Responsibility

Though Priyavrata Maharaja was reluctant to leave his renounced life and take up the throne, when his superiors requested him due to the acute need of the day, he accepted it out of duty. When such saintly kings accepted their positions, they took full responsibility for whatever happened in their kingdom. They were never neglectful nor absent-minded. If an anomalous incident took place in the kingdom, the untimely death of a citizen or the appearance of drought and pestilence, then the king would accept full responsibility for it. Indeed, it is said that in the presence of saintly kings, no such anomalies would occur in the kingdom: “When Lord Ramacandra, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, was the King of this world, all bodily and mental suffering, disease, old age, bereavement, lamentation, distress, fear and fatigue were completely absent. There was even no death for those who did not want it.” (SB 9.10.53)