SB 4.14.31
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 31
- hanyatāṁ hanyatām eṣa
- pāpaḥ prakṛti-dāruṇaḥ
- jīvañ jagad asāv āśu
- kurute bhasmasād dhruvam
SYNONYMS
hanyatām — kill him; hanyatām — kill him; eṣaḥ — this king; pāpaḥ — representative of sin; prakṛti — by nature; dāruṇaḥ — most dreadful; jīvan — while living; jagat — the whole world; asau — he; āśu — very soon; kurute — will make; bhasmasāt — into ashes; dhruvam — certainly.
TRANSLATION
All the great saintly sages immediately cried: Kill him! Kill him! He is the most dreadful, sinful person. If he lives, he will certainly turn the whole world into ashes in no time.
PURPORT
Saintly persons are generally very kind to all kinds of living entities, but they are not unhappy when a serpent or a scorpion is killed. It is not good for saintly persons to kill, but they are encouraged to kill demons, who are exactly like serpents and scorpions. Therefore all the saintly sages decided to kill King Vena, who was so dreadful and dangerous to all human society. We can appreciate the extent to which the saintly sages actually controlled the king. If the king or government becomes demonic, it is the duty of a saintly person to upset the government and replace it with deserving persons who follow the orders and instructions of saintly persons.