Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 9.11.25

śrī-bādarāyaṇir uvāca

athādiśad dig-vijaye

bhrātṝḿs tri-bhuvaneśvaraḥ

ātmānaḿ darśayan svānāḿ

purīm aikṣata sānugaḥ

SYNONYMS

śrī-bādarāyaṇiḥ uvāca — Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said; atha — hereafter (when the Lord accepted the throne on the request of Bharata); ādiśat — ordered; dik-vijaye — to conquer all the world; bhrātṝn — His younger brothers; tri-bhuvana-īśvaraḥ — the Lord of the universe; ātmānam — personally, Himself; darśayan — giving audience; svānām — to the family members and the citizens; purīm — the city; aikṣata — supervised; sa-anugaḥ — with other assistants.

TRANSLATION

Śukadeva Gosvāmī replied: After accepting the throne of the government by the fervent request of His younger brother Bharata, Lord Rāmacandra ordered His younger brothers to go out and conquer the entire world, while He personally remained in the capital to give audience to all the citizens and residents of the palace and supervise the governmental affairs with His other assistants.

PURPORT

The Supreme Personality of Godhead does not allow any of His devotees or assistants to be engaged in sense gratification. The younger brothers of Lord Rāmacandra were at home enjoying the personal presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but the Lord ordered Them to go out and achieve victory all over the world. It was the custom (and this custom, in some places, is still current) that all other kings would have to accept the supremacy of the emperor. If the king of a small state did not accept the emperor's supremacy, there would be a fight, and the king of the small state would be obliged to accept the emperor as supreme; otherwise, it would not be possible for the emperor to rule the country.

Lord Rāmacandra showed His favor to His brothers by ordering Them to go out. Many of the Lord's devotees residing in Vṛndāvana have taken the vow not to leave Vṛndāvana to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness. But the Lord says that Kṛṣṇa consciousness should be spread all over the world, in every village and every town. This is the open order of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

pṛthivīte āche yata nagarādi grāma

sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma

A pure devotee, therefore, must execute the order of the Lord and must not gratify his senses by remaining stagnant in one place, falsely proud, thinking that because he does not leave Vṛndāvana but chants in a solitary place he has become a great devotee. A devotee must carry out the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, yāre dekha, tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa [Cc. Madhya 7.128]. Every devotee, therefore, should spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness by preaching, asking whomever he meets to accept the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaḿ śaraṇaḿ vraja: [Bg. 18.66] "Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me." This is the order of the Lord, who speaks as the supreme emperor. Everyone should be induced to accept this order, for this is victory (dig-vijaya). And it is the duty of the soldier, the devotee, to impress upon everyone this philosophy of life.

Of course, those who are kaniṣṭha-adhikārīs do not preach, but the Lord shows mercy to them also, as He did by staying personally in Ayodhyā to give audience to the people in general. One should not mistakenly think that the Lord asked His younger brothers to leave Ayodhyā because He especially favored the citizens. The Lord is merciful to everyone, and He knows how to show His favor to each individual person according to his capacity. One who abides by the order of the Lord is a pure devotee.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness