Sri Suka
said:
1.
On his father resolving to
install him as ruler, the pious Bharata made himself ready for his duties, and
first married Panchajani, the daughter of Viswarupa.
2.
By her he begot five issue,
just as out of Bhutadi (or the Ahankara) the five Bhuta-sukshmas (or subtle
elements) come out.
3.
These five sons were Sumati,
Râshtrabhrit, Sudarsana, Âvarana and Dhumraketu. It was from the time of
Bharata’s rule that the land, known till then as Ajanâbhavarsha, came to be
Bhâratavarsha.
4.
That learned king, following
the example of his illustrious father and grandfather, observed his Swadharma,
and ruled over his subjects with great affection for them, encouraging them to
follow their Swadharma.
5.
The Lord is of the form of
Yajna and Kratu – the two forms of sacrifice without and with the installation
of the sacrificial post. He is to be worshipped by these two forms of sacrifice.
With great faith, he performed, according to his capacity and at proper times,
many sacrifices like Agnihotra, Châturmâsya, Pasubandha and Somayâga in their
elaborate and abridged forms.
6.
When the various Yajnas,
with their many subsidiary rites, were being performed, Bharata, the master of
the Yajnas, offered all the fruits accruing from them to Vâsudeva, who is
Parabrahman, who is of the form of Yajna, who is the controller of the Vedic
Mantras and the Deities invoked thereby, and who is the ultimate doer and master
of all works.
7.
Powerful currents of Bhakti
developed in the heart of Bharata, which was purified by the above-mentioned
worship through works (Yajnas), and there shone in it the form of the Lord
Vâsudeva in all the splendour of His supreme majesty with the marks of Srivatsa,
Kaustubha, Vanamala, conch, discus, mace and other paraphernalia, as revealed in
the hearts of other great devotees like Narada.
8.
After he ruled for a crore
of years, he felt he had completed his allotted period of active life. So he
divided his ancestral kingdom and wealth among his sons, and abandoning his
luxurious palace, went away as a wandering ascetic to the Pulahâshrama, a famous
place of worship of Sri Hari.
9.
In that place Sri Hari, out
of love for His devotees, manifests to their vision in various attractive
forms.
10.
That place is purified by
the river Chakranadi (Gandaki), wherein one gets Mahavishnu’s holy emblem
Sâlagrâma, which has cavities with symbolic designs on both
sides.
11.
Abandoning all desires from
the heart, alone, peaceful and blissful at heart, he stayed there in a thinly
wooded locality, continuously worshipping Sri Hari with flowers, leaves, Tulasi,
water and food offerings consisting of tubers, roots and
fruits.
12.
By the daily adoration of
Sri Hari in this way, the sentiment of devotion grew so strong in him as to melt
his heart. The massive bliss he experienced within expressed itself as
horripilation all over the body. Anxious longing blinded him with profuse tears.
His intellect got submerged in the lake of his heart filled with the joy of
devotional experience generated by the constant contemplation of the ruby red
feet of his most beloved Lord.
13.
Disciplining himself in
devotional practices, he wore a dress of deer skin. Impressive with his curly
matted hair, turned tawny and wet by constant bath at times of worship, he stood
before the brilliant rising sun at dawn invoking him as Suryanarayana with the
following Rik, descriptive of his glory:
14.
‘We seek refuge in that
Splendrous Puissance that is Surya-Narayana (the Lord manifest as the
Sun-deity), untouched by Rajas and bestowing the fruits of the Karmas of all –
the Puissance the projects the universe, indwells it and protects the Jiva
pursuing his desires – with that Puissance we seek refuge for the proper
direction of our understanding.’
Sri Suka
said:
1.
One day, Bharata, after
finishing his ablutions and his daily rites, sat on the bank of the river for
about three Muhurtas uttering the Pranava (Om).
2.
O King! Just then a solitary
doe approached the river bank to quench her thirst.
3.
While she was drinking
water, the terrifying roar of a lion was heard from the
neighbourhood.
4.
The timid doe of tremulous
glances was frightened beyond measure by that roar, and while still in the act
of drinking, sprang to the other shore with a wild and distracted look in her
eyes.
5.
Being big with young, she
delivered, even while springing, due to the shock that fear generated, and the
young one thereupon fell into the current of the river.
6.
Fear, delivery, the act of
springing, separation from the flock – the cumulative effect of all these
circumstances distressed her so much that she fell down dead in a cave on the
other side.
7.
The Rajarshi Bharata saw
that forlorn and endangered calf of the deer being swept down by the current of
the river. Overcome with pity for the motherless new-born, he caught it and
brought it to his Ashrama.
8.
The Rajarshi was now
possessed by the idea that the fawn was his own and consequently got infatuated
with it. Daily he fed it, fattened it, protected it from enemies, fondled it,
and in every way tried to please it. In proportion to the increase of his
interest in it, his zeal in his devotional practices declined until he gave them
up totally sometime after.
9.
He thought: ‘Alas! The swift-moving action of the Wheel
of Time has separated this poor fawn from his parents and his flock, and it has
taken refuge with me as his father, mother, brother, relative and friend.
Putting his trust entirely in me, he knows none else. So even at the expense of
my own interest, I am bound to protect, nourish, fondle and in every way look
after the interests of this calf of a deer, knowing as I do the sin of
abandoning one who has sought refuge.
10.
Many a worshipful person who
followed the path of peace and service of the afflicted, has, for the sake of
such work, abandoned his own self-interest in important
matters.’
11.
In this way getting
infatuated with the fawn, he always came to be accompanied by it while sitting,
lying, walking, standing or eating.
12.
Fearing that it might be
attacked by dogs or wolves, he took it also with him whenever he went out to
collect grass, flower, fuel, leaves, fruits, roots and
water.
13.
Whenever it stopped on the
way interested in something or other, he took it on his shoulders, or lap, or
embraced it, and enjoyed intense delight in doing so.
14.
Even when he was engaged in
worship, he would now and then get up and have a look at the fawn to assure
himself that it was safe, and would pronounce his blessings on it, saying: ‘May you live safe without any danger
befalling you!’
15.
If for a time it could not
be seen nearby, he would become grief-stricken like one who has lost his all.
Owing to the intensity of his attachment to it, he felt heart-broken at its
absence, and bemoaning over its fate repeatedly, he would in the most pitiable
way say to himself:
16.
‘Ah! Would this pitiable
young deer, orphaned of its mother doe, come back at all to me, trusting me to
be a good man out of its own innocence, overlooking the perversities of a
luckless fellow like myself, cruel and mean like a
hunter?
17.
Shall I ever see it, thanks
to the protecting hand of the Lord, browsing somewhere in the woodlands of this
Ashrama!
18.
I hope it has not been eaten
up by any predatory creature, a wild dog or a wolf, moving about singly or in
herds.
