ŚB 6.3.6
Devanagari
किन्तु शास्तृबहुत्वे स्याद्बहूनामिह कर्मिणाम् ।
शास्तृत्वमुपचारो हि यथा मण्डलवर्तिनाम् ॥ ६ ॥
शास्तृत्वमुपचारो हि यथा मण्डलवर्तिनाम् ॥ ६ ॥
Verse text
kintu śāstṛ-bahutve syād
bahūnām iha karmiṇām
śāstṛtvam upacāro hi
yathā maṇḍala-vartinām
bahūnām iha karmiṇām
śāstṛtvam upacāro hi
yathā maṇḍala-vartinām
Synonyms
kintu — but; śāstṛ — of governors or judges; bahutve — in the plurality; syāt — there may be; bahūnām — of many; iha — in this world; karmiṇām — persons performing actions; śāstṛtvam — departmental management; upacāraḥ — administration; hi — indeed; yathā — just like; maṇḍala-vartinām — of the departmental heads.
Translation
The Yamadūtas continued: Since there are many different karmīs, or workers, there may be different judges or rulers to give them justice, but just as one central emperor controls different departmental rulers, there must be one supreme controller to guide all the judges.
Purport
In governmental management there may be departmental officials to give justice to different persons, but the law must be one, and that central law must control everyone. The Yamadūtas could not imagine that two judges would give two different verdicts in the same case, and therefore they wanted to know who the central judge is. The Yamadūtas were certain that Ajāmila was a most sinful man, but although Yamarāja wanted to punish him, the Viṣṇudūtas excused him. This was a puzzling situation that the Yamadūtas wanted Yamarāja to clarify.