uttÄnapÄdo rÄjará¹£iḥ
prabhÄvaá¹ tanayasya tam
Å›rutvÄ dṛṣá¹vÄdbhutatamaá¹
prapede vismayaá¹ param
uttÄnapÄdaḥ - King UttÄnapÄda; rÄja-ṛṣiḥ - great saintly king; prabhÄvam - influence; tanayasya - of his son; tam - that; Å›rutvÄ - hearing; dṛṣá¹vÄ - seeing; adbhuta - wonderful; tamam - in the superlative degree; prapede - happily felt; vismayam - wonder; param - supreme.
When Dhruva MahÄrÄja was in the forest executing his austerities, his father, UttÄnapÄda, heard everything about his very wonderful activities. Although Dhruva MahÄrÄja was the son of a king and was only five years old, he went to the forest and executed devotional service under strict austerity. Therefore his acts were all wonderful, and when he came back home, naturally, because of his spiritual qualifications, he became very popular amongst the citizens. He must have performed many wonderful activities by the grace of the Lord. No one is more satisfied than the father of a person who is credited with glorious activities. MahÄrÄja UttÄnapÄda was not an ordinary king; he was a rÄjará¹£i, a saintly king. Formerly this earth was ruled by one saintly king only. Kings were trained to become saintly; therefore they had no other concern than the welfare of the citizens. These saintly kings were properly trained, and as mentioned in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ also, the science of God, or the yoga system of devotional service known as Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ, was spoken to the saintly king of the sun planet, and gradually it descended through the ká¹£atriya kings who were generated from the sun and the moon. If the head of the government is saintly, certainly the citizens become saintly, and they are very happy because both their spiritual and physical needs and hankerings are satisfied.