- putrāṁś ca śiṣyāṁś ca nṛpo gurur vā
- mal-loka-kāmo mad-anugrahārthaḥ
- itthaṁ vimanyur anuśiṣyād ataj-jñān
- na yojayet karmasu karma-mūḍhān
- kaṁ yogayan manujo 'rthaṁ labheta
- nipātayan naṣṭa-dṛśaṁ hi garte
- (SB 5.5.15)
So there are two kinds of ruler or controller. One is the government, and the other is the teacher. Or guru means spiritual master. Spiritual master can control. The disciples obey the order of the spiritual master out of love. Guror-hitam. This is brahmacārī. Brahmacārī guru-gṛhe vasan dānto guror hitam. What guru wants, the brahmacārī has to do, not for his hitam. Just like Arjuna accepted Kṛṣṇa: śiṣyas te 'haṁ śādhi māṁ prapannam (BG 2.7). So Arjuna, for his personal benefit he did not want to fight, but for Kṛṣṇa's sahitam, hitam, for benefit of Kṛṣṇa, he fought. This is the example. He did not like to kill his kinsmen for his hitam. "Oh, if I kill my kinsmen I'll go to hell, I'll be responsible, this, that . . ." So many arguments he put forward. That means he was considering his hitam, not Kṛṣṇa's hitam. But Kṛṣṇa wanted that fight, and when Arjuna agreed, "No, no more my hitam. Your hitam," oh, that is wanted. That is wanted. Guror-hitam.
So there are two different, I mean to say, controller. One is guru and the other is the king or the government. When the . . . Now it is government. Government or the king, the same thing. Whatever government orders, you have to accept. There is no question of disobedience. So the aim . . . What is the . . . Why he should order, and why one should accept the order? What is the purpose? The purpose is mal-loka-kāmo mad-anugrahārthaḥ. This is the ideal life. One should seek the benediction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. This is the aim of life. Mad-anugrahārthaḥ. And what is the benefit of pleasing Kṛṣṇa? Mal-loka-kāmo. He comes back. He is suffering in this material world. The same thing is there in every book of Vedic knowledge. In the Bhagavad-gītā also, the same thing stated, aprāpya māṁ nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani (BG 9.3). Two things are there: either you get the mercy of Kṛṣṇa or go to hell. Nivartante mṛtyu-saṁsāra-vartmani. Two things are there. Aśraddadhānāḥ puruṣā dharmasyāsya parantapa (BG 9.3). Kṛṣṇa comes. Here is also Kṛṣṇa's incarnation, Ṛṣabhadeva. He is instructing. So Kṛṣṇa comes to instruct us. He becomes guru.