STORIES FROM SRIMAD BHAGAVATAM - 4: JADABHARATA (PART 1)

In the days gone by, there was a good king named Nabhi. His queen was Merudevi. As they had no children, they prayed to Maha Vishnu. Their worship was pure-hearted. Pleased with their devotion, the Lord appeared before them and promised to be born as their son.

In due course, a son was born to Merudevi. The happy parents named him Rishabha. Rishabha (or Rishabhadeva), being an Avatara of Maha Vishnu Himself, was perfect and had full control over his senses. He had a majestic and strong personality.

When Rishabhadeva came of age, king Nabhi appointed him as the next king and, along with Merudevi, retired to Badarikashrama (Badrinath) to spend his remaining days in the worship of the Lord.

Rishhabhadeva was a royal sage. His wife was Jayanti. They had a hundred sons, of whom the eldest was named Bharata. Like his father, Bharata too was a perfect Yogi. It is after him that our land gets its name of Bharatavarsha.

Bharata and his brothers grew up to be young men of great virtue. One day, Rishabhadeva instructed his sons on path to Moksha. He then installed Bharata on the throne and left the kingdom.

Like his father Rishabhadeva and his grandfather king Nabhi, Bharata too was devoted to his duty. He ruled the kingdom justly and kindly and was loved by the people. Bharata’s wife was queen Panchajani. They had five sons. Bharata regularly worshipped the Lord through various Yagnas (sacrifices) prescribed in the Shastras (scriptures).

After thus ruling the kingdom adhering to Dharma and protecting his people for many years – as was the custom in those days – king Bharata handed over the kingdom to his sons and retired to the forest to lead a life of meditation and worship. He went a place called Salagramakshetra on the banks of the river Gandaki (in today’s Nepal). This river is famous for the Salagrama Silas (sacred Salagrama stones) which are worshipped as Lord Vishnu.

Bharata started living a life of solitude and prayer on the banks of the Gandaki. One day, while he was seated in prayer on the river bank, he saw a doe (female deer) come to the river to drink water. As it was drinking, it heard the loud roar of a lion. The timid doe was terrified. Overcome with fear, it tried to leap across the river.

Now, the doe was carrying an unborn young one it its womb. When it leapt in fear, the little fawn was discharged from the mother’s womb and fell into the water. The mother soon dropped down from fear and exhaustion and soon died.

Bharata, who had been watching, was moved with pity for the little motherless fawn. He saved it from the water and took it to his hermitage. He started caring for it like his own child. He would feed it, protect it, fondle it and carry it around. Day after day, his attachment to the little fawn grew. He treated it like his own child. He could think of nothing but his playful little pet all the time.

Gradually, Bharata started neglecting his prayers and worship. The king who had become a hermit in the forest to practice devotion and meditation, and attain spiritual enlightenment, had now forgotten all about this and spent all his time tending to the fawn and playing with it.

When the hour of Bharata’s death arrived, due to constant remembrance of the little deer during his lifetime, he left his body with the thoughts of the deer in his mind. Our scriptures say that our next life is determined by the thought that is uppermost in our mind during our last moments. Naturally, it is the thought that is in our mind most of the time during our lifetime that is most likely to be our last thought too.

Bharata, who had been thinking of nothing but the deer for quite some time, had the same thoughts (of the deer) during his last moments too. As a consequence, he was born as a deer in his next birth. However, the memory of his previous birth did not leave him.

The deer – that had been Bharata in its previous life – repented that, despite shaking off all attachments (of kingdom, sons, wealth and so on) and going to the forest with the intention of meditating on Lord Vaasudeva, he had strayed from his path due to his attachment to a deer. Bharata (now the deer) returned to the hermitage at Salagramakshetra and lived there in the midst of sages, awaiting the end of his deer-life. When the time of death came, he gave up his body in the sacred Gandaki river.

This, however, was not Bharata’s last birth. After the death of the deer, he was born as the son of a holy Brahmana. The boy, by the Lord’s grace, remembered his previous two births. He recalled how he had failed to get liberation from Samsara (the cycle of birth and death) in his previous birth due to attachment. He was afraid that, in this birth too, if he fell prey to attachment, he would have a similar fall. To avoid attachment, he pretended to the world to be a dull and stupid fellow. With his mind, he firmly clasped the Lord’s lotus-feet. 

(TO BE CONTINUED...)

This story is based on Srimad Bhagavatam Book 5, Chapters 3 to 14.