Sb 5.14.46

[AncientMariner]

SB 5.14.46 Devotees interested in hearing and chanting [śravaṇaḿ kīrtanam] regularly discuss the pure characteristics of Bharata Mahārāja and praise his activities. If one submissively hears and chants about the all-auspicious Mahārāja Bharata, one's life span and material opulences certainly increase. One can become very famous and easily attain promotion to the heavenly planets, or attain liberation by merging into the existence of the Lord. Whatever one desires can be attained simply by hearing, chanting and glorifying the activities of Mahārāja Bharata. In this way, one can fulfill all his material and spiritual desires. One does not have to ask anyone else for these things, for simply by studying the life of Mahārāja Bharata, one can attain all desirable things.

[bolo_hare_krsna]

accha

[theist]

Nice verse. What are some characteristics of Maharaja Bharata that we can discuss?

[theist]

I just saw your post on the other thread about Jada Bharata. Why not move it to this thread (copy/paste) for continuities sake.

[Guest guest]

Fort Lauderdale, Florida: May 6, 2006

Tridandisvami Sri Srimad Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja:

 

Who Will Save Us?

There are so many teachings in Maharaja Bharata's life. After half of his life, which was 50,000 years, he realized that this world is illusory and that there is no real happiness here. One should not waste time. One should at once search for a bona fide Guru and begin hari-bhajana.

 

Bharata Maharaja left his house. He was a very great king of Bharata-varsa. He had no attachments. He left the attachment of his wife, children, kingdom and properties, and went to the forest. He was doing good bhajana there, but then he became very attached to a deer. He was so attached that when the deer met a group of other deer and ran away into the forest with them, he became maddened. He was absorbed in remembering that deer, thinking, "Where is my deer? What will happen to him? Perhaps a tiger or lion will eat him." While he was thinking in this way, one night death came, and in his next life he became a deer.

 

What is the purport? Bharata Maharaja remembered a deer at the time of death and he became a deer. Similarly, if at that time we remember Krsna and our svajatiya asraya snigda, *[see endnote 1] a Vrajavasi like the gopis or Sri Rupa Manjari, then we must become a gopi. We must. If Bharata Maharaja became a deer by remembering a deer at the time of death, why would this principle not apply to others? Our Gosvamis, especially Srila Rupa Gosvami, have given the opportunity for meditation on Sri Sri Radha-Krsna asta-kaliya-lila. If you will remember this for your entire life, at the time of death we will become a gopi under the guidance of Sri Rupa Manjari.

 

What are we doing now? Our life is mostly wasted in earning money. What will money do? Will it give peace and happiness in life? Not at all. Not at all. Bharata was attached to a deer and became a deer. Similarly, if someone is attached to a girlfriend, what will happen? He must become a lady in his next life and he will be attached to men. We should learn from this. Although Bharata left all attachments and worldly desires, still, later on he became attached to a young deer. He had attained bhava (the sprout of love of God) so only three lives were lost. But what about us? We have all kinds of anarthas, and even nistha (steadiness in bhakti) and ruci (taste in bhakti) have not come. Who will save us?

 

It is stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam:

 

rahuganaitat tapasa na yati

na cejyaya nirvapanad grhad va

na cchandasa naiva jalagni-suryair

vina mahat-pada-rajo-’bhisekam

 

[My dear King Rahugana, unless one has the opportunity to smear his entire body with the dust of the lotus feet of great devotees, one cannot realize the Absolute Truth. One cannot realize the Absolute Truth simply by observing celibacy , strictly following the rules and regulations of householder life, leaving home as a vanaprastha, accepting sannyasa, or undergoing severe penances in winter by keeping oneself submerged in water or surrounding oneself in summer by fire and the scorching heat of the sun. There are many other processes to understand the Absolute Truth, but the Absolute Truth is only revealed to one who has attained the mercy of a great devotee. (Srimad-bhagavatam 5.12.12)]

 

Mahat-pada-rajo-‘bhisekam. The Mahat (great, self-realized devotee) is Sri Gurudeva,

Srila Rupa Gosvami and others like them. They are our saviors. If we think, "I cannot save myself, so my Gurudeva and Vaisnavas will save me," then we can be protected. Otherwise, our life will be ruined. Those who want krsna-prema must always remember this – no one else can save us.

