Shloka 15
Ṛṣabhadeva’s Enthronement, Exemplary Household Life, and the Birth of Bharata and the Nine Yogendras
यद्यच्छीर्षण्याचरितं तत्तदनुवर्तते लोक: ॥ १५ ॥
yad yac chīrṣaṇyācaritaṁ tat tad anuvartate lokaḥ.
Whatever deed a great person performs, common people follow that very path.
A similar verse is also found in Bhagavad-gītā (3.21) . It is essential for human society to have a section of men perfectly trained as qualified brāhmaṇas according to the instructions of Vedic knowledge. Those below the brahminical qualification — administrators, merchants and workers — should take instructions from those ideal people who are considered to be intellectuals. In this way, everyone can be elevated to the highest transcendental position and be freed from material attachment. The material world is described by Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself as duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, a temporary place of misery. No one can stay here, even if he makes a compromise with misery. One has to give up this body and accept another, which may not even be a human body. As soon as one gets a material body, he becomes deha-bhṛt, or dehī. In other words, he is subjected to all the material conditions. The leaders of society must be so ideal that by following them one can be relieved from the clutches of material existence.
FAQs
This verse states that society naturally imitates the behavior of its foremost leaders; therefore, the righteous must embody dharma in their own conduct.
In the narrative of Canto 5, Ṛṣabhadeva is presented as an ideal ruler and teacher; Śukadeva highlights that a king’s personal conduct shapes the moral direction of the entire populace.
Parents, teachers, managers, and public figures should practice the values they preach—truthfulness, self-control, and compassion—because others will mirror what they see, not merely what they hear.