Story of Jada Bharata
यदा समस्तदेहेषु पुमानेको व्यवस्थितः
तदा हि को भवान् सोऽहमित्येदत्विफलं वचः
We ask, what is your name? Who are you? 'My name is so and so, I am so and so.' Is that correct? When Sri Hari himself has permeated all bodies, when he himself is present in all bodies, is it right to say 'I am so and so', 'My name is so and so'? — says Vishnu Purana.
सितनीलादिभेदेन यथैकं दृश्यते नभः
भ्रान्तदृष्टिभिरात्मापि तथैकः सन्पृथक् पृथक्
एकः समस्तं यदिहास्ति किंचित्तदच्युतो नास्ति परं ततोऽन्यत्
सोऽहं स च त्वं स च सर्वमेतदात्मस्वरूपं त्यज भेदमोहम्
इतीरितस्तेन स राजवर्यस्तत्याज भेदं परमार्थदृष्टिः
For someone living in the mountains, the sky is white because it is mostly cloudy there. For someone in the plains, the sky is blue. It is the same sky in the mountains as well as in the plains. The difference is only where you are looking at it from. In the mountains, it is seen through a filter and appears white. In the plains, there is no such filter and the sky is blue. It is a matter of perception.
All this is Achyuta alone. There is nothing else. To say 'I am so and so, you are so and so, and he is so and so' – this differentiation into 'you and me', 'this and that' – this is an illusion. Leave it behind.
These are the words of Jada Bharata to King Rahugana.
King Bharata was the son of Rishabhadeva, one of the amshavataras of Mahavishnu. He was a very mighty and righteous king. When the time for him to retire came, he handed over the kingdom to his sons and took up vanaprastha. In the forest, he spent most of his time worshiping Sri Hari. He was a staunch devotee of Bhagavan.
Once, he was engaged in his sandhyavandanam by the side of the river. A pregnant deer came there to drink water. As it stepped inside the river and was drinking water, there came the deafening roar of a lion. The deer, in a jolt of fear, jumped out of the water and ran away. In that panic, it had delivered the cub, and it started to float away in the water. Bharata saved the cub. He felt pity for it and started taking care of it.
As days went by, he became more and more attached to the cub – feeding it, protecting it from beasts, playing with it all the time. His spiritual practices started falling. He stopped all his penance and was engaged in taking care of the cub. He thought this was a duty entrusted to him by nature and delivering it would be the purpose of his life.
You know, this is how you get carried away. Bharata himself was a highly evolved person. He had performed hundreds of yajnas. Understood and performed his duties as a king, as a husband, and as a father. He came to the forest to spend the rest of his life toward moksha, salvation, but see where he ended up. He stopped his spiritual practices and got engrossed in taking care of a deer cub. He got attached to life. That is the power of maya.
Years passed. Bharata was on his deathbed and the deer was by his side, looking painfully at him. Bharata became very anxious and worried about the deer. What will happen after he is gone? The beasts are going to kill the deer. His mind was filled with concern for the deer.
At your last breath, whatever is there in the mind – that is what you will be in the next birth. If a man thinks, 'Oh, look at my body, I am so sick, it is so pitiful' – then that is what he will be born as: a sick person. If at the time of death he contemplates, 'I am thankful to the Almighty for whatever he has given me in this life, I am happy and contented, I have discharged my duties, I have lived my full life' – then even in the next birth he will be a happy, contented person.
Now, Bharata’s mind was filled with compassion and concern for the deer. In the next birth, he took birth as a deer. Due to all the spiritual practices he had undertaken in the previous birth, he could remember what took place in that birth. So the deer went and started living in an ashram in the company of sages. There also, he learned a lot of things and became a Vedanti.
English
Vishnu Sahasranama
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