From Sri Ganesan

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

Sri Ganesan sent me this inspiring story from the Bhagavatam which I am passing

on to all .

 

With every best wish .

 

in His Grace,

 

Alan

 

 

JADA BHARATAíS TEACHING

 

Bhagavan Ramana has referred to Sage Suka, King Rishabha and Jada Bharata as

those who had lived

in the highest state of Atiasramií (beyond the four ashramasí, meaning four

stages in life, of:

(i) bachelorhood (ii) house-holder (iii) retired, old age and (iv) renunciate),

when asked whether

any one else had lived in that exalted state, he told this tale..

 

Once, there lived a righteous and pious King, named Bharatta who renounced his

kingdom to do

penance in the forests and thus attain the highest state of Liberation,

consciously. He led a

very austere and meditative life during his such wanderings. Once, when he was

meditating on the

bank of a small rivulet, he was woken up from his meditation by the ferocious

roar of a lion. A

pregnant deer was being chased by a huge lion; and, the deer jumped from near

Bharata and reached

the other side of the rivulet, thus escaping from the lion.

 

Yet, out of fright and exertion of jumping, she fell on the other shore dead.

However, the baby

deer slipped from her womb, alive, and fell into the water and was struggling.

Bharata, moved by

emotional compassion, took the deer and reared it all his life. He got so much

attached to it

that he forgot his meditation and the purpose of life. He died looking at the

deer, having a deep

sense of sorrow that he was getting separated from his dear deer. In his next

birth, he was born

as a deer.

 

However, the intense penance he had done in his former life, enabled him to

remember that he was a

King and had the intense desire to be Liberated, even in this deer's body. He

did not waste time,

but spent it mostly, only in the company and proximity of sages and saints in

their Ashrams, by

listening to the chanting of Vedas and immersing himself in Sat Sanghí.

 

While giving up the deer's body, he prayed to the Lord to enable him to attain

Liberation in his

next birth, undaunted by external attractions and distractions.

 

He was born in a pious Brahmin's family. In this birth also, he was blessed to

remember his

previous two births, and the follies he had committed. Thus, he kept silence

and

absolutely was uninterested in any form of movements, physically and mentally.

The parents and

relatives were disappointed with his inertness; and, hence, named him

Jada Bharata (Inert Bharata). He was unmindful of how he behaved in the

external life, while all the time, immersing himself in the Presence of the

Truth [i AMî]

within. If food was thrust into his throat, he gulped it, not caring for its

taste,quality or

quantity. If people asked him to do any work, he would go on working till he

was asked to stop !

His body was, however, well built and sturdy.

 

One day, he was seated on a rock by the side of a main road. The King, named

Rahugana, was

passing by, being carried in a palanquin by four servants. He was going to meet

a sage and

receive from him spiritual instructions. He was in a hurry!. The palanquin

bearers recommended

that if there was an additional man, they could move faster. When they saw the

stocky Jada

Bharata, they asked him to carry the palanquin, along with them.

 

He did what was demanded of him. But, every time an army of ants was passing

across the road, he

jumped over them, lest to harm them, causing violent jerks. The King got

annoyed and warned him

of severe physical punishment.

 

The King was proud of the fact that he was the King, the master who could do

what he liked with

his servants. He thought that he was a great man and that every other man was

inferior to him.

Therefore, he spoke cruel and arrogant words to the Brahmin, who would not harm

or injure even the

ants crawling on the ground. Jada Bharata looked long and silently at the King.

A slight smile

was seen at the corner of his mouth. For the first time after his birth, without

raising his

voice, without any rancour, Jada Bharata spoke, thus:

 

"You are angry with me because you think that I am not carrying your palanquin

properly. You

spoke with sarcasm when you said that I have been carrying the burden too long

and that I am

tired. Your meaning is that I am not one bit tired by this burden. In a way,

your words are

true. But your desire to hurt me with your sarcasm is, I am afraid, pointless.

It does not hurt

me. Shall I tell you why ? You are under the impression that this body of mine

is real and that

the burden it has been carrying all the while, is also real. If this is true,

then your words

should certainly have hurt me. But then, how can you be sure that these two are

real ? I cannot

prove that this body of mine is real nor can I prove that the burden it has been

carrying is also

real. Under the circumstances, how can it be possible to hurt a person or a

thing which is

non-existent ? The real I in ME, has absolutely no connection with this

so-called body of mine;

and insults to this body, or injustices heaped on this body do not affect ME in

the least.

 

You said that I have been carrying the burden alone for a long distance and

that I am tired. You

meant to insult me, I know, but I do not choose to be insulted. The reason is

this: if it is true

there is a distance to be covered; if there is a purpose to be achieved by

covering that

distance; and if these two factors have anything to do with ME, then and only

then, should I be

affected by your remarks.

 

But then, I am not sure of the existence of either of these things or my

connection with them.

And, so I am not affected by your words. You said that I am not big but

emaciated. The words are

meaningless considering that I am formless and the qualifications big and

small , lean and

fat do not apply to it.

 

These words are for describing the body, the Home of the Atman and not the

Atman itself.

Fatness or leanness, diseases of the mind and the body, hunger, thirst, fear,

quarrelsomeness,

desire, old age, sleep, lust, avarice, pain, all these affect one who thinks

that he has a body

and not me who knows the Truth about myself [as I AM].

 

This body is short-lived, limited, while the I AM is endless,

eternal. You called

me a walking corpse. So are you and so is every man and animal on the earth. O

King, the process

of birth and death do not confine themselves to me alone. All things which are

undergoing change

are liable to birth and death. Every moment there is birth and there is death.

If, by any

chance, wealth and the owning of wealth are permanent, then this command of

yours and this threat

of yours that you will punish me, will all be possible. But it is not so. The

difference between

a King and a servant arises because of the sense of duality and I cannot find

any other reason for

it. There is no such thing as a superior person and there is no one inferior to

him. But you do

not seem to realize it. Tell me what I should do now. I have realized the

Truth. I do appear

to be a stupid man; a deaf man without any feelings; a fool. But really, the

things of the

world do not affect me, not in the least. How then is your punishment going to

affect me since I

know that I am far away from all these ? It will be like kneading flour which

has already been

kneaded. It will have no effect on my behaviour."

 

Jada Bharata took the palanquin and tried to place it once again on his

shoulders.

Drained of all pride and arrogance by the sacred words of Bharata, King Rahugana

fell at his feet and spoke in a voice choked with tears born of shame. He said:

" My pride has

been destroyed by you. Forgive me for my impertinence and please grant me a

boon. Please be

gracious enough to tell me who you are. I am the ruler of Sindhu and Sauvira and

they call me

Rahugana. I was on my way to the great sage, Kapila, to sit at his feet and

learn Brahma Vidhya

[science of Truthí] from him. But you seem to be Kapila himself who has come to

me on his own

accord to save me. To what good actions in my previous births do I owe this

great good fortune

that has befallen me ? Please initiate me into the Science of Truth.î

 

Jada Bharata was filled with pity for the King who seem to be really eager to

learn. He said: " I

will try to help you and you will find the path to Salvation. Listen to me very

carefully while I

explain it all to you."

 

He began his discourse on Brahma Vidhya :

 

"It is the mind of man which causes him either to fall into the morass called

Samsara or to find

freedom from it. It is the mind which should be subdued. When the mind is

tainted with the three

Gunas: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas, its path is set in the world of objects.

It will have to

keep on performing actions : good and bad; and, the cycle of births and deaths

will be endless.

It will acquire desires and, according to the desires, its progress will be

towards the higher or

towards the lower, as the case may be. Pleasure and pain will affect the life

of man and there

will be no end to it. So long as the mind is attached to the things of the

world it can never

glow on its own accord.

 

ìTake the example of a little lamp. It has a wick and the wick is fed by a

quantity of ghee.

When it burns the flame will be coloured because of the quality of the ghee

which is feeding it

and the smoke and light emanating from it will all have the quality of the ghee.

If, however, the

ghee is all exhausted the wick will then burn on its own accord with a colour

and glow which is

natural; and, it will, eventually be converted to nothingness. Even so, the

mind. So long as it

is fed by the Gunas, will become coloured by them and act accordingly. When

the Gunas leave the

mind, it will soon reach a stage when it will have no existence. Just as the

wind pervades the

entire space the Lord pervades the entire universe. When the Jiva sheds all

attachment,

conquers the six enemies and illuminates itself with the lamp of Wisdom, then

the Jiva will be

free. But till then he will have to go through the pain of being born again and

again into this

world.

 

ìThe mind should be controlled if the senses and the six arch-enemies have to be

conquered. The

mind, if it is led towards the Feet of the Lord, if it takes refuge there: then

there is no fear

of its losing itself in the forest of Samsara. Once the Jiva is set on the

path called Karma it

is beset with many pitfalls. Birth and death comprise a forest. The Jiva gets

lost in this

forest deluded in many actions which are good, bad or indifferent and in

proportion to them, he

acquires a certain amount of merit or demerit (punyaí and papa). The aim of the

Jiva now becomes

the pursuit of happiness and in this search for happiness it gets lost in the

wilderness called

Samsara. The six senses are well-nigh six thieves who steal on you when you are

unaware of their

approach and rob you of your Wisdom. They make you become attached to woman,

home, child, money,

wealth, power and such-like; you get involved in Maya and are helpless in

finding your way out.

You are then well established in Grihasthashrama which is indeed a very sad

state of affairs.

 

ìThe earth, though it looks as though all the plants have been removed from its

surface, is, in

reality, not bare. The seeds which have already been buried in it sprout forth

in no time and

this cycle will go on and on until the seeds are burnt away. The

Grihasthashrama is like a box of

camphor. In course of time, the camphor gets sublimated and it looks as though

the box is empty.

But the smell, the vasana, is still remaining and it will cling to the box. So

long as the box

has an existence, so long as the box has an entity, the vasana will persist and

it will remain

part of the box until the box is completely destroyed. Once you get involved in

the ashrama

called Grihastha there is no salvation for you. Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha,

Mada and Matsarya,

the senses and the mind which is the master of the senses, all these will lure

you away from the

path to Salvation.

 

ìThink of the life on the earth. There is so much pain, loss, happiness, sorrow,

love, hatred,

fear, delusion, madness, avarice, jealousy, hunger, thirst, pain in the mind and

pain in the body;

birth and its arch-enemy death ñare all there.

 

Man has no time to think of the Lord and he never keeps the company of Saints

who have renounced

worldly things. Still, even in spite of all these drawbacks,there is hope for

man. If he controls

the mind, if he learns the art of pulling the reins of the mind, if he can

conquer the six enemies

and turn his mind towards the Lord, he can be rid of the cycle of birth and

death.

 

This Wisdom cannot be obtained by penance; not by performing religious rites

faultlessly; not by

chanting the Vedas incessantly, nor by the worship of gods. Only by falling at

the feet of the

Saints and taking the dust of their feet and surrendering himself to a Guru can

a man attain

Salvation. Let a man, then, desirous of getting Freedom spend all his time with

the Bhaktas of

the Lord. He will then learn how to break away from the bondage called

delusion: Maya. The

stories of the Lord and the singing of His praises will guard his spiritual

wealth from the

thieves who are lodged in his body; the six thieves: Kama, Krodha, Lobha, Moha,

Mada and Matsarya.

Soon, very soon, man will give up his ego and his mind will obey him. The rest

is easy.

 

O King ! Learn to renounce everything. Be compassionate towards all living

beings. Sever the

bonds of attachment to everything. With a mind pure and free, you will soon

reach the other

shores of this immense ocean called Samsara and I assure you, you will not come

back, again.!"

 

Rahugana prostrated before Bharata and said: "My Lord, being born as a man is

the greatest of

blessings granted to the Jiva by the Lord. I am not jealous of the gods at all,

since it is not

given to everyone, not even the gods, to have the good fortune of coming across

great souls like

you. I have had that unique privilege. By your company for just a muhurta all

my ignorance has

been driven away. I am rid of my pride and ego. You have taught me that there

is only one duty

for man and that is, to surrender to the Lord. I bow before you again and

again. There is no

other way in which I can express my gratefulness to you."

 

**************************************

 

Samsara = Life through repeated births and deaths; the process of mundane,

worldly life.

Gunas = Qualities born of nature.

Sattva = Purity

Rajas = Activity, passion, restlessness

Tamas = Inertia

Jiva = Individual being

Karma = Destiny, consequences of actions

Grihasthashrama = Stage in Life, as a house-holder

Vasana = Latent tendencies

Kama = Desire, lust

Krodha = Anger, wrath

Lobha = Covetousness, greed

Moha = Infatuation, delusion

Mada = Pride, arrogance

Matsarya = Jealousy

Muhurta = A period equivalent to 48 minutes

 

Fall at the Feet of the Lordî = Dive within, into the Heart, the Home of I AM.

 

_____________________________

>From the-SRIMAD BHAGAVATHAM -- Tr. By N. Raghunathan