19.
Sun, the universal
benefactor and the repository of the Vedas, is about to set, and the fawn, a
treasure deposited with me for safe custody by that doe, has not yet
returned.
20.
Will that gem of a fawn come
back to my unlucky self and delight his own folk with its childish
frolics?
21.
As it plays about and I sit
there with my eyes half-closed in fake Samadhi, it approaches me in a mood of
love-quarrel for not participating in its play, and in order to know whether I
am really in Samadhi, prods me with the tip of his horn soft like water, with a
show of great hesitation and fright.
22.
When he pulls away the grass
where Havis (sacrificial offerings for Devas) is arranged, and I happen to take
him to task for the same, then like any boy of the hermitage, he withdraws from
all play and remains motionless with all his limbs
controlled.
23.
What great austerities must
this land have done to deserve this good fortune of being marked with the tiny
and beautiful hoof-prints of this young black buck (Krishnasara)! For, these
hoof-prints, besides cheering me with the prospect of tracing the whereabouts of
their owner, make this land a suitable holy place for the performance of all
sacred rites by those who seek heavenly felicity and worldly
welfare.’
24.
Referring to the mark of the
deer found in the disc of the rising moon, he would say: ‘Is it that the moon has taken for
protection this poor motherless fawn, seeing that it has now strayed away from
the precincts of this Ashrama?
25.
The loss of this fawn, which
is like a son to me, is scorching the land-lotus of my heart like a forest fire.
Are you, O moon, intending to quench that heat by the cool and refreshing water
from your face, augmented by the sight of my condition, as I go about pitiably
in search of my young deer!’
26.
Thus distressed by vague and
baseless fears, the Rajarshi was led to stray away completely from his practice
of Yoga, austerities, and the worship of the Supreme Lord by his own Prarabdha
Karma (destiny) in the shape of a deer calf. How can it be attributed to
anything else? In the case of one like this Rajarshi, who had abandoned even his
sons, considering them to be an obstacle in the spiritual quest, what other
explanation can be given for this strange phenomenon of obsession with a deer
calf, which did not belong even to the human species? Thus the Rajarshi Bharata
happened to slide away from the path of Yoga, and engage himself, completely
absorbed, in the protection, feeding, fondling etc., of the fawn, devoid of all
thoughts regarding the Atman. Just then the hour that is inevitable for every
one, that of death, approached him with irresistible pace, just like a serpent
gliding towards a rat in its hole.
27.
Even at the moment of death,
he was looking at the fawn by his side, as if it were a son in mourning sitting
beside him; and he left his body and the deer behind, with his mind firmly fixed
on the latter. Though his old body was dead, his consciousness of the
experiences of that birth was not lost. Following the fate of an ordinary man
under such circumstances, he was born as deer in the next life; but he retained
the memory of the past birth.
28.
Thanks to the power of his
adoration of the Supreme Lord, he remembered even in the deer body the cause of
his birth in such a frame, and said to himself with an anguished
mind:
29.
‘Alas! Alas! What a pity
that I have fallen from the ways of the spiritually accomplished! My mind was
completely offered at the feet of the Lord, and not a bit of my time was wasted
in any occupation other than the thought of the Lord. Residing in the solitude
of a holy forest Ashrama after abandoning all attachments of life, my mind was
entirely fixed on Him, the Lord of all and the soul of all souls. Completely
absorbed in the devotional disciplines of hearing, praising, remembering, and
worshipping, and in unbroken contemplation, not a minute was spent in vain
purposes. But alas! the fool that I was, my mind in the end went too far after
that deer with the disastrous consequences that have
followed.’
30.
Unknown to all, the
Bharata-deer was thus full of renunciation within. Therefore, he left his mother
foe and his place of birth in the Kalanjara mountains and migrated to the spot
where stood the Ashramas of Pulastya and Pulaha, which had an abundance of palm
trees, and which was dear to holy men because of the manifest presence of the
Divine.
31.
Then keeping himself aloof
from the company of others out of fear of the consequences, and moving about
alone, feeding on dry leaves, grass, roots etc., and biding the exhaustion of
the Prarabdha Karma that had brought him to this strait, he awaited the dawn of
his last day. And at last when it came, he abandoned his deer body in the holy
waters of the river there.
Sri Suka
said:
1.
There was a Brahmana born in
the Gotra of Angiras noted for such qualities as control of the mind and the
senses, austerity, Vedic study, Vedic teaching, generosity, joyous temperament,
forbearance, humility, knowledge of Vedic rituals, absence of envy, knowledge of
the Atman as distinguished from the body, and bliss of Atman-consciousness. He
had two wives, by the first of whom he had nine sons, all noted for their
exemplary conduct, knowledge of the Vedas, handsome appearance, generosity and
such other qualities as he himself possessed. By the second wife he had twins, a
boy and a girl.
2.
It is said that the second
wife’s son was Bharata reborn after his death as a deer, the assumption of this
Brahmana body constituting his final birth.
3.
But even in this birth he
was found to be very allergic to the company of his relatives. He was always
mentally contemplating on the Lord’s feet through hearing, remembering and
recounting His excellences which destroy one’s bondage of Karma. Ever
remembering the experiences of his past birth through the Lord’s grace, he was
constantly vigilant against new obstacles, and in order to dissociate himself
from the company of others, he put on the air of an inebriated man, a senseless
man, and a man without sight or hearing.
4.
Eager that his son should
excel him in virtue, his father decided to put him through all the preparatory
disciplines that a Brahmana should undergo up to Samavartana (the ceremony
marking the end of education). He first had his Upanayana performed, and tried
to teach him various purificatory rites like Achamana, in spite of his being a
senseless boy.
5.
But Bharata performed all
these rites in an indifferent manner even in the father’s presence, so that the
father might soon give him up as hopeless. With the idea of teaching him the
Vedas, the father first instructed him in the Gayatri Mantra combined with the
Vyahritis and the Pranava. But even after four months’s teaching, the boy could
not recite them with proper intonation.
6.
The father had deep
affection for his son, who is to be looked upon by a father as a replica of
one’s own self. He therefore wrongly thought that it was his duty to teach his
son, even against his will, all the duties of the Brahmacharin like purificatory
rites, Vedic study, observance of vows, disciplines of life, service of teacher,
performance of Homa (fire worship) etc. He tried his best to do so, but failed.
So years passed by, with the father unaware of its passage on account of his
engrossment in household affairs. But ever-vigilant Time soon swallowed him up
in death.
7.
Thereupon the second wife of
the Brahmana entrusted her two children to the elder wife, and herself
accompanied her husband in death.
8.
After the father’s death,
the brothers who had only the theoretical knowledge of the Vedas but no
spiritual realisation, thought that it was of no use to educate a senseless
fellow like their brother and soon desisted from attempts in that direction,
without any inkling of his spiritual worth.
