Once, Lord Vishnu took the form of a Brahmin, and allowed
himself to be brought to Janaka’s court as someone who had committed a heinous
offence. The appropriate sentence for the offence was exile from the kingdom,
and the king pronounced the judgment of exile on the Brahmin.
The Brahmin bowed his head in acceptance of the sentence,
and asked the king, “Will you kindly let me know, Your Majesty, how far your
kingdom extends?”
Janaka was taken aback. A wise man, he realized that the
kingdom which had been ruled by his forefathers, did not really belong to him.
Even his body was not his, for it was but an instrument of God! On the other
hand, from the point of view of the soul, the vast universe was his! When this
realization dawned on him, the king said, “O Brahmin! Endless is the kingdom of
my soul! Live happily, anywhere you choose!”
Janaka was truly wise. He realized the immortality, the
limitlessness of the true self.
Source – The Seven Commandments of the Bhagavad Gita by J.P.
Vaswani
The statement - endless is the kingdom of my soul by King Janaka - reflects the idea that the true essence of the
self, or soul, transcends the limitations of time, space, and material
existence. It suggests that within each individual lies an infinite and
boundless realm of consciousness, untouched by the transient nature of the
external world. This concept aligns with the teachings of Advaita Vedanta, a
philosophical school within Hinduism that emphasizes the ultimate unity of the
individual soul (Atman) with the universal consciousness (Brahman). In essence,
King Janaka's words convey the idea that the soul is eternal and limitless,
representing a kingdom that knows no bounds.