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Law-giver

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 4

SB 4.1.2, Purport:

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura comments in this connection that King Manu knew that the Supreme Personality of Godhead would take birth in the womb of Ākūti; therefore, in spite of having two sons, he wanted the particular son born of Ākūti because he was ambitious to have the Supreme Personality of Godhead appear as his son and grandson. Manu is the lawgiver of mankind, and since he personally executed the putrikā-dharma, we may accept that such a system may be adopted by mankind also. Thus, even though one has a son, if one wants to have a particular son from one's daughter, one may give one's daughter in charity on that condition. That is the opinion of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī.

SB 4.10.14, Purport:

In this verse the word mānava is very significant. Generally this word is used to mean "human being." Dhruva Mahārāja is also described here as mānava. Not only is Dhruva Mahārāja a descendant of Manu, but all human society descends from Manu. According to Vedic civilization, Manu is the lawgiver. Even today Hindus in India follow the laws given by Manu. Everyone, therefore, in human society is a mānava, or descendant from Manu, but Dhruva Mahārāja is a distinguished mānava because he is a great devotee.

SB 4.11.6, Purport:

Dhruva Mahārāja attacked Alakāpurī, the city of the Yakṣas, because his brother was killed by one of them. Actually only one of the citizens, not all of them, was guilty of killing his brother, Uttama. Dhruva Mahārāja, of course, took a very serious step when his brother was killed by the Yakṣas. War was declared, and the fighting was going on. This sometimes happens in present days also—for one man's fault a whole state is sometimes attacked. This kind of wholesale attack is not approved by Manu, the father and lawgiver of the human race. He therefore wanted to stop his grandson Dhruva from continuing to kill the Yakṣa citizens who were not offenders.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.8.48, Translation:

All the Manus offered their prayers as follows: As Your order carriers, O Lord, we, the Manus, are the law-givers for human society, but because of the temporary supremacy of this great demon, Hiraṇyakaśipu, our laws for maintaining varṇāśrama-dharma were destroyed. O Lord, now that You have killed this great demon, we are in our normal condition. Kindly order us, Your eternal servants, what to do now.

SB Canto 8

SB 8.23.15, Translation:

Śukrācārya said: My Lord, You are the enjoyer and lawgiver in all performances of sacrifice, and You are the yajña-puruṣa, the person to whom all sacrifices are offered. If one has fully satisfied You, where is the chance of discrepancies or faults in his performances of sacrifice?

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 13.8-12 -- Bombay, September 30, 1973:

Kumāraḥ kapilo manuḥ.

Svayambhuva Manu, he is also authority. Manu's name is also mentioned in the Bhagavad-gītā. Imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān aham avyayaṁ vivasvān manave prāhuḥ (BG 4.1). So therefore Manu is also mahājana, he's authority. There is Manu-saṁhitā. Our Vedic system is conducted, the law, the law-giver is Manu. From Manu, the manuṣya, "man", these words have come, Manu. Descendant of Manu, human society, manuṣya.

So Prahlāda, Prahlāda Mahārāja is mahājana. Janaka, Janaka Mahārāja. Prahlādo janako bhīṣmaḥ, Bhīṣmadeva, grandfather Bhīṣmadeva, the grandfather of the Pāṇḍus. He is also mahājana. Prahlādo janako bhīṣmo baliḥ, Bali Mahārāja, he is mahājana. Vaiyāsakiḥ, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, and Yamarāja, he is also mahājana.

So we have to follow the footsteps of the mahājana.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.1 -- London, August 7, 1971:

So the present situation is the so-called modern civilization, they have no knowledge of God, although they are trying to study the laws of God. But they should accept at least theoretically there must be God. How I can say God is dead? Because if God is the law-giver, by His order everything is moving nicely. The sun is rising exactly at the time, the moon is rising exactly at the time, the seasonal changes are taking place exactly in due course of time. Everything is going on. Foods are grown for our feeding, for animals. Everything is going on nicely. So how I can say the manager who is managing all these things, He is dead? How we can accept? These are imperfect knowledge or demonic knowledge or rascaldom.

