Devanagari
एष वै लोकपालानां बिभर्त्येकस्तनौ तनू: ।
काले काले यथाभागं लोकयोरुभयोर्हितम् ॥ ५ ॥
Verse text
eṣa vai loka-pālānāṁ
bibharty ekas tanau tanūḥ
kāle kāle yathā-bhāgaṁ
lokayor ubhayor hitam
Synonyms
eṣaḥ
—
this King
;
vai
—
certainly
;
loka
—
pālānām — of all the demigods
;
bibharti
—
bears
;
ekaḥ
—
alone
;
tanau
—
in his body
;
tanūḥ
—
the bodies
;
kāle kāle
—
in due course of time
;
yathā
—
according to
;
bhāgam
—
proper share
;
lokayoḥ
—
of planetary systems
;
ubhayoḥ
—
both
;
hitam
—
welfare .
Translation
This King alone, in his own body, will be able in due course of time to maintain all living entities and keep them in a pleasant condition by manifesting himself as different demigods to perform various departmental activities. Thus he will maintain the upper planetary system by inducing the populace to perform Vedic sacrifices. In due course of time he will also maintain this earthly planet by discharging proper rainfall.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
For their prosperity, he alone maintains the bodies of the devatās within his own form for the benefit of this world and the heavenly abode at all times.
He alone maintains the bodies of the devatās at all times for the benefit of Svarga through spreading performance of sacrifice and for the benefit of earth by arranging rainfall and other facilities, for their prosperity. Bhagam means prosperity, desire, greatness, power, gem, the sun and fame according to Amara-koṣa.
Purport
The demigods in charge of the various departmental activities that maintain this world are but assistants to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When an incarnation of Godhead descends to this planet, demigods like the sun-god, the moon-god or the King of heaven, Indra, all join Him. Consequently the incarnation of Godhead is able to act for the departmental demigods to keep the planetary systems in order. The protection of the earthly planet is dependent on proper rainfall, and as stated in
Bhagavad-gītā
and other scriptures, sacrifices are performed to please those demigods who are in charge of rainfall:
annād bhavanti bhūtāni
parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ
yajṣād bhavati parjanyo
yajṣaḥ karma-samudbhavaḥ
“All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rains. Rains are produced by performance of
yajṣa
[sacrifice], and
yajṣa
is born of prescribed duties.” (
Bg. 3.14
)
Thus the proper execution of
yajṣa,
sacrifice, is required. As indicated herein, King Pṛthu alone would induce all the citizens to engage in such sacrificial activities so that there would not be scarcity or distress. In Kali-yuga, however, in the so-called secular state, the executive branch of government is in the charge of so-called kings and presidents who are all fools and rascals, ignorant of the intricacies of nature’s causes and ignorant of the principles of sacrifice. Such rascals simply make various plans, which always fail, and the people subsequently suffer disturbances. To counteract this situation, the
śāstras
advise:
harer nāma harer nāma
harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva
nāsty eva gatir anyathā
Thus in order to counteract this unfortunate situation in government, the general populace is advised to chant the
mahā-mantra:
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.