9.
When vulgar men, who were no
better than two-legged animals, called him a madcap or idiot or dumb and deaf
fellow, he behaved accordingly, and when they forced him to act in any way, he
did so also. He subsisted on whatever he got by chance, or by begging, or by
working for wages, or by what he was given for doing forced labour. Whatever he
got, whether it was small or large in quantity, whether it was well-cooked or
ill-cooked, he ate it for the mere sustenance of the body and not for placating
the sense of taste. But he always remained in the intuitive bliss of Atman that
was natural to him and did not depend on any extraneous cause or stimulation for
its inducement. Enjoyment and suffering, honour and dishonour, which are only
matters affecting the body, were never attributed by him to the Atman, his real
nature.
10.
In heat and cold, in rain
and wind, he moved about like an ox without anything to protect the body. By
giving up bath and cleaning of the body, and by the practice of lying on the
bare ground, his well-built and muscular frame was covered with a thick layer of
dirt, through which his Brahmic lustre was very dimly visible like the
luminosity of an unpolished gem. Wearing a dirty cloth and a soiled Yajnopavita,
he moved about here and there, mocked by the vulgar folk as the madcap
Brahmana.
11.
When he consented to do work
in exchange for food, he would be engaged even by his brothers to level fields
with earth and other similar works. While doing such work, he was not aware of
what he did – whether he had levelled the ground or whether he had heaped up
earth helter-skelter, whether he had filled up the place or whether more earth
was required to do so. Whatever they gave him, be it rice flour, oil-cake,
chaff, spoilt pulses, or charred food – he ate up everything as if it were
nectar.
12.
Now at that time a chieftain
of a tribe of brigands resolved to perform a human sacrifice to Bhadrakali in
order to have a male issue.
13.
The sacrificial human-beast
he had secured managed to run away from his custody. So his men ran hither and
thither in the darkness of that midnight in search of that victim. Unable to
find him anywhere, they at last came across this scion of the Gotra of Angiras
(i.e. Jada-Bharata, or Bharata in the role of a dullard), sitting solemnly in a
shed in the fields, guarding them from the depredations of deer, wild boars and
other animals.
14.
On seeing him of
well-developed body, their face bloomed in the satisfaction that a proper victim
had been obtained to complete their master’s rites, and so tying him up with
ropes, led him to the temple of Bhadrakali.
15.
The priests there, in
accordance with the rules of their Abhichara ritual, bathed and decorated this
human victim with new cloth, unguents, Tilaka, garlands etc., and fed him. Then
amidst the sound of tom-toms, drums and songs, he was made to sit before the
image of Bhadrakali, where the various ingredients for the rites like light,
incense, garlands, flowers, tender leaves, fried grains, buds, fruits etc., were
arranged.
16.
The low-born priest, who
officiated for the chieftain of the thieves, resolving to worship Bhadrakali by
offering the human victim’s blood as drink, took up the sharp sacrificial sword,
uttering proper Mantras.
17.
These low-born men of the
tribe of thieves were by nature endowed with Tamas and Rajas. Due to the
inordinate pride that wealth brought, they had abandoned the royal road of
worship of Mahavishnu and were given to a licentious life and indulgence in
slaughter unguided by any moral code. For, even though some sacrificial rites
have been laid down for men of fierce nature when they are threatened by some
dangerous situations, what these ruffians were now about to do was a
transgression of an extremely cruel nature. The sacrifice of a great man who had
become one with Brahman, who was the scion of a great and holy family, who was
beyond all antagonism, and who was the friend of all – was an act of
unpardonable and intolerable cruelty. The divine prowess (Brahma-tejas)
emanating from that extraordinary victim began to burn up Bhadrakali herself,
and so she emerged suddenly from the image.
18.
The Devi was fierce to look
at. Her eye-brows were arching with unbearable anger and remorse at the heinous
act that was contemplated. With her curved fangs, red eyes and fierce look, she
stepped out with a terrific roar, as if she were going to destroy everything.
Taking up the same sacrificial sword, she cut off the heads of all those
miscreants, drank their blood, and intoxicated with that drink, played foot-ball
with their heads and danced and sang with her attendants.
19.
Though these people were the
worshippers of Bhadrakali, this sad end for them was but legitimate. For, cruel
rites performed to endanger great men, are always bound to boomerang on the
performer himself.
20.
O King Parikshit! Do not
consider it a wonder or anything unusual that Bharata was unperturbed even when
his head was about to be cut off. He had abandoned the identification of the
self with the body, and thus cut asunder that powerful knot of the heart.
Persons like him are moved by universal love and friendship. Residing as the
indweller in all, the Lord himself is ever vigilant in protecting such devotees
from all dangers with his discus that is the wheel of
Time.
Sri Suka
said:
1.
Rahugana, the king of Sindhu
and Sauvira, was once travelling in a palanquin to the Ashrama of Kapila. When
the party of the king was on the banks of the river Ikshumati, their captain
felt the need for some more palanquin bearers. While he was searching for one,
this exalted personage Bharata arrived at the spot, guided as it were by his
destiny. Finding him young, well-built and strong, the captain felt that he
could bear weight like a bullock or mule. So he compelled him to join the party
of bearers he had collected earlier by force, although a great man like him did
not deserve such treatment.
2.
The newly recruited bearer
was found walking slow, surveying the path up to three feet (the length of an
arrow) carefully in order to avoid trampling over living creatures. The pace of
the palanquin bearers therefore began to vary, and King Rahugana, who was inside
the palanquin, got vexed with its unsteady movements. So he exclaimed to the
bearers: ‘O bearers! Walk properly, all
moving at an equal speed. Why are you not bearing the vehicle in the correct
way?’
3.
Hearing their master’s words
of displeasure, they told him as follows, afraid of
punishment:
4.
‘O our Lord and King! We are
not careless. Obedient to your order, we are carrying the palanquin the proper
way. But this new bearer, though he has only just now joined the team, is not
walking fast enough. It will be impossible to carry the palanquin with him in
the team.’
5.
‘The defect of one in a
company is likely to affect the work of all who have to work with
him’ – concluding so and moved
by the words of the distressed palanquin bearers, King Rahugana, though he had
served great devotees, none the less got somewhat angry at the new bearer owing
to the assertion of past tendencies. Overcome by Rajoguna, and unable to
recognise, under his external garb, the Brahmic lustre of Bharata, as live
cinders covered by ashes, Rahugana said to him in a tone of
ridicule.
6.
‘O brother! You are very
tired, aren’t you? For, you have indeed been bearing the palanquin single-handed
for such a long distance! Isn’t it so? Moreover you are not so well-built and
strong. Besides, it seems you are also very old. But all your fellow bearers are
not like that.’ Though ridiculed in this
way, Bharata continued to walk as before without uttering a single word in
reply. For in this, his last birth, he had become one with Brahman without any
sense of identification with this last body of his, which is a combination of
elements brought about by Avidya and which has no substantial
reality.
