Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 12 - Chapter 1 - Verse 44

Sanskrit:

ये ये भूपतयो राजन् भुञ्जते भुवमोजसा ।कालेन ते कृता: सर्वे कथामात्रा: कथासु च ॥ ४४ ॥

ITRANS:

ye ye bhū-patayo rājanbhuñjate bhuvam ojasākālena te kṛtāḥ sarvekathā-mātrāḥ kathāsu ca

Translation:

My dear King Parīkṣit, all these kings who tried to enjoy the earth by their strength were reduced by the force of time to nothing more than historical accounts.

Purport:

The word rājan, “O King,” is significant in this verse. Parīkṣit Mahārāja was preparing to give up his body and go back home, back to Godhead, and Śukadeva Gosvāmī, his most merciful spiritual master, devastated any possible attachment that he might have to the position of king by showing the ultimate insignificance of such a position. By the causeless mercy of the spiritual master one is prepared to go back home, back to Godhead. The spiritual master teaches one to relax one’s strong grip on material illusion and leave the kingdom of māyā behind. Although Śukadeva Gosvāmī speaks very bluntly within this chapter about the so-called glory of the material world, he is exhibiting the causeless mercy of the spiritual master, who takes his surrendered disciple back to the kingdom of Godhead, Vaikuṇṭha.