JaDa Bharata

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Bhagavan has said that he is of the same Atiasrami (beyond all ashramas)

class as Suka, Rishabha, Jada Bharata, etc. , and has narrated the

story of Jada Bharata on occasion. A narrative can be found at

http://groups.msn.com/BhagavanRamanaMaharishi/general.msnw?action=get_message&mv\

iew=1&ID_Message=68

 

The story of JaDa Bharata is found both in the VishhNu purANam.h and the

shrImad.h Bhaagavatam.h. The following version is from the translation of

the Vishnu Purana by H.H.Wilson.

 

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Book 2, Chapter 13

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Maitreya - "Reverend sir, all that I asked of you has been thoroughly

explained; namely, the situation of the earth, oceans, mountains, rivers,

and planetary bodies; the system of the three worlds, of which VishhNu is

the stay. That great end of life has also been expounded by you, and the

pre-eminence of holy knowledge. It now remains that you fulfil the promise

you made some time since, of relating to me the story of king Bharata,

and how it happenned that a monarch like him, residing constantly at the

holy place Shaalagraama, and engaged in devotion, with his mind ever

applied to Vaasudeva, should have failed, through the sanctity of the

shrine, and the efficacy of his abstractions, to obtain final

emancipation; how it was that he was born again as a Brahmin; and what was

done by the magnanimous Bharata in that capacity: all this it is fit that

you inform me."

 

Sage Paraashara - "The illustrious monarch of the earth resided, Maitreya,

for a considerable period at Shaalagrama, his thoughts wholly dedicated to

God, and his conduct distinguished by kindness and every virtue, until he

had effected, in the highest degree, the entire control over his mind. The

Raja was ever repeating the names achyuta, Govinda, Maadhava, ananta,

Keshava, Krishna, Vishnu, Hrishhiikesha; nothing else did he utter, even

in his dreams; nor upon anything but those names and their import did he

ever meditate. He accepted fuel, flowers and holy grass for the worship of

the deity, but performed no other religious rites, being engrossed by

disinterested, abstract devotion.

 

On one occasion, he went to the Mahaanadii for the purpose of ablution:

he bathed there, and performed the ceremonies usual after bathing. Whilst

thus occupied, there came to the same place a doe big with young to drink

of the stream. Whilst quenching her thirst, there was heard on a sudden

the loud and fearful roaring of a lion; on which the doe, being

excessively alarmed, jumped out of the water upon the bank. In consequence

of this great leap, her fawn was suddenly brought forth and fell into the

river; and the king, seeing it carried away by the current, caught hold of

the young animal and saved it from being drowned. The injury received by

the deer, by her violent exertion, proved fatal and she lay down and died;

which being observed by the royal ascetic, he took the fawn in his arms

and returned with it to his hermitage. There, he fed it and tended it

everyday and it throve and grew up under his care. It frolicked about the

cell and grazed upon the grass in its vicinity; and whenever it strayed to

a distance, and was alarmed at a wild beast, it ran back thither for

safety. Every morning it sallied forth from home, and every evening

returned to the thatched shelter of the leafy bower of Bharata.

 

Whilst the deer was thus the inmate of his hermitage, the mind of the

king was ever anxious about the animal, now wandering away, and now

returning to his side, and he was unable to think of anything else. He had

relinquished his kingdom, his friends, his children, and now indulged in

selfish affection for a fawn. When absent for a longer time than ordinary,

he would fancy that it had been carried off by wolves, devoured by a

tiger, or slain by a lion. "The earth," he would exclaim, "is embrowned by

the impressions of its hoofs. What has become of the deer, that was born

for my delight? How happy I should be if he had returned from the thicket,

and I felt his antlers rubbing against my arm. These tufts of sacred

grass, of which the heads have been nibbled by his new teeth, look like

pious lads chanting the Saama-Veda." Thus the Muni meditated whenever the

deer was long absent from him; and contemplated him with a countenance

animated with pleasure as he stood by his side. His abstraction was

interrupted, the spirit of the king being engrossed by the fawn, even

though he had abandoned family, wealth, and dominion. The firmness of the

his mind became unsteady, and wandered with the wanderings of the young

deer. In course of time, the king became subject to its influence. He

died, watched by the deer, with tears in his eyes, like a son mourning for

his father; and he himself, as he expired, cast his eyes upon the animal,

and thought of nothing else, being wholly occupied with one idea.

