SB 1.12.19 (1964)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT No. 19
Sri Brahmanah Uchuh. Partha prajavita sakshat ikshakuriva manavah. Brahmanya satyasandhyascha ramo dasrathir yatha.
ENGLISH SYNONYMS
Sri Brahmanah—the good soul Brahmins, Uchuh—said, Partha—oh the son of Pritha (Kunti), Praja—those who are born, Avita—maintainer, Sakshat—directly, Ikshakuriva—exactly like king Ikshaku, Manavah—son of Manu, Brahmanya—followers and respectful to the Brahmins, Satyasandas—truthful by promise, Cha—also, Rama—the Personality of Godhead Rama, Dasarathir—the son of Maharaj Dasarath, Yatha—like him.
TRANSLATION
The learned Brahmins said, "Oh the son of Pritha this child shall be exactly like the King Ikshaku son of Manu in the matter of maintaining all those who are born in the matter of following the Brahminical principles specially to be true to one's promise, he shall be exactly like Rama the Personality of Godhead, the son of Maharaj Dasarath".
PURPORT
"Praja" means the living being who has taken its birth in the material world. Actually the living being has no birth, no death but on account of his separation from the service of the Lord and due to his desire to Lord it over the material nature, he is offered a suitable body to satisfy his material desires. In doing so one becomes conditioned by the laws of material nature and the material body is changed in terms of his own work. The living entity thus transmigrates from one body to another in 84 lakhs species of life. But due to its becoming the parts and parcel of the Lord they are not only maintained with all necessaries of life by the Lord, but also they are protected by the Lord and His representatives the saintly kings. These saintly kings would give protection to all the Prajas or living beings to live and to fufill their terms of imprisonment. Maharaj Parikshit, was actually an ideal saintly king because while touring over his kingdom he happened to see that a poor cow was being attempted to be killed by the personified Kali and he at once took him to task as a murderer. This means even the animals were given protection of life by the saintly administrators not from any sentimental point of view but from the fact of right of living for those who have taken their birth in the world. All the saintly kings beginning from the King of the Sun globe, down to the king of the earth all are so inclined by the influence of the Vedic literatures. The Vedic literatures are taught in other higher planets also as we have reference in the Bhagwat Geeta (B.G. 4/1) about the teachings to the Sun-god (Vivaswan) by the Lord and such lessons are transferred by disciplic succession as it was done by the Sun-god to his son Manu and from Manu to Maharaj Ikshaku. There are fourteen Manus in one day of Brahma (see page 163 1st Vol.) and the Manu referred to herein is the seventh Manu who is one of the Prajapatis (those who create progeny) and he is the son of the Sun-god. He is known as the Vivaswata Manu. He had ten sons and Maharaj Ikshaku is one of them. Maharaj Ikshaku also learnt the Bhaktiyoga as taught in the Bhagwat Geeta from his father Manu who got it from his father the Sun-god. Later on the teaching of the Bhagwat Geeta came down by disciplic succession from Maharaj Ikshaku but in course of time the chain got broken by unscupulous persons and therefore, again it had to be taught to Arjuna in the battle field of Kurukshetra. So all the Vedic literatures are current from the very beginning of creation of the material world and thus the Vedic literatures are known as Apourasheya (not made by man). The Vedic knowledge was spoken by the Lord and first heard by Brahma the first created living being within the universe.
Maharaj Ikshaku:- One of the sons of Vivaswata Manu. He had one hundred sons. He prohibited meat eating. His son Sasad became the next King after his death.
Manu:- The Manu mentioned in this verse as the father of Ikshaku is the seventh Manu of the name Vaivaswata Manu the son of Sun-god Vivaswan whom Lord Krishna instructed the teachings of Bhagwata Geeta prior to His teaching the same to Arjuna. The mankind is the descendant of Manu and there is a symmetry between Manu and the man. This Vaivaswata Manu had ten sons of the name Bena, Dhrishnu, Nariswanta, Nabhag, Ikshaku, Karush, Saryati, Ila, Prisaghra, Nabhagarista. The Lord's incarnation Matsya (the gigantic fish) was advented during the beginning of Vaivaswata Manu's reign (see page 173/Vol. l) He learnt the principles of Bhagwat Geeta from his father Vivaswan the sun-god and he re-instructed the same to his son Maharaj Ikshaku. In the beginning of the Treta yuga the sun-god instructed devotional service to his son Manu and Manu in his turn instructed the same to his Ikshaku for welfare of the whole human society.
Lord Rama:- The Supreme Personality of Godhead incarnated Himself as Sri Rama accepting the sonhood of His pure devotee Maharaj Dasarath the King of Ayodhya. Lord Rama descended along with His plenary-portions and all of them appeared as His younger brothers. In the month of Chaitra on the 9th day of growing moon in the Treta Yuga the Lord appeared, as usual, to establish the principles of religion and to annihilate the disturbing elements. When He was just a young boy, He helped the great sage Viswamitra by killing Subahu and striking Marichi the she demon who were disturbing the sages in their daily discharge of duties. The Brahmins and the Kshatriyas are meant for cooperation for welfare of the mass of people. The Brahmins who were all sages do endeavour to enlighten the people of the world by perfect knowledge and the Kshatiyas are meant for their protection. Lord Rama Chandra is the ideal king for maintaining and protecting the highest culture of humanity known as Brahmanya Dharma. The Lord is specifically the protector of the cows and the Brahmins and by doing so He enhances the prosperity of the world. He rewarded the administrative demigods by effective weapons for conquering over the demons through the agency of Viswamitra. He was present in the bow-sacrifice of King Janaka and by breaking the invincible bow of Shiva, He married Sita Devi daughter of Maharaj Janaka.
After His marriage He accepted exile in the forest for fourteen years by the order of His father Maharaj Dasarath. To help the administration of the demigods He killed fourteen thousands of demons and by the intrigues of the demons His wife Sita Devi was kidnapped by Ravana. He made friendship with Sugriva who was helped by the Lord for killing Vali brother of Sugriva. By the help of Lord Rama, Sugriva became the king of the Vanars (a race of gorillas) He built a floating bridge of stones on the Indian ocean and reached Lanka the kingdom of Ravan who kidnapped Sita. Later on Ravana was killed by Him and Ravan's brother Bibhisana was installed on the throne of Lanka. Vibhisan was one of the brothers of Ravana a demon but Lord Rama made him immortal by His blessings. On the expiry of fourteen years and settling up the affairs at Lanka, He came back to His kingdom Ayodhya by flower plane. He instructed His brother Satrughana to attack Labanasura who reigned at Mathura and the demon was killed. He performed ten Aswamedha sacrifices and later on He disappsared while taking bath in the Sarayu river. The great Ramayana Epic is the history of Lord Rama's activities in the world and the authoritative Ramayana is made by the great poet Valmiki.