 

The attachment of men for ladies and ladies' attachment to men are the same. Be careful. If you are in married life, this is okay. Stay with your husband and family, and continue doing bhajana. If you are a brahmacari or sannyasi, be very careful; otherwise maya will come in a moment and eat you. We should always remember this.

 

There is still time. What ever mistakes we have made, we should try to correct. We don’t know when death will come. Death may come in a moment.

 

In this way, there are so many teachings in the life of Bharata Maharaja, and we should try to follow them.

 

Now, we will discuss the life and character of Sri Prahlada Maharaja. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura read Prahlada-carita 108 times. Prahlada Maharaja was a pure bhakta, and we should all follow him.

 

He was very tolerant.

 

trnad api sunicena

taror iva sahisnuna

amanina mana-dena

kirtaniyah sada harih

 

[“One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor yet is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord.” (Sri Siksastakam, verse 3)]

 

If you want to be a Vaisnava, you will have to follow the life example of Prahlada Maharaja. Try to listen and follow. Try not to be attached to anyone. Be attached to Sri Sri Radha-Krsna and Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

 

[For the remainder of the class Srila Narayana Maharaja requested Sripad Damodara Maharaja, Sripad Padmanabha Maharaja and then Sripad Madhava Maharaja to tell about Prahlada Maharaja's life and teachings.]

 

[*Endnote 1 – To associate with saintly devotees who are more advanced than oneself, who are of the same disposition (sajatiya), who taste the meaning of rasa (rasika) and who are affectionate (snigdha), is what is signified by this [61st] limb of bhakti…A sadhaka should take association of those devotees who are of the same spiritual disposition. In other words one should associate with those devotees who worship the same particular form of the Lord and who possess the same internal spiritual mood as oneself. (taken from Srila Narayana Maharaja's commentary of Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu-bindu p.99]

[AncientMariner]

"Jaḍa Bharata behaved before his father like a fool, despite his father's adequately instructing him in Vedic knowledge. He behaved in that way so that his father would know that he was unfit for instruction and would abandon the attempt to instruct him further. He would behave in a completely opposite way. Although instructed to wash his hands after evacuating, he would wash them before. Nonetheless, his father wanted to give him Vedic instructions during the spring and summer. He tried to teach him the Gāyatrī mantra along with oḿkāra and vyāhṛti, but after four months, his father still was not successful in instructing him." SB 5.9.5

 

"The brāhmaṇa father of Jaḍa Bharata considered his son his heart and soul, and therefore he was very much attached to him. He thought it wise to educate his son properly, and being absorbed in this unsuccessful endeavor, he tried to teach his son the rules and regulations of brahmacarya — including the execution of the Vedic vows, cleanliness, study of the Vedas, the regulative methods, service to the spiritual master and the method of offering a fire sacrifice. He tried his best to teach his son in this way, but all his endeavors failed. In his heart he hoped that his son would be a learned scholar, but all his attempts were unsuccessful. Like everyone, this brāhmaṇa was attached to his home, and he had forgotten that someday he would die. Death, however, was not forgetful. At the proper time, death appeared and took him away." SB 5.9.6

 

"Degraded men are actually no better than animals. The only difference is that animals have four legs and such men have only two. These two-legged, animalistic men used to call Jaḍa Bharata mad, dull, deaf and dumb. They mistreated him, and Jaḍa Bharata behaved for them like a madman who was deaf, blind or dull. He did not protest or try to convince them that he was not so. If others wanted him to do something, he acted according to their desires. Whatever food he could acquire by begging or by wages, and whatever came of its own accord — be it a small quantity, palatable, stale or tasteless — he would accept and eat. He never ate anything for sense gratification because he was already liberated from the bodily conception, which induces one to accept palatable or unpalatable food. He was full in the transcendental consciousness of devotional service, and therefore he was unaffected by the dualities arising from the bodily conception. Actually his body was as strong as a bull's, and his limbs were very muscular. He didn't care for winter or summer, wind or rain, and he never covered his body at any time. He lay on the ground, and never smeared oil on his body or took a bath. Because his body was dirty, his spiritual effulgence and knowledge were covered, just as the splendor of a valuable gem is covered by dirt. He only wore a dirty loincloth and his sacred thread, which was blackish. Understanding that he was born in a brāhmaṇa family, people would call him a brahma-bandhu and other names. Being thus insulted and neglected by materialistic people, he wandered here and there." SB 5.9.9-10