7.
Finding that the palanquin
was still irregular in its movement, Rahugana became extremely angry and
exclaimed: ‘O Sirrah! You a living corpse
(Jivanmrita)! Are you belittling me, your master, and violating my command? As
Yama gives to heedless people, I shall give you, fellow, a radical treatment,
which will restore you to your original state.’
8.
Thus the king, out of pride
born of his royal status and learning, and out of the promptings of the
qualities of passion and dullness, spoke many such stupid things to that holy
man without understanding the ways of great spiritual personages Not in the
least perturbed by all that, Bharata the bearer who had realised his unity with
Brahman and attained to universal love, said to him smiling, as if mocking at
the ignorance of the Rajah, but really out of his extreme
humility.
Bharata
said:
9.
O bold one! Your ridicule
has relevance provided there is a thing called weight for one to bear, provided
there is a destination for the traveller to reach, and provided there is
corpulence for the Jiva to be carried. Wise men, however, do not assent to such
a proposition. (As weight, body, distance etc., are all the effects of Maya and
therefore false, and as I am the Spirit and not the body, your words of ridicule
become pointless.)
10. Corpulence, leanness,
disease, hunger, thirst, fear, quarrel, desire, old age, sleep, attachment,
anger, pride, grief etc., are all true only in regard to one born with a body,
but not to me who am the Atman.
11. O King! The state of being a
living corpse (Jivanmrita) is not a characteristic special to me; it applies to
everything that is an effect. For everything that is an effect, is subject to
birth and death, to a beginning and to an end. As for the charge of violating
your command, O worshipful one, it would have been true if the relation between
master and servant were permanent. (But it is not. By a change of fortune the
master can become the servant, and the servant, the
master.)
12. Except for the worldly
convention, I find no reason for the distinction between master and servant. Who
is the master and who is the servant? Still if you feel you are the king, you
order me what I am to do.
13. O brave king! If my
behaviour as a madcap or a dunce is the result of my establishment in my nature
as the Atman, what change can your punishment affect in me? So also if I am
really a confirmed lunatic or a dunce, your attempt at reforming me by
punishment will be like powdering a powdered stuff once
again.
Sri Suka
said:
14. Having thus made a
non-controversial reply, that sage, who was full of peace and who was no longer
identifying himself with the body, continued to carry the palanquin of the king
as before, in order to exhaust his Prarabdha Karma.
15. O descendent of the
Pandavas! At this stage, the mind of Rahugana, the king of Sindhu and Sauvira,
was filled with faith, and he derived the fitness to enquire about the Supreme
Truth. Hearing the words of Bharata, based on scriptural texts and powerful
enough to cut the knot of egotism (Ahankara), Rahugana gave up his pride of
being a king, and hurriedly coming down from the palanquin, prostrated himself
before that great one and said:
16. ‘Who are you travelling
incognito in this form? Among the famous ascetics like Dattatreya and others,
who could you possibly be? You bear the holy thread indicating that you are a
Brahmana: Whose son are you? Which is your place? How do you happen to be here?
Am I to understand that you are Mahavishnu’s incarnation Kapila himself come
here to bless us?
17. I fear not the thunderbolt
of Indra, nor the trident of Rudra, nor the rod of Yama, nor the weapons of any
of the divinities like Agni, Surya, Chandra, Vayu and Kubera. But I am terribly
afraid of the consequences of insulting an illumined personage belonging to a
great and holy family.
18. Therefore, please tell me
all about yourself. I feel that you are really one possessed of unfathomable,
knowledge, hiding your spiritual power and enlightenment, and going about
incognito like a dunce. For, your words convey the meaning of Yoga Sastras and
are too profound for our minds to grasp.
19. I am myself on my way to the
Muni Kapila, the Incarnation of Mahavishnu, the teacher of all wise men and an
embodiment of Yoga, to learn from him what constitutes the refuge for man in
this transmigratory existence.
20. It may be that you are that
very Kapila going about incognito to see the condition of the world. How can a
person tied to the household and without any spiritual enlightenment understand
the ways of master Yogis like you?
21. [In criticism of your denial
of exhaustion etc., to your body, I reply:] By doing various administrative and
military duties, I really feel tired. So I can guess that you too will feel
exhausted by walking, carrying a load. This practical aspect of life based on
actual experience, I accept as a fact. To deny it, will be like denying the
existence of pots with which watering is being done.
22. In cooking, the heat applied
to the pot penetrates to the water in it; that heat affects not only the surface
of the rice in it, but the very core of the grains. In the same way, owing to
their mutual contact, the experiences of the body pass on through the inner
layers of senses, Pranas and mind to the Atman. So the experience of Samsara by
the Atman has to be accepted as real.
23. In answer to the criticism
of the master and servant relationship, I reply: Though the master and servant
relationship is temporal and artificial, when a man becomes a king, he becomes
the ruler and protector of others. If one accepts the idea that in discharging
his duties, a ruler is only carrying out the will of God, the objection of
pounding the already pounded stuff, does not arise in regard to his corrective
acts for changing even the incorrigible. For, whoever performs the worship of
the Lord through Swadharma, is freed from all sins.
24. Regarding my offence of
slighting a great man, I seek pardon of you. Out of your goodwill, deign to
order things in such a way that I incur no sin.
25. It may be said that you are
not affected or perturbed by adoration or insult, as you are established in the
attitude of universal friendship, even-mindedness towards all, and
non-identification with the body. But still an offender like me, even if he were
as powerful as Sri Parameswara, is bound to perish in
consequence.’
The Brahmana (Bharata)
said:
1.
Though you are in spiritual
ignorance, you try to speak like a man of unfailing knowledge, which however you
are not. For, a really knowing one will not take this relative existence with
its differences of master, servant etc., as a proved fact in determining what is
real. As it is found to be merely temporal on reflection, they call it ‘an
attribution of the thoughtless’. But, as you take it all as real, you are not
the best among thinkers.
2.
Not only the world and its
relation, but even the Vedic teaching dealing with Karma, belongs to the realm
of falsity for a thinker. O King! In the highly eulogistic Vedic passages
dealing with rituals relevant to the householder’s life, there will not
generally be any discussion on the truth of the Atman which is based in purity
and righteousness.
3.
A person who is not able to
grasp the phenomenality and worthlessness of the happiness of waking life, by
applying the analogy of dream experiences, will not be able to arrive at the
truth even from the great teachings of the Vedanta.
4.
As long as a man’s mind is
dominated by any of the three Gunas of Prakriti, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, so
long it will be uncontrollable. It will constantly engage the organs of
knowledge and action in producing meritorious and demeritorious
works.
5.
