles, May 12, 1973:

So prajā-bhartur dharma-yuddhe vadho dviṣām. Dviṣām, envious. So they must be killed. But Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja was thinking in terms of fight between the family: their friends, their nephews, their grandfather. So he was thinking himself as culprit. But in dharma-yuddha... The Pāṇḍavas, they tried to settle the issue. Actually, the kingdom belonged to Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira. It was inheritance from his father, Pāṇḍu. But some way or other, they were cheated by the Kurus. They were sent to the forest. In the meantime they grabbed everything. And when they came back, so asked, "Give us some..., our ruling power,"so they would not give. "No. Without fight, we shall not give." So the Pāṇḍavas, even Kṛṣṇa tried their best to settle up the issue, but there was no settlement. So at that time, war was declared. That is dharma-yuddha. They tried to settle up the fight, but it was not possible. When it is not possible, then the last resort is to take to fighting. That is dharma-yuddha.