Live the Bhāgavatam · SB 10.89.23
Manvantara· The Manus and right dutyLeadership Means Accepting Responsibility
“[The brāhmaṇa said:] This duplicitous, greedy enemy of brāhmaṇas, this unqualified ruler addicted to sense pleasure, has caused my son’s death by some discrepancies in the execution of his duties.”
What the purport teaches
- Presuming that he had done nothing to cause his son’s death, the brāhmaṇa blamed King Ugrasena. His accusations express his judgment of the ruler.
- In the Vedic social system, the monarch is considered responsible for everything that happens in the kingdom, good or bad.
- The purport applies this principle to managers as well. A person in charge should accept responsibility for failure rather than blame subordinates or superiors.
Try this today
Identify one responsibility you hold and take one corrective step without blaming someone else.
Ask yourself
When something under my care goes wrong, do I accept responsibility or shift blame?
Carry the question through the day, then answer it in your own words before sleep.
From Canto 10, chapter 14 onward, the translation and purports were completed by Śrīla Prabhupāda's disciples after his departure, and published by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.