The mind, a bundle of
tendencies, is the principal of the sixteen categories. It is prone to go to
sense objects. The Gunas of Prakriti move it here and there, and also shape it
into various modes of desire and other passions. Investing the Jiva with various
forms as Devas, men, animals etc., it generates all these differences of high
and low based on these forms.
6.
The mind has been created by
Maya as the manifesting field of the Atman. It is the entity responsible for
keeping the Jiva in the transmigratory cycle. For, holding the Atman in close
embrace, it brings on him enjoyment, suffering and infatuation in accordance
with the inevitable process of time.
7.
So long as there is
ignorance, this world of practical life, with its gross and subtle conditions
consisting of waking, dream and sleep states, persists as an object of
experience before the embodied being. Therefore, the mind is said to be the
cause of the Jiva’s bondage and of his liberation from the Gunas, as also for
his birth in high and low situations.
8.
The mind that is attached to
sense objects causes miseries, and when it is free from such attachments, it
leads to liberation. A wick light in contact with ghee gives light and smoke.
Otherwise it remains in its pristine condition. So also the mind caught up
amidst sense objects and actions, takes up the form of Vrittis or modes. When it
is not so modified, it dwells in Truth.
9.
The modes (Vrittis) of the
mind are said to be eleven, these being five in the form of actions, five of
knowledge, and one in the form of I-sense. The five organs of action become the
basis of active modes; the five organs of knowledge, of knowledge modes; and the
body, of I-sense.
10. The eleven modes for the
functioning of the mind are: the five organs of knowledge like smell, sight,
touch, taste and sound; the five organs of action like excretion, Sex enjoyment,
walking, speaking and handling. The sense of ‘mine’ is the eleventh mode. Some
speak of the sense of ‘I’ with reference to the body, the base in which the Jiva
dwells, as the twelfth mode.
11. By the influence of factors
like Nature, purification, unseen forces and Time, these eleven modes of the
mind may take a hundred, a thousand or a crore of shapes. They cannot, however,
do so either by themselves or by mutual influence. It is born of the limitless
power of the Lord, the Kshetrajna (the Lord as the knower of the
field).
12. These movements of the mind
caused by the power of Maya, which result in actions that do not in any way
contribute to the purification of the mind, appear always in the states of
waking and dream, and disappear completely in sleep. Kshetrajna, the ever pure
and unaffected Spirit, merely witnesses these movements of the
mind.
13. The Kshetrajna is the
all-pervading Spirit, the indweller of all, the cause of all causes, the
self-conscious effulgence, the birthless, the god of all Divinities, the
director of all Jivas, the possessor of the sixfold excellence, and the support
of all Jivas. He dwells as Controller in all Jivas by His
Maya.
14. Just as the vital energy
permeates everything, moving and unmoving, and controls them from within, in the
same way the Supreme Lord Vâsudeva, the Kshetrajna, permeates and controls all
beings.
15. The Jiva is bound to move
about in this transmigratory existence so long as he does not realise himself to
be the Atman through enlightenment. For this he has, O King, first of all to
become non-attached through the discharge of all his duties as offerings to the
Lord and to control his six enemies constituted of the six infirmities (lust,
anger, greed, intense longings, pride and jealousy).
16. The mind, which functions as
the limiting adjunct of the Spirit, is the veritable field yielding a bumper
harvest of the ills of transmigratory life. Until one understands this, one will
be involved in the transmigratory cycle. The mind generates sorrow, suffering,
infatuation, diseases, attachments, desires, enmity and the sense of possession
regarding objects.
17. This mind is like a strong
enemy grown very powerful because of negligence. It may ultimately be a mere
appearance, but it has none the less hidden the Atman from view. Kill him with
the arrow of service to the feet of Sri Hari, the Teacher who gives
enlightenment. Be extremely vigilant in this matter.
Rahugana
said:
1.
O Supreme Yogin! Salutations
to thee who hast taken a body for the good of mankind. Salutations to thee who
hast devalued the body as worthless because of thy being steeped in thy inherent
bliss. Salutations again to one whose constant intuitive knowledge is masked
under the form of a degraded Bhrahmana.
2.
O enlightened one! Just as a
potent medicine is to a man suffering from high fever, just as cold water is to
one burnt by the heat of summer, so your words have been a rejuvenating ambrosia
to me who have been deprived of true insight by the powerful poison from the
bite of the cobra of body-consciousness.
3.
On the doubts I have in
respect of these matters, I shall question you afterwards. But now be pleased to
expound to me your words of spiritual import in a manner that is easily
understandable to me.
4.
O great Yogin! You have
stated that the actually felt, and therefore the unerased, fatigue and its
cause, namely, bearing the palanquin, are all only provisionally spoken about,
and have no place in determining the nature of Truth – this is a statement which
causes confusion in my mind.
The Brahmana (Bharata)
said:
5.
O King! The being called
man, who bears body, is only a moving lump of earth, an effect brought about of
earth, by some unknown causes. That body in truth is constituted of a number of
limbs – feet, ankles, foreleg, knees, thighs, waist, chest, neck, shoulders,
head etc. – arranged one above the other. (Apart from these limbs, we do not see
any entity of whom they are parts or limbs. Where then is the person to suffer
from exhaustion?)
6.
On the shoulders of these
bearers is a mass of wood called palanquin. In that is seated another lump – a
mere lump of earth but called the king of Sauvira. With that lump of clay seated
within the palanquin, you have the firm identification, ‘It is I’, and you have
besides that, the arrogant notion that the ‘I’ spoken of here is the king of
Sindhu.
7.
You who are making these
poor and pitiable palanquin bearers do forced labour without any, or adequate,
payment, are an extremely cruel person. Therefore your false boast that you are
the ‘protector’ of the people, will not command respect in an assembly of wise
men.
8.
When we know that all these
beings originate and dissolve in the element earth, what reality other than the
earth need we infer as the person – a mere conventional word assumed from
consideration of practical life?
9.
Even what is called the
earth cannot exist apart from its components, the imperceptible atoms, which are
mere mental constructs of men who, in their ignorance, seek to explain this
substance earth as an assemblage of these assumed particles. (Ultimately they
and everything else have their basis only in the cosmic power of the
Lord.)
10. In this way everything of
this world of multiplicity spoken of as subtle or gross, small or big, cause or
effect, living or inert, is all the creation of the Cosmic Power (Aja) of the
Supreme Being, called differently by different philosophers as substance,
Nature, tendencies, Time and Karma.
11. The ultimate Truth is what
the sages call Vâsudeva, (the support of all) and the Bhagavan (the possessor of
all divine majesties). He is described variously as knowledge, absolute purity,
the real existence, the one without a second, the one without an inside and
outside, Brahman, the all-inclusive, the peaceful etc.
