True guardianship means providing knowledge to save souls from birth and death, not merely feeding the body.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 6.2.5-6 — September 9, 1975, Vṛndāvana 750909SB-VRNDAVAN [24:52 Minutes] SB-06.02.05-06_750909SB-VRNDAVAN Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Sixth Canto, Second Chapter, verse numbers five and six.
[leads chanting of verses, etc.] [break] [03:01]
Prabhupāda: yasyāṅke śira ādhāya lokaḥ svapiti nirvṛtaḥ svayaṁ dharmam adharmaṁ vā na hi veda yathā paśuḥ sa kathaṁ nyarpitātmānaṁ kṛta-maitram acetanaṁ visrambhaṇīyo bhūtānāṁ saghṛṇo dogdhum arhati [SB 6.2.5-6] yasyāṅke śira ādhāya lokaḥ svapiti nirvṛtaḥ svayaṁ dharmam adharmaṁ vā na hi veda yathā paśuḥ sa kathaṁ nyarpitātmānaṁ kṛta-maitram acetanaṁ visrambhaṇīyo bhūtānāṁ saghṛṇo dogdhum arhati [SB 6.2.5-6] Just like a child is sleeping on the lap of his mother, feeling secure, completely secure, that "I am on the lap of my mother..." Naturally a child, when it is on the lap of its mother, he is quite comfortable, silent, feeling very secure. So in that position if the mother kills the child... It is like that, that prajā and the king... The prajās...
Prajā means the citizens, subjects. They should be feeling so much secure, that "We are under good government. There is no disturbance." Just like during the government of Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, they were so secure that even they had no very much anxieties. "Our king is there." The world is full of anxieties, miseries and difficulties.
So the good government means when the subjects, citizens, feel secure from all such things. So here, yasyāṅke śira ādhāya. Suppose I am sleeping very comfortably, feeling secure by keeping my head on your lap, yasyāṅke śira ādhāya lokaḥ svapiti, and dreaming very happily. Svaya dharmam adharmaṁ vā na he veda yathā paśuḥ. You cannot expect all men to understand what is religion and what is not religion, general mass of people.
So what is the position of a person or any being who does not know to make distinction what is dharma and adharma? So they have been described. He is described as yathā paśuḥ. Paśuḥ.
Paśuḥ means animal. An animal cannot make distinction what is right or what is wrong. That is not possible. Therefore it is said, dharmeṇa hīnā paśubhiḥ samānāḥ: "One who is ignorant of dharma-adharma, he is no better than paśu." Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithunaṁ ca sāmānyam etat paśubhiḥ narāṇām [Hitopadeśa 25]. Āhāra, eating.