यदि स्युर्बहवो लोके शास्तारो दण्डधारिणः ।
कस्य स्यातां न वा कस्य मृत्युश्चामृतमेव वा ॥५॥

yadi syur bahavo loke
Å›ÄstÄro daṇá¸a-dhÄriṇaḥ
kasya syÄtÄá¹ na vÄ kasya
má¹›tyuÅ› cÄmá¹›tam eva vÄ

 yadi - if; syuḥ - there are; bahavaḥ - many; loke - in this world; Å›ÄstÄraḥ - rulers or controllers; daṇá¸a-dhÄriṇaḥ - who punish the sinful men; kasya - of whom; syÄtÄm - there may be; na - not;  - or; kasya - of whom; má¹›tyuḥ - distress or unhappiness; ca - and; amá¹›tam - happiness; eva - certainly;  - or.


Text

If in this universe there are many rulers and justices who disagree about punishment and reward, their contradictory actions will neutralize each other, and no one will be punished or rewarded. Otherwise, if their contradictory acts fail to neutralize each other, everyone will have to be both punished and rewarded.

Purport

Because the YamadÅ«tas had been unsuccessful in carrying out the order of YamarÄja, they doubted whether YamarÄja actually had the power to punish the sinful. Although they had gone to arrest AjÄmila, following YamarÄja’s order, they found themselves unsuccessful because of the order of some higher authority. Therefore they were unsure of whether there were many authorities or only one. If there were many authorities who gave different judgments, which could be contradictory, a person might be wrongly punished or wrongly rewarded, or he might be neither punished nor rewarded. According to our experience in the material world, a person punished in one court may appeal to another. Thus the same man may be either punished or rewarded according to different judgments. However, in the law of nature or the court of the Supreme Personality of Godhead there cannot be such contradictory judgments. The judges and their judgments must be perfect and free from contradictions. Actually the position of YamarÄja was very awkward in the case of AjÄmila because the YamadÅ«tas were right in attempting to arrest AjÄmila, but the ViṣṇudÅ«tas had baffled them. Although YamarÄja, under these circumstances, was accused by both the ViṣṇudÅ«tas and the YamadÅ«tas, he is perfect in administering justice because he is empowered by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore he will explain what his real position is and how everyone is controlled by the supreme controller, the Personality of Godhead.