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 17, 1971:

It doesn't matter what type of religion it is, there must be some religion. If there is no religion, then it is animal society. Try to understand. And what is the purpose of religion? The purpose of religion is, if religion is the code given by God, then we must know. Just like a child. A child is abiding by the laws, but he does not know who is the law-giver, how the street is managed, what are the laws. He's to be considered as in ignorance. Just like in our schools and colleges, the state constitution, laws, lawyers, they study. So one may not know, but that is not very good position. But one who knows, his position is better. So simply to know: "There may be somebody, God. He has given us some laws. All right, let us abide by the laws," just like ordinary man doing. But to know, that inquisitiveness is called brahma-jijñāsā. That is required. Human society, human being must be interested in knowing that, the Supreme Absolute Truth, who has given us these codes and laws.

Lecture on SB 3.26.15 -- Bombay, December 24, 1974:

So the saguṇa Brahman means the living entities. Saguṇa Brahman does not mean the God, Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavān, because even if you become servant of God... Just like there are so many nice example, that if an ordinary man beats another man, slap, he immediately becomes criminal. Law is there, "You cannot do that." But the policeman gives you a slap—it is not criminal. If you kill somebody, then you become criminal. But when a soldier kills hundreds of men, he is not criminal. The process is the same, but because one is acting on behalf of the supreme lawgiver, he is immune.

Lecture on SB 5.5.1-2 -- London (Tittenhurst), September 13, 1969:

That is austerity. That is, voluntarily, you are restraining himself. Tapasya means voluntary restraint. In India, still, the system is followed in conservative families that a widow cannot marry. There is no widow marriage in India. They, the... Manu-saṁhitā, the law-givers, the saintly persons, Manu-saṁhitā... Why widow marriage is prohibited? The idea is generally, everywhere, in all countries, the female population is greater than the male population. So the idea is that she has become widow. She was once married. Now if again she is married, another virgin girl, she does not get the chance of being married. Therefore there is no widow marriage according to Hindu scripture. And a man is allowed, if he is, I mean to say, able man, he can marry more than one wife. Not that simply marry. To get more than one wife does not mean sense enjoyment.

Lecture on SB 6.1.8 -- New York, July 22, 1971:

The, in the Manu-saṁhitā... Manu-saṁhitā means Lord Manu, he's the giver of law to the mankind. From Manu, the word man has come. The exact Sanskrit word "manuṣya." Manuṣya means man. So there is some link with Manu, M-a-n-u, and "man." So this Latin word comes from the Sanskrit word, manu. So Manu is supposed to be the law-giver to the humankind. So in the Manu-saṁhitā it is stated there that when the king kills one man, or hangs one man who is a murderer, that is benefit to him. Otherwise, if he's not killed, then he will carry the reaction of his murdering action, and he'll have to suffer in so many ways. The laws of nature are very subtle. They are very diligently administered. People do not know it. So on the whole, the Manu-saṁhitā, life for life is sanctioned. And that is practically observed all over the world. But similarly, there are other laws, that you cannot kill even an ant. Then you are responsible. You have no right to kill. And in the Bible also, we see, Lord Jesus Christ says, "Thou shalt not kill." So killing is not allowed in any religious principle.

General Lectures

Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, April 6, 1971:

Svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ (SB 6.3.20). Śambhu, Lord Śiva. Svayambhūr nāradaḥ śambhuḥ kapilaḥ kaumāraḥ, kapilo manuḥ. Kaumāra, the four Kumāras, Sanat Kumāra, Sunanda, these four Kumāras, and kumāraḥ kapila, Kapiladeva, the original propounder of Sāṅkhya philosophy, Kapiladeva; and Manu, you know, Manu-saṁhitā, the law-giver to the mankind, Svayambhuva Manu, Manu. And Prahlāda Mahārāja, whose instructions we were discussing in the morning. Prahlādo janaka-rāja bhīṣma, the grandfather of the Kurus. Vaiyāsaki, Śukadeva Gosvāmī; or Bali Mahārāja, a grandson of Prahlāda Mahārāja, he is also an authority. And Yamarāja, he is also authority. So we have to follow these authorities. Otherwise, dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyām: we cannot understand the secrecy of religion. So all these twelve mahājanas, they are great devotees of the Lord. Therefore they have become mahājanas, authorized persons.