12. Without bathing oneself in
the dust of holy men’s feet, this enlightenment cannot be had, O Rahugana,
merely through various disciplines like austerity, sacrifices, charitable gifts
of food and the like, by domestic duties, by Vedic study, or worship of various
deities.
13. In the company of holy men
there will be continuous discourses on the excellences of the Lord, thus
completely eschewing all chances of talks on worldly matters. When aspirants
imbibe it through their ears every day, their mind gets that highly coveted
tendency to flow towards Vâsudeva.
14. I was in an earlier birth a
king named Bharata who abandoned attachment for everything in this world and the
next, and took to the exclusive worship of the Divine. But due to my Prarabdha,
I got attached to a deer and as a result had a spiritual downfall. In my next
birth I became a deer.
15. But, O King, the memory of
my devotional past did not desert me even when embodied as a deer, because of
the power gained by the worship of Krishna. So I am very suspicious about the
evil consequences of contact with others, and I have, therefore, been trying to
move about in obscurity, without attachment for anything.
16. With the sword of knowledge
obtained by spiritually fruitful association with holy men, one should cut off
one’s infatuation for the world. By adoring Hari through the hearing and recital
of texts dealing with His glories and excellences, one gains the spiritual
consciousness that one is the Atman and not the body, and attains to Sri Hari,
who is the goal of the aspirant, beyond the limits of transmigratory
existence.
The Brahmana (Bharata)
said:
1.
The Jivas, pushed into the
path of Samsara by the Lord’s Maya, consider that their duty consists in
following the various ways of work dictated by the Gunas of Sattva, Rajas and
Tams, and enter into various forms of activities in the hope of getting
happiness. Just like merchants who out of greed for wealth sometimes enter into
forests, so the Jiva enters into this forest of Samsara in quest of happiness,
but he obtains none.
2.
O King! In this forest a
band of six brigands, the five organs of knowledge headed by an extremely
evil-minded leader, the corrupted intellect, attack these travellers and rob
them of their possessions. There are jackals in it which often carry away the
heedless travellers, as wolves snatch away kids.
3.
They are troubled there by
paths impenetrable because of the thick growth of creepers and grass and by the
attack of fierce forest flies and mosquitoes. Here and there they see castles in
the air and the light emitted by evil spirits that fly like
meteors.
4.
With the mind naturally set
on house, property, wealth etc., the Jiva wanders in this forest of Samsara.
Sometimes when the winds raise the dust and blind his eyes, it is not possible
for him to see the directions, filled as they are with thick clouds of
dust.
5.
Distressed by the
ear-piercing sound of crickets, and frightened by the ominous hoots of owls, he
goes and takes shelter, hungry and forlorn, under some poisonous trees. To
quench his thirst, he goes after some mirage in the
desert.
6.
Sometimes he falls into
dried up rivers without any water. Sometimes for want of food he has to beg of
relatives. Sometimes he is scorched in forest fires. Sometimes Yakshas squeeze
out his vital energy.
7.
Sometimes he is put to great
sorrow because of powerful men robbing away his wealth. Sometimes he faints
owing to intense sorrow and infatuation. Sometimes he enters into a castle in
the air and for a short time enjoys its imaginary bliss.
8.
Sometimes in attempting to
surmount inaccessible mountains, he is frustrated by his feet getting lacerated
by stones and thorns, and he sinks into the depths of disappointment. Often the
householder falls foul on his wife and others in the family when food is not
supplied in time and he is tormented by hunger.
9.
Now and then, caught in the
grip of the python of sleep in a forest, he remains as if he is a dead body.
Often blinded by desires, he falls into the dark pit of infatuation wherein he
is bitten by the fierce serpents of evil men.
10. Sometimes in quest of the
degrading sweet of forbidden Sex, he comes into conflict with its custodian
bees, and even if he attains to it by dint of great efforts, it is soon snatched
away by more powerful people, and from them by still others yet more
powerful.
11. Sometimes he is unable to
protect himself against life’s distressing circumstances of cold, heat, storm
and rain. Sometimes on questions of exchange of wealth and commodities, he comes
into conflict with others.
12. Often reduced to poverty by
loss in business, he may not be able to provide himself with house, furniture,
or vehicles. He then looks with eager eyes at others’ possessions, and begs for
help only to receive insults from them.
13. Though quarrelling and on
inimical terms with others in money matters, he compromises when worldly
relationships like marriage become necessary. Thus engrossed in this path of
worldly life, with its difficulties, loss of wealth, antagonisms etc., they are
reduced ultimately to a dazed state in which one is as good as
dead.
14. O King! In this company of
travellers, whoever dies in the course of travel, they leave them there, and
whoever is newly born, they take him and proceed with their endless journey.
None of them have till this day come back to the place they started from, nor
are they able to reach their goal beyond the frontiers of the forest. On the
other hand, they go round and round aimlessly.
15. The brave kings who take
pride in conquering all the surrounding country, making territory the bone of
contention, cultivate animosity among themselves, fight, and die on the field of
battle. They do not reach the goal which holy men who have abandoned hatred and
cruelty attain.
16. Sometimes they are supported
wholly by the creeper of women’s arms, and they delight in, and are bound by,
the chirpings of the fledgelings of babies in that cluster of creepers.
Sometimes, on being frightened by the lions of death, they take shelter with the
treacherous cranes, kites and vultures of atheistic
philosophers.
17. Disappointed with them, they
resort to the Swans of holy men, but as they find their company disagreeable,
they go in the company of the monkeys of vulgar men. Delighting in the sportive
enjoyments characteristic of monkeys, they spend time thoughtlessly looking at
each other’s faces, oblivious even of the threatening
death.
18. Delighting in the bowery
tree of the home, caught up in family affection, surfeited with sexual
enjoyments, and unable in any way to release themselves from these
entanglements, they fall down one day due to heedlessness from the tree into a
mountain ravine where they hang precariously on creepers of fatal ailments,
shivering from the sight of elephants, the forms of death, roaming
about.
19. O King! If for the time
being they are freed from danger, they go again to that caravan of marching
people. Being set on this road of Samsara by the Lord’s Maya, beyond wandering
about in that path, man does not know the Supreme Being who is the ultimate
meaning of all these experiences.
20. O Rahugana! You too have
been put on this path. Therefore, abandoning oppression of all creatures,
practising universal love, and eschewing all worldly attachments, take up the
sword of Jnana sharpened by the worship of Sri Hari, and go beyond this
path.
Rahugana
said:
21.
This human birth is indeed
the most glorious of all births. Of what use is embodiment in Swarga and other
heavenly spheres? For one cannot have there the frequent opportunity of contact
with holy men like you who have attained to the highest spiritual fulfilment
through devotion to Sri Hari.
22.
It is quite easy to
understand that in the mind of one who has been freed from all sinful tendencies
by the contact of your feet, devotion to the Lord will be generated at once.
For, even by a minute’s contact with you, my tendency for argumentation born of
sheer ignorance has departed.
23.
Salutations to the great
ones! Salutations to infants! Salutations to the Youth! Salutations to
Brahmacharins! Salutations to those knowers of Brahman who move about in the
world as Avadhutas! May good sense and good fortune dawn on kings like
me!
Sri Suka
said:
24.
O Parikshit! Thus, though
insulted by Rahugana at first, that great sage, out of his limitless compassion,
instructed the king in the knowledge of the Supreme Being. Then worshipped by
Rahugana, the sage with his mind and senses absolutely unruffled like the
unagitated surface of a calm sea, proceeded again to move about in the
country.
25.
Rahugana, the king of the
Sauviras, having gained the knowledge of the Atman through his contact with that
great sage, abandoned the ignorance-born identification of the body with the
Atman. Such are the benefits that accrue from association with devotees who have
taken refuge in the Lord.
Rajah Parikshit
said:
26.
O paragon of devotees! What
you have said before in an allegorical language about the Road of Samsara, is
intelligible only to well-instructed people. Ignorant men cannot grasp it with
ease. Therefore, please elaborate the allegory on this difficult subject,
showing the corresponding meaning of all the figures used.
Sri Suka
said:
1.
By the operation of the
forces of Prakriti known as Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, the Jivas, who mistakenly
identify themselves with the body, get repeated embodiments according to their
Karmas, which are either meritorious, demeritorious or mixed. The six senses of
man are the prime factors for the Jiva’s involvement in Samsara, or
transmigratory cycle, with its never-ending experiences of births and deaths. It
is the infinitely powerful Maya, the will of the Lord, that has pushed the Jiva
into this path of Samsara full of perils and difficulties. For the enjoyment of
the fruits of their actions the Jivas have been put on this path in the forest
of Samsara which is as impure and weird as a cremation ground. But in spite of
this, they persist in their travel through that forest like greedy merchants in
quest of wealth. They continue to perform selfish actions, however difficult
that may be, and prolong their involvement in Samsara indefinitely, in place of
cutting it short by following the foot-steps of holy ones who are absorbed in
the bliss of the Lord’s lotus-feet. The six senses of man are the robbers that
attack him in the forest.
2.
The wealth of man is really
meant for the adoration of the Lord and for charitable and religious purposes
that promote his higher evolution in the hereafter. But the mind and the five
organs of knowledge, which are like six brigands, rob away that wealth by
attracting it to mean sensuous enjoyments that could be derived through sight,
hearing, touch, taste, smell, imagination etc., as robbers do with the wealth of
merchants who are badly led and who are careless about their safety. Know these
six senses to be the brigands of the forest of Samsara.
3.
In that forest of Samsara
there are members of one’s family known as wife, children etc. Though known by
such names indicating closeness, they are the wolves of the forest who, much
against the will of the miserly householder, demand and deprive him of his
strongly guarded wealth as wolves carry away young kids from a flock of
sheep.
4.
Though a field is ploughed
every year, it is found covered with creepers and grass when new sowing
operations start; for the seeds of the old plants have been present in it. Even
so, the household is the field of Karma, and works never end there because of
the presence of these seeds in the shape of desires and tendencies. It is as in
the case of a box in which camphor is kept. Even if the substance is removed,
the smell persists. (Know this to be the vegetation covering the path of
Samsara.)
5.
The traveller on the road of
Samsara is attacked even without any purpose by evil men as mosquitoes and flies
do, and he is deprived of his wealth by insects, birds, rats and thieves.
Prompted by ignorance, desire, and tendency for work, he moves about in this
world of men, attributing substance and value to it, which in truth is as
illusory as a castle in the air.
6.
Sometimes infatuated with
sense enjoyments, which to a discerning mind are ephemeral like mirage, the Jiva
gets engrossed with eating, drinking and mating.
7.
Sometimes he comes across
gold, the source of all evil. Prompted by Rajas, which is of the same colour as
gold, he goes to take it. But the pursuit of the bright metal only brings on him
all-round trouble, just as in the case of a man who, distressed by intense cold,
runs towards a flaming devil.
8.
Sometimes the Jiva is in
dire want of a dwelling place, food and drink, wealth and other objects of
enjoyment, and wanders about everywhere in quest of them in the forest of
Samsara.
9.
Sometimes he gets entangled
with women who are like a dusty whirlwind that completely blinds his eye of
discrimination. With all power of discrimination erased, he allows himself to be
petted and fondled in the lap of women, and as a consequence all his lowest
animal propensities based in Tamas are let loose. Ridden with lust and totally
blinded by desire, he even forgets the presence of Devas that stand always as
witnesses to the actions of men.
10.
Sometimes he may realise the
vanity of sensuous life and its enjoyments, yet being deprived of the memory of
his spiritual nature by the overpowering bodily consciousness, he runs after
those very same mirage-like sensuous fulfilments as
before.
11.
The direct and indirect
threats of kings and enemies are what have been described as the harsh hoots of
owls and shrill screeches of crickets, causing as much unpleasantness to the
heart as to the ear.
12.
When the results of a Jiva’s
good works are exhausted and he is without any means of livelihood, he becomes
the dependant of other worldly men who are wealthy but none the less deserve
only to be called the ‘living-dead’, for the wealth of these pitiable men, owing
to misuse, is a menace to themselves in this world and fails to secure any good
for them in the hereafter. These are described as poisonous trees, creepers and
wells, which serve no useful purpose to anyone.
13.
Sometimes through unholy
associations, he is lured into atheistic sects which are like waterless rivers.
Just as a person falling into them only hurts himself, these atheistic religions
only bring suffering to the Jiva in this world and the
next.
14.
When a man is not able to
gain his livelihood even by oppressing others, he turns towards his father and
mother and even to distant relatives to dispossess them by asserting his right
to their belongings.
15.
Sometimes due to want of
food and other necessaries, he undergoes intense and increasing sufferings in
his home like one caught in a forest fire and is thrown into utter despair and
depression.
16.
The Yakshas who are supposed
to steal away the vital energy of man, are the kings who, in adverse times like
war and invasions, deprive a man of his whole wealth, dear to him as life
itself, and leave him practically a lifeless corpse.
17.
Sometimes he enters into the
realms of fancy and thinks of the days of his ancestors like father and
grandfather, and seems to get some relaxation as in a dream
experience.
18.
The mountain he tries to
cross is the performance of the various rites and duties he has to accomplish in
the household life. Like one trying to cross over a mountain, he gets hurt and
exhausted by walking over stones and thorns, and finally gives up all efforts
and sits quietly in a place in utter frustration.
19.
Sometimes tormented and
exhausted by unbearable hunger, he seeks compensation by losing his temper at
his wife.
20.
The python gripping him is
sleep, absorbed in which he afterwards lives like a dead body in the darkness of
Tamas, abandoned by all in a lonely forest.
21.
Evil men are the fierce
serpents who attack and shatter his molars that stand for self-respect. The
shock caused thereby deprives him of sleep and his power of correct judgement.
Like a blind man fallen into a disused well, he welters in stupefying
sorrow.
22.
At times owing to his
hankering for the honey of vulgar enjoyments, he runs after other people’s women
and wealth, only to be killed by their masters or the ruling king. He suffers
the torment of abysmal hell as a consequence.
23.
Hence great men say that
self-centred action prompted by desires is the fertile field of sufferings in
this world and the next.
24.
Perhaps he is now free from
the trammels of poverty because of some wealth that has come to him. Immediately
one Devadatta robs him of that, and a Vishnudatta, in turn, deprives Devadatta
of it. Thus wealth flies from hand to hand unendingly.
25.
Sometimes unable to protect
himself from various natural visitations like storms, cold etc., and from
sufferings originating in mental and psychical disturbances, he loses himself in
the sorrow of worrying thoughts that have no end.
26.
Sometimes in the course of
financial dealings with others, man tries to deceive his opposite numbers of at
least a little of their wealth, leading thereby to mutual hatred and
quarrel.
27.
In this path of Samsara,
there are, besides the above, innumerable other travails and hindrances like
joy, sorrow, attachments, aversions, fear, pride, heedlessness, mental
derangement, sorrow, infatuation, greed, jealousy, insult, hunger, thirst,
diseases, worries, birth, old age and death.
28.
Sometimes the ignorant Jiva,
caught in the embrace of the creeper-like arms of a woman, who is nothing but
the embodiment of the Lord’s deluding power, becomes devoid of discriminative
power. He is in mad pursuit of a home to live in with her. There he becomes
completely taken up with the sweet words and loving relationship of the
inhabitants of that home, namely, wife, sons, daughters etc., and sinks into the
dense depth of ignorance.
29.
Man becomes conscious of the
relentless movement of the Lord’s destructive wheel of Time when he notices
before his very eyes its irresistible movement, embracing a period extending
from a moment to the Dviparardha and swallowing up all creatures from a blade of
grass to Brahma through the stages of birth, childhood, youth, old age and
death. Though frightened by it, he does not go for shelter to the Supreme Lord
Mahavishnu, the Lord of all Yajnas and the holder of the wheel of Time, but
discarding him seeks shelter in false deities preached by atheistic and
heretical teachers resembling deceptive cranes, crows and vultures – deities and
teachings that have no sanction of the authentic scriptures and traditions, but
are the mere concoctions of heretics.
30.
When they realise that they
have been totally misled by these self-deluded heretics, they resort to the
community of holy men. Soon, their way of life, consisting in the performance of
all the scripture-ordained duties like Upanayana and the rest as an offering
unto the Lord, ceases to please them, and they then associate with groups of
vulgar folk, who, being devoid of the Vedic purificatory observances and
disciplines, live the life of
monkeys, with Sex enjoyments and family care as the sole concerns in
life.
31.
There, unrestrained by any
scriptural injunctions and guided by instincts alone, persons of such a pitiable
outlook spend their life in vulgar enjoyments, their time being wholly taken up
with men and women gazing at each other’s face. Engrossed in these
preoccupations they forget even the approach of death.
32.
At times like a monkey on
the branches of a tree, a worldly minded man lives merrily in the home, which is
only a place of vulgar enjoyments, and spends his days in extreme attachment for
his wife and children and in sexual frivolities.
33.
Caught in the way of
Samsara, he is now frightened by the sight of the elephant of death, and falls
into the dark mountain cavern of disease.
34.
Unable to stand physical
inclemencies like heat and cold, as well as mental worries and psychical unrest
he is subjected to utmost misery.
35.
Bent on making money, he
acquires some wealth through business transactions with others, adopting even
unfair means.
36.
When all his wealth is
exhausted and he is in great need of the necessaries of life like home, food,
clothing etc., he tries to get these from others through deception. Being
exposed, he has to stand the insults heaped on him by their
owners.
37.
Though thus inimical to
others because of greed for wealth, he none the less, owing to his
long-cultivated habit, enters into marriage alliances with those very people,
only to break them very soon.
38.
In the course of their
travel along the path of Samsara, facing various dangers and obstacles, the men
who die are left behind, and others walk on with those who are born in the
meantime. They trudge on, sorrowing, bungling, fearing, arguing, crying,
singing, and dying. But they never turn towards or reach their source, the Lord,
from whom this caravan started; only a few devotees do so.
39.
They never attain to Jnana
and Bhakti, the fruits of spiritual striving, which holy men established in
universal love, self-control and peace gain.
40.
Even great kings who are
world conquerors and far-famed for the great Yajnas they have performed, do not
attain to it. For, being at bitter feud with others owing to their intense sense
of possessiveness, they in the end abandon those very possessions and lie dead
in the field of battle.
41.
Holding on to the creeper of
Prarabdha they may get release from the hell into which they are consigned, but
they soon return, only to join that band of travellers on the read of Samsara
once again. The same is the fate of the denizens of higher worlds like that of
Indra.
The unique greatness of
Bharata has been sung as follows by the ancients:
42.
A fly cannot emulate the
flight of Garuda. Even so no other king has found it possible even mentally to
emulate the example of the great Rajarshi Bharata, the son of
Rishabha.
43.
Who can follow that exalted
example of the one who, even as a youth, was overcome by such intense love of
the Lord that he could easily abandon like filth all worldly loves – wife,
children, friends, kingdom and the like which usually bind the human mind fast,
making it impossible for it to give them up.
44.
It is no wonder that this
great king was able to abandon what others find it so difficult to do – kingdom,
sons, wife, relatives, wealth and even the solicitations of Srî, the goddess of
good fortune, for a mere look from whom even divinities are praying. For, those
who are engrossed with the delight of the Lord’s service look upon as trifle
even Moksha, considered the highest blessing for an embodied being
(Jiva).
45.
Such renunciation is
befitting so great a soul as Bharata who, even while abandoning the deer form,
went on ardently adoring the Lord, saying: ‘Salutations to Yajna! Salutations to the
One awarding the results of Yajna! Salutations to the One established in Dharma!
Salutations to the One attainable by Yoga! Salutations to the One whose essence
is Knowledge! Salutations to the One who controls Prakriti! Salutations to the
One who is the indweller of all beings! Salutations to Sri
Hari!’
46.
Whoever hears, recites, or
studies with faith and devotion this holy account which records the excellences
of the great Rajarshi Bharata who is respected and sung about by great devotees,
and which confers on its votary longevity, wealth, fame, heaven, and liberation
– all the wants of such a person are supplied by the Indwelling Self; he
requires no external aid.
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