 

In consequence of this predominant feeling at such a season, he was

born again in the Jambumaarga forest as a deer, with the faculty of

recalling his former life; which recollection inspiring a distaste for the

world, he left his mother and went to the holy place Shaalagraama.

Subsisting there upon dry grass and leaves, he atoned for the acts which

had led to his being born in such a condition; and upon his death, he was

next born as a Brahmin, still retaining memory of his prior existence.

 

He was born in a pious and eminent family of ascetics, who were rigid

observers of devotional rites. Possessed of true wisdom, and acquainted

with the essence of all sacred writings, he beheld the soul as

contradistinguished from matter (Prakriti). Imbued with the knowledge of

the Self, he beheld the gods and all other beings in reality the same. It

did not happen to him to undergo investiture with the Brahminical thread,

nor to read the Vedas with a spiritual preceptor, nor to perform

ceremonies, nor to study the scriptures. When spoken to, he replied

incoherently and in ungrammatical and unpolished speech. His person was

unclean and he was clad in dirty garments. Saliva dribbled from his mouth,

and he was treated with contempt by all the people. Regard for the

consideration of the world is fatal to the success of devotion. The

ascetic who is despised of men attains the end of abstractions. Let

therefore a holy man pursue the path of the righteous, without murmuring;

and though men condemn him, avoid association with mankind. This, the

counsel of HiraNyagarbha did the Brahmin call to mind, and hence assumed

the appearance of a crazy idiot in the eyes of the world. His food was raw

pulse, potherbs, wild fruit and grains of corn. Whatever came in his way,

he ate, as part of a necessary, but temporary infliction (as a Kaala

Sanyama, a state of suffering or mortification lasting only for a season;

or, in other words, bodily existence; the body being contemplated as a

sore, for which the food is the unguent; drink the lotion; and dress, the

bandage). Upon his father's death, he was set to work on the fields by his

brothers and nephews, and fed by them with vile food; and as he was firm

and stout of make, a simpleton in outward act, he was a slave of everyone

that chose to employ him, receiving sustenance alone for his hire.

 

The head servant of king SauvIra, looking upon him as an indolt,

untaught Brahmin, thought him a fit person to work without pay (and took

him into his master's service to assist in carrying the palankin).

 

The king having ascended his litter, on one occasion, was proceeding to

the hermitage of Kapila on the banks of the Ikshumati river, to consult

the sage, to whom the virtues leading to liberation were known, what was

most desirable in a world abiding with care and sorrow. Among those who by

order of his head servant had been compelled gratuitously to carry the

litter was the Brahmin, who had been equally pressed into this duty, and

who, endowed with the only universal knowledge, and remembering his former

existence, bore the burden as the means of expiating the faults for which

he was desirous to atone. Fixing his eyes upon the pole, he went tardily

along whilst the other bearers moved with alacrity; and the king, feeling

the litter carried unevenly, called out, "Ho bearers! What is this? Keep

equal pace together." Still it proceeded unsteadily, and the Raja again

exclaimed, "What is this? How irregularly are you going!" When this had

repeatedly occurred, the palankin-bearers at last replied to the king, "It

is this man, who lags in his pace.How is this?" said the prince to the

Brahmin, "Are you weary? You have carried your burden but a little way;

are you unable to bear the fatigue? And yet you look robust." The Brahmin

answered and said, "It is not I who am robust, nor is it by me that your

palankin is carried. I am not wearied, prince, nor am I incapable of

fatigue." The king replied, "I clearly see that you are stout and that

the palankin is borne by you; and the carriage of a burden is wearisome to

all persons.First tell me," said the Brahmin, "what it is of me that

you have clearly seen, and then you may distinguish my properties as

strong or weak. The assertion that you behold the palankin borne by me or

placed on me, is untrue. Listen, prince, to what I have to remark. The

place of both the feet is on the ground; the legs are supported by the

feet and the thighs rest upon the legs; the belly reposes on the thighs

and the chest is supported by the belly; and the arms and shoulders

propped up by the chest: the palankin is borne upon the shoulders and how

can it be considered as my burden? This body which is seated in the

palankin is defined as Thou; thence what is elsewhere is called This, is

here distinguished as I and Thou. I and Thou and others are constructed of

the elements; and the elements, following the stream of qualities, assume

a bodily shape; but qualities, such as goodness and the rest, are

dependent upon acts; and acts, accumulated in ignorance, influence the

condition of all beings. The pure, imperishable soul, tranquil, void of

qualities, pre-eminent over nature (Prakriti) is One, without increase or

diminution, in all bodies. But if it be equally exempt from increase or

diminution, then with what propriety can you say to me, "I see that thou

art robust"? If the palankin rests on the shoulders, and they on the body,

the body on the feet, the feet on the earth, then is the burden borne as

much by you as by me. When the nature of men is different, either in its

essence or its cause, then may it be said that fatigue is said to be

undergone by me. That which is the substance of the palankin is the

substance of you and me and all others, being an aggregate of elements,

aggregated by individuality."

 

Having thus spoken the Brahmin was silent, and went on bearing the

palankin. But the king leaped out of it, hastened to prostrate himself

at the Brahmin's feet, saying, "Have compassion on me, Brahmin, and cast

aside the palankin. Tell me who Thou art, thus disguised under the

appearance of a fool." The Brahmin answered and said, "Hear me, Raja. Who

I am is not possible to say : arrival at any place is for the sake of

fruition; and enjoyment of pleasure, or endurance of pain, is the cause of

the production of the body. A living being assumes a corporeal form to

reap the results of virtue or vice. The universal cause of all living

creatures is virtue or vice: why therefore inquire the cause (of my being

the person I appear)." The king said, "Undoubtedly virtue and vice are the

causes of all existent effects, and migration into several bodies is for

the purpose of receiving their consequences; but with respect to what you

have asserted, that it is not possible for you to tell me who you are,

that is a matter which I am desirous to hear explained. How can it be

impossible, Brahmin, for anyone to declare himself to be that which he is?

There can be no detriment to one's self by the application to it of the

characteristic word 'I'." The Brahmin said, "It is true that there is no

wrong done to that which is one's-self by the application of the word 'I';

but it characteristic of error, of conceiving that to be the self (or

soul) which is not self or soul. The tongue articulates the word 'I',

aided by the lips, the teeth and the palate; and these are the origin of

the expression, as they are the causes of the production of speech. If, by

these instruments speech is able to utter the word 'I', it is nevertheless

improper to assert that speech itself is 'I'. The body of a man,

characterised by hands, feet and the like, is made up of various parts; to

which of these can I properly apply the denomination 'I'? If another being

is different specifically from me, most excellent monarch, then it may be

said, "this" is I, "that" is the other: but when only one soul is

dispersed in all bodies, it is then idle to say, "Who are you?", "Who am

I?". Thou art a king; this is a palankin; these are the bearers; these the

running footmen; this is thy retinue; yet it is untrue that all these are

said to be thine. The palankin on which thou sittest is made of timber

derived from a tree. What then? Is it denominated either timber or tree?

People do not say that the king is perched upon a tree, nor that he is

seated upon a piece of wood, when you have mounted your palankin. The

vehicle is an assemblage of pieces of timber, artificially joined

together: judge for yourself in what the palankin differs really from

the wood. Again, contemplate the sticks of an umbrella in their separate

state. Where then is the umbrella? Apply this reasoning to a thee and me.

A man, a woman, a cow, a goat, a horse, an elephant, a bird, a tree, are

names assigned to various bodies, which are consequences of acts.

Man (the term in this and the preceding clause is "PumAn"; here used

generically, there specifically) is neither a god nor a man, nor a brute,

nor a tree; these are mere varieties of shape, the effects of acts. The

thing which in the world is called a king, the servant of a king, or by

any other appellation, is not a reality; it is the creature of our

imaginations: for what is there in the world that is subject to

vicissitude, that does not in the course of time go by different names.

Thou art called the monarch of the world; the son of thy father; the enemy

of thy foes; the husband of thy wife; the father of thy children. What

shall I denominate thee? How art thou situated? Art thou the head or the

belly? Or are they thine? Art thou the feet? Or do they belong to thee?

Thou art, O king, distinct in thy nature from all thy members! Now then,

rightly understanding the question, think who I am; and how it is possible

for me, after the truth is ascertained (of the identity of all), to

recognise any distinction, or to speak of my own individuality by the

expression 'I'.

 

Chapter 14

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Parasara continued - "Having heard these remarks, full of profound truth,

the king was highly pleased with the Brahmin, and respectfully thus

addressed him: "What you have said is no doubt the truth; but in listening

to it, my mind is much disturbed. You have shown 'that' to be

discriminative wisdom which exists in all creatures, and which is the

great principle that is distinct from plastic nature; but the

assertions, "I do not bear the palankin - the palankin does not rest

upon me - the body, by which the vehicle is conveyed, is different from

me- the conditions of elementary beings are influenced by acts, through

the influence of the qualities, and the qualities are the principles of

action" - what sort of positions are these? Upon these doctrines entering

into my ears, my mind, which is anxious to investigate truth, is lost in

perplexity. It was my purpose, illustrious sage, to have gone to Kapila

Rishi to inquire of him what in this life was the most desirable object:

but now that I have heard from you such words, my mind turns to you, to

become acquainted with the great goal of life. The Rishi Kapila is a

portion of the mighty and universal Vishnu, who has come down upon the

world to dissipate delusion; and surely it is he who, in kindness to me,

has thus manifested himself to me in all that you have said. To me, thus

suppliant, then, explain what is the best of all things; for thou art an

ocean overflowing with the waters of divine wisdom." The Brahmin replied

to the king, "You, again, ask me what is the best (Shreyas) of all things,

not what is the great goal (Paramaartha) of life; but there are many

things which are considered best, as well as those which are the great

ends (or truths) of life. To him who, by the worship of the gods, seeks

for wealth, prosperity, children or dominion, each of these is

respectively best. Best is rite or sacrifice, that is rewarded with

heavenly pleasures. Best is that which yields the best recompense,

although it be not solicited. Self-contemplation, ever practised by devout

ascetics, is to them the best. But the best of all is the identification

of soul with the Supreme spirit. Hundreds and thousands of conditions may

be called the best; but these are not the great and true ends of life.

Hear what those are. Wealth cannot be the true end of life, for it may be

relinquished through virtue, and its characteristic property is

expenditure for the gratification of desire. If a son were the final

truth, that would be equally applicable to a different source; for the son

that is to one the great end of life, becomes the father of another. Final

or supreme truth, therefore, would not exist in this world, as in all

these cases those objects which so denominated are the effects of causes,

and consequently are not finite. If the acquisition of sovereignty were

designated by the character of being the great end of all, then finite

ends would sometimes be, sometimes cease to be. If you suppose that the

objects to be effected by sacrificial rites, performed according to the

rules of the R^g, Yajur, and Saama Vedas, be the great end of life, attend

to what I have to say. Any effect which is produced through the causality

of earth partakes itself of clay; so any act performed by perishable

agents, such as fuel, clarified butter, and the Kusa grass, must itself be

transitory. The great end of life (or truth) is considered by the wise to

be eternal; but it would be transitory if it were accomplished through

transitory things. If you imagine that this great truth is the performance

of religious acts from which no recompense is sought, it is not so; for

such acts are the means of obtaining liberation, and the truth is the end,

not the means. Meditation on the self, again, is said to be for the sake

of supreme truth; but the object of this is to establish distinctions

(between soul and body), and the great truth of all is without

distinctions. Union of self with the supreme spirit is said to be the

great end of all, but this is false; for one substance cannot become

substantially another. Objects, then, which are considered most desirable,

are infinite. What the great end is, you shall, monarch, briefly learn

from me. It is soul : one (in all bodies), pervading, uniform, perfect,

pre-eminent over nature (Prakriti), exempt from birth, growth and decay;

omnipresent, made up of true knowledge, independent; and unconnected with

unrealities, with name, species and the rest, in time present, past or to

come. The knowledge that this spirit, which is essentially one, is in

one's own and in all other bodies, is the great end, or true wisdom, of

one who knows the unity and the true principles of things. As one

diffusive air, passing through the perforations of a flute, is

distinguished as the notes of the scale (Sharga and the rest), so the

nature of the great spirit is single, though its forms be manifold,

arising from the consequences of acts. When the difference of the

investing form as that of god or the rest, is destroyed, then there is no

distinction.

 

Book 2, Chapter 15

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Parasara continued, "Having terminated these remarks, the Brahmin repeated

to the silent and meditating prince a tale illustrative of the doctrines

of Unity. "Listen, prince, to what was formerly uttered by Ribhu,

imparting holy knowledge to the Brahmin Nidagha..."

 

[..]

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