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Hayagrīva: In his last work Kant seems to shift his position. He says, "Morality thus leads ineluctably to religion, through which it extends itself to the idea of a powerful moral law-giver outside of mankind for whose will that is the final end of creation, which at the same time can and ought to be man's final end. Make the highest good possible in the world your own final end." So he seems to point to an absolute law-giver or an absolute morality, which is God, but he believes that this knowledge of God is ultimately uncertain.

Prabhupāda: Uncertain—for the man who does not possess the perfect knowledge. But if we believe in God, if we know God, we can get perfect knowledge from Him. Then we become perfect.

Philosophy Discussion on Immanuel Kant:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Hayagrīva: "This would be a commonwealth of which indeed God would be the law-giver."

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the best quality of state. If we abide by the orders of God, or the king or the government abides by the order of God, that is ideal state.

Hayagrīva: He says, "Thus the constitution of the state would be theocratic, but man as priest receiving his bequests directly would build up an aristocratic government," like the brāhmaṇas would receive the knowledge from God.

Prabhupāda: That theocratic government is Manu-saṁhitā. That is Vedic literature given by Manu for the benefit of the human society.

Philosophy Discussion on Sigmund Freud:

Hayagrīva: He writes, "As it is a delicate task to decide what God has Himself ordained and what derives rather from the authority of an all-powerful parliament or a supreme judicial decision, it would be an indubitable advantage to leave God out of the question altogether and to admit honestly the purely human origin of all cultural laws and instructions." In other words, man is the law-giver...

Prabhupāda: That, that means he has no clear conception of God, because God has to take power from some parliament. God does not take power from anyone. He is God. That is described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataḥ ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ svarāṭ (SB 1.1.1), that the Supreme, God, or Supreme Truth, Brahman, He knows everything. He knows everything in details. And wherefrom? Abhijñaḥ. He is, abhijñaḥ means completely in awareness. Then the question may be raised that "How He got this complete knowledge? From whom He received?" The answer is immediate, svarāṭ. Svarāṭ means independent.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1971 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- August 15, 1971, London:

Śyāmasundara:They are starting already some places, walking naked.

Prabhupāda: And the law is you cannot marry more than one wife. The rascal lawgiver. So many women, there must be... One husband, at the present moment, must marry at least one dozen wives, otherwise they're going to hell. At least, she will know that "I have got a husband." Maybe the husband of twelve wives, but they are anxious to have a husband. That facility should be given to them. They are anxious.

Parivrājakācārya: But they don't want to have any children.

Prabhupāda: That is next program. Why not? Now we are having our wives, so many children. Los Angeles full of children. So natural way should be accepted. They require husband. The law is, "No. You cannot have more, you cannot marry one wife." The girls have become prostitute. That's all right. "The girls are becoming prostitute. That's all right. But you cannot marry more than one." What is this?

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Krishna Tiwari -- May 22, 1973, New York:

Krishna Tiwari: Well, I don't know which, somebody, in which sense we try to imagine it.

Prabhupāda: Why not imagine it? As soon as you say law, there must be law-giver.

Krishna Tiwari: Oh, I agree with that, but when you say law-giver, see, people get different concepts. For, for...

Prabhupāda: Why different concepts? Law-giver, just like...

Krishna Tiwari: For you, law-giver may be something, for me, law-giver may be something else.

Prabhupāda: No, law-giver is the same thing for you and me. Just like state laws comes from the government.

Room Conversation with Krishna Tiwari -- May 22, 1973, New York:

Prabhupāda: You cannot avoid it. So everyone is under the laws the nature. Let us decide on that. Now these laws of nature, these also controlled by somebody else. As we gave the example that every individual person within a state is controlled by the laws of government or laws of king. Now it is governed by democracy. Formerly it was under the king. So king is a person. He gives the law, and under that law all citizens are controlled. This is a fact. Therefore the laws of nature is controlled by somebody, controller, and we get this information from Vedic knowledge. And practically it is so, that just by the example, law must be given by somebody. Law is not blind, or something dropped from the sky. Law is law. It is made by somebody. That is law. It is working systematically. That is law. So when there is systematic law, there is systematic law-giver, controller, supervisor, superintendent. So we are not imagining, but we'll take it from authority, Vedic information, which is accepted by a great culture, great ācāryas, great teachers.

Page Title:Law-giver
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:01 of Jun, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=5, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=10, Con=3, Let=0
No. of Quotes:18