Verse 21
The king who holds the rod· Verses 21–26
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21Members of the assembly, hear me, and may it go well with you, good men who have come here. Those who want to know dharma should lay what is in their minds before the good. 22I am the king who holds the rod, set here over the people: their guard, the giver of their living, keeping each of them within his own bounds. 23By carrying that out I shall have the worlds the speakers of Brahman tell of, worlds that yield whatever is wished, if he who sees what is appointed is pleased with me. 24A king who takes a tax without teaching his people dharma eats their foulness and loses his own good fortune. 25So, my people, act without grudging, for your master's sake after death and for your own sake as well, with your minds on the one beyond the reach of the senses; then a kindness has been done to me.
26And you, spotless ones, fathers and gods and sages, give your consent to it, since the fruit hereafter is the same for the one who does a thing, the one who directs it and the one who allows it.