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This is Sankirtana Das’s companion article to “Moving Forward in 2025.” 

When speaking about the function of a Vedic monarchy, Srila Prabhupada explained, “The king is to see to the welfare of the citizens from all angles of social, political, economic and spiritual upliftment” (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.9.49 purport).

In that purport, Prabhupada goes on to give the example of the ideal king, Maharaja Yudhisthira: “monarchy under a trained king like Maharaja Yudhiṣṭhira is by far the most superior for

On June 21, 1973, in Mayapur, Srila Prabhupada spoke on Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.10.6:

nadhayo vyadhayah klesa
daiva-bhutatma-hetavah
ajata-satrav abhavan
jantunam rajni karhicit

“Due to the king’s having no enemy, the living beings were not at any time disturbed by mental agonies, diseases, or excessive heat or cold.”

Srila Prabhupada explained, “In Maharaja Yudhisthira’s time, the government was responsible to keep people peaceful, without any anxiety. That is government—without any anxiety. And no

By Akruranatha dasa

“And so the reliance on Property, including the reliance on governments which protect it, is the want of self-reliance. Men have looked away from themselves and at things so long, that they have come to esteem the religious, learned, and civil institutions as guards of property, and they deprecate assaults on these, because they feel them to be assaults on property.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self Reliance” (1841)

The 19th century American philosopher and essayist, Ralph Waldo