Bharat, the ideal king-sage.
Bharat, the ideal king-sage.
Narayan Muni said:-
‘Once in the olden days, there was an emperor named Bharat the son of Rsabh. He was the sovereign ruler of the nine continents of the island Jambu. 1.
O Brahmin, in ancient times, this continent was known as Ajanabh. Now, it is known as Bharat. 2.
He ruled the kingdom with a view to promote righteousness. He worshipped Lord Sri Krishna, the son of Vasudev by performing various sacrifices. 3.
By the day, his devotion towards Vishnu gained on in his heart. Alongside, his desire for the kingdom, love for women and aspiration for wealth waned. 4.
He appropriately distributed his kingdom amongst his sons, gave up all his wealth which was fit to be coveted even by the gods, as if one would get rid of dirt. 5.
Abandoning his wife, sons, wealth and kingdom, he went to the hermitage of the sage Pulah. Bharat of great intellect had a strong desire to worship Shri Hari with devotion. 6.
He was very calm, peaceful, without any desire for worldly pleasures, and aspired only for spiritual salvation. He observed penance for the sake of Sri Shri Hari alone on the bank of the river Gandaki. 7.
He worshipped Shri Hari with fruits, roots, water, Tulasi leaves, tubers etc. Lost in deep love for Lord Shri Hari, at times he would not be aware of the order of the rituals of worship. 8.
The pure-minded king worshipped the Sun, meditating on the imperishable Supreme power in the golden orb of the Sun. 9.
Bharat losing all his merit due to attachment.
Once while bathing in the river Gandaki, he was chanting the Om- kar Mantra in his heart, when a thirsty pregnant doe came there. 10.
As she was about to drink water, a lion roared very loudly scaring everyone around. 11.
The doe was so frightened that while trying to run away her foetus fell into the flowing water of the river Gandaki, and the doe herself fell down dead. 12.
When the royal-sage saw the feeble, tender fawn being swept away by the waves, he felt pity for it and brought it to his hermitage. He thought that there was none else other than himself to care for the orphaned fawn. Hence out of compassion, his love towards that little deer grew by the day. He was so much involved in fondling it that he gradually gave up his regular rituals like bathing, morning and evening rites (Sandhya), self-restraints like non-violence etc. 13-15.
Being a newborn, the fawn was very small and tender. The royal-sage was very much charmed by it. All his feelings were centered on it. And eventually he forgot the worship of Shri Harifor which he had given up his kingdom. 16.
He developed such sentimental towards the fawn that he would not leave it for even a moment even as he sat, slept, walked or ate. If the doe strayed away from him even for a moment, the royal sage would be perturbed as if he had lost all his wealth! 17-18.
He would shed tears if the cub, engaged in eating the green grass for a long time, delayed in returning to the hermitage. 19.
Due to excessive affection, the royal-sage was not able to tolerate separation from that baby doe, akin to a lover from his beloved. 20.
O Brahmin! Thus the King became fully engrossed on the cub. As willed destiny, his life came to an end eventually. 21.
After his death he was reborn as a deer, as he was looking in- tently at one at the time of his death as would a father his son. 22.
Thus, though the King had given up his family, sons, kingdom and wealth, he was reborn as an animal due to his undue affection towards the cub of a doe. 23.
There are many more sages and kings who strayed and suffered immensely due to misplaced affection. 24.
O great Brahmin, he that gets mentally involved with compassion towards anything except towards Sri Hari, though he be an accomplished virtuous devotee, he shall forfeit his wisdom and fall into worldly abyss just as Bharat took birth as an animal. 25.
Thus ends the fourteenth chapter entitled ‘Bharat’s fall due to undue compassion’ in the second Prakarana of Satsangijivan, the life story of Lord Narayan, also titled as ‘Dharmashastra’ (the rules of the code of conduct). 14
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