pá¹›thuḥ purÅ«ravÄ gÄdhir
nahuṣo bharato 'rjunaḥ
mÄndhÄtÄ sagaro rÄmaḥ
khaá¹vÄá¹…go dhundhuhÄ raghuḥ
tṛṇabindur yayÄtiÅ› ca
Å›aryÄtiḥ Å›antanur gayaḥ
bhagÄ«rathaḥ kuvalayÄÅ›vaḥ
kakutstho naiṣadho nṛgaḥ
hiraṇyakaśipur vṛtro
rÄvaṇo loka-rÄvaṇaḥ
namuciḥ śambaro bhaumo
hiraṇyÄká¹£o 'tha tÄrakaḥ
anye ca bahavo daityÄ
rÄjÄno ye maheÅ›varÄḥ
sarve sarva-vidaḥ śūrÄḥ
sarve sarva-jito 'jitÄḥ
mamatÄá¹ mayy avartanta
kṛtvoccair martya-dharmiṇaḥ
kathÄvaÅ›eá¹£Äḥ kÄlena
hy aká¹›tÄrthÄḥ ká¹›tÄ vibho
pá¹›thuḥ purÅ«ravÄḥ gÄdhiḥ - MahÄrÄjas Pá¹›thu, PurÅ«ravÄ and GÄdhi; nahuá¹£aḥ bharataḥ arjunaḥ - Nahuá¹£a, Bharata and KÄrtavÄ«rya Arjuna; mÄndhÄtÄ sagaraḥ rÄmaḥ - MÄndhÄtÄ, Sagara and RÄma; khaá¹vÄá¹…gaḥ dhundhuhÄ raghuḥ - Khaá¹vÄá¹…ga, DhundhuhÄ and Raghu; tṛṇabinduḥ yayÄtiḥ ca - Tṛṇabindu and YayÄti; Å›aryÄtiḥ Å›antanuḥ gayaḥ - ÅšaryÄti, Åšantanu and Gaya; bhagÄ«rathaḥ kuvalayÄÅ›vaḥ - BhagÄ«ratha and KuvalayÄÅ›va; kakutsthaḥ naiá¹£adhaḥ ná¹›gaḥ - Kakutstha, Naiá¹£adha and Ná¹›ga; hiraṇyakaÅ›ipuḥ vá¹›traḥ - HiraṇyakaÅ›ipu and Vá¹›trÄsura; rÄvaṇaḥ - RÄvaṇa; loka-rÄvaṇaḥ - who made the whole world cry; namuciḥ Å›ambaraḥ bhaumaḥ - Namuci, Åšambara and Bhauma; hiraṇyÄká¹£aḥ - HiraṇyÄká¹£a; atha - and; tÄrakaḥ - TÄraka; anye - others; ca - as well; bahavaḥ - many; daityÄḥ - demons; rÄjÄnaḥ - kings; ye - who; mahÄ-Ä«Å›varÄḥ - great controllers; sarve - all of them; sarva-vidaḥ - all-knowing; śūrÄḥ - heroes; sarve - all; sarva-jitaḥ - all-conquering; ajitÄḥ - unconquerable; mamatÄm - possessiveness; mayi - for me; avartanta - they lived; ká¹›tvÄ - expressing; uccaiḥ - to a great degree; martya-dharmiṇaḥ - subject to the laws of birth and death; kathÄ-avaÅ›eá¹£Äḥ - remaining merely as historical narrations; kÄlena - by the force of time; hi - indeed; aká¹›ta-arthÄḥ - incomplete in perfecting their desires; ká¹›tÄḥ - they have been made; vibho - O Lord.
“Such kings as Pá¹›thu, PurÅ«ravÄ, GÄdhi, Nahuá¹£a, Bharata, KÄrtavÄ«rya Arjuna, MÄndhÄtÄ, Sagara, RÄma, Khaá¹vÄá¹…ga, DhundhuhÄ, Raghu, Tṛṇabindu, YayÄti, ÅšaryÄti, Åšantanu, Gaya, BhagÄ«ratha, KuvalayÄÅ›va, Kakutstha, Naiá¹£adha, Ná¹›ga, HiraṇyakaÅ›ipu, Vá¹›tra, RÄvaṇa, who made the whole world lament, Namuci, Åšambara, Bhauma, HiraṇyÄká¹£a and TÄraka, as well as many other demons and kings who possessed great powers of control over others, were all full of knowledge, heroic, all-conquering and unconquerable. Nevertheless, O almighty Lord, although they lived their lives intensely trying to possess me, these kings were subject to the passage of time, which reduced them all to mere historical accounts. None of them could permanently establish their rule.â€
According to ÅšrÄ«la ÅšrÄ«dhara SvÄmÄ«, and as confirmed by ÅšrÄ«la ViÅ›vanÄtha CakravartÄ« ṬhÄkura, the King RÄma mentioned here is not the incarnation of Godhead RÄmacandra. Pá¹›thu MahÄrÄja is understood to be an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead who completely exhibited the characteristics of an earthly king, claiming proprietorship over the entire earth. A saintly king like Pá¹›thu MahÄrÄja, however, controls the earth on behalf of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whereas a demon such as HiraṇyakaÅ›ipu or RÄvaṇa tries to exploit the earth for his personal sense gratification. Nevertheless, both saintly kings and demons must leave the earth. In this way their political supremacy is ultimately neutralized by the force of time.
Modern political leaders cannot even temporarily control the entire earth, nor are their opulences and intelligence unlimited. Possessing hopelessly fragmented power, enjoying a minuscule life span, and lacking deep existential intelligence, modern leaders inevitably are symbols of frustration and misdirected ambition.
