Text 10]
The Characteristics of King Purañjana
1145
TEXT 10
आसीत्पुरञ्जनो नाम राजा राजन् बृहन्न्वाः । तस्याविहातनापाऽऽसीत्सखाविहातचेष्टितः ॥१०॥
āsīt purañjano nāma rājā rājan bṛhac-chravāḥ tasyāvijñāta-nāmāsīt sakhāvijñāta-ceṣṭitaḥ
āsīt —there was;  purañjanaḥ —Purañjana;  nāma —named;  rājā —king;  rājan —O King;  bṛhat-śravāḥ —whose activities were great;  tasya —his;  avijñāta —the unknown one;  nāmā —of the name;  āsīt —there was;  sakhā —friend;  avijñāta —unknown;  ceṣṭitaḥ —whose activities.
TRANSLATION
My dear King, once in the past lived a king named Purañjana, who was celebrated for his great activities. He had a friend named Avijñāta [the unknown one]. No one could understand the activities of Avijñāta.
PURPORT
Every living entity is  purañjana . The word  puram  means within this body, within this form, and  jana  means living entity. Thus everyone is  purañjana . Every living entity is supposed to be the king of his body because the living entity is given full freedom to use his body as he likes. He usually engages his body for sense gratification, because one who is in the bodily conception of life feels that the ultimate goal of life is to serve the senses. This is the process of  karma-kāṇḍa . One who has no inner knowledge, who does not know that he is actually the spirit soul living within the body, who is simply enamored by the dictation of the senses, is called a materialist. A materialistic person interested in sense gratification can be called a  purañjana . Because such a materialistic person utilizes his senses according to his whims, he may also be called a king. An irresponsible king takes the royal position to be his personal property and misuses his treasury for sense gratification.
The word  bṛhac-chravāḥ  is also significant. The word  śravaḥ  means fame. The living entity is famous from ancient times, for, as stated in  Bhagavad-gītā ,  na jāyate mriyate vā  (Bg. 2.20). “The living entity is never born and never dies.” Because he is eternal, his activities are eternal, although they are performed in different types of bodies.  Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre