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Bharata, the king who was reborn as a deer
Bharata Maharaja (later Jada Bharata) was the eldest son of Rsabhadeva. After Rsabhadeva, when Bharat Maharaja ruled the entire globe he followed the orders of his father and married Pañcajani, the daughter of Visvarupa. He was a very dignified ruler. He used to perform yajn~a and offered the fruits to Sri Krsna. He enjoyed his paternal property for one thousand times ten thousand years and then he retired and he divided this property among his sons and left for Pulahasrama. Bharata Maharaja lived alone in the asrama and felt satisfaction and was situated in devotional service.
One day, a deer came to drink water nearby where Bharata Maharaja was meditating. At the same moment, a lion roared at a little distance off. The deer was so terrified that she, without satisfying her thirst, made a big jump to cross the river. The deer was carrying a fetus in her womb. This extreme exertion and sudden fright made her give birth to a little fawn, thereafter she fell dead. The fawn fell into the water and was flowing rapidly. Seeing this he felt great compassion and lifted the infant deer from the waves and brought it to his asrama.
Gradually Maharaja Bharata became very affectionate toward the deer. He began to raise it and maintain it by giving it grass. He was always careful to protect it from the attacks of tigers and other animals. He always tried to keep it in a comfortable condition. Being attached to raising the deer, Maharaja Bharata forgot the rules and regulations for the advancement of spiritual life, and he gradually forgot to worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead. After a few days, he forgot everything about his spiritual advancement.
Some years passed in this way and one day the king died. At the time of death, the King saw that the deer was sitting by his side, exactly like his own son, and was lamenting his death. The mind of the King was absorbed in the body of the deer, and consequently — like those bereft of Krsna consciousness — he left the world, the deer, and his material body and acquired the body of a deer. Although he lost his human body and received the body of a deer, he did not forget the incidents of his past life. This deer was born Jatismara, and remembered his past birth, though he was living in an animal body. He always left his companions and was instinctively drawn to graze near hermitages where oblations were offered and the Upanisads were preached. In deer life also, he did Ekadashi fast.
After the usual years of a deer's life had been spent, he died and was next born as the youngest son in a very pure brahmana family. In that life also, he remembered all his past, and even in his childhood was determined no more to get entangled in the good and evil of life. The child, as it grew up, was strong and healthy, but would not speak a word, and lived as one inert and insane, for fear of getting mixed up with worldly affairs, and for this reason, he was called Jada Bharata.
Over time, the father died, and the sons divided the property among themselves; thinking that the youngest was a dumb, good-for-nothing man, they seized his share also. They gave him decayed food to eat. The wives of the brothers were often very harsh to him, putting him to do all the hard work. But he showed neither vexation nor fear, and neither did he speak a word. Once, his brothers asked him to look after the field. He did not stop the cows from grazing in the field. He never stopped cows from grazing.
At this time, being desirous of obtaining a son, a leader of dacoits who came from a sudra family wanted to worship the goddess Bhadra Kali by offering her in sacrifice a dull man, who is considered no better than an animal. The leader of the dacoits captured a man-animal for sacrifice, but he escaped, and the leader ordered his followers to find him. They ran in different directions but could not find him. Wandering here and there in the middle of the night, covered by dense darkness, they came to a paddy field where they saw the Jada Bharata, who was sitting in an elevated place guarding the field against the attacks of deer and wild pigs. The followers and servants of the dacoit chief considered Jada Bharata to possess qualities quite suitable for a man-animal, and they decided that he was a perfect choice for sacrifice. Their faces bright with happiness, they bound him with ropes and brought him to the temple of the goddess Kali.
Bharata was bathed, decorated with flowers, and fed with sumptuous food. Bharata took food peacefully. Later he was taken inside the temple where Bharata saluted Mata and sat down peacefully. At this time, one of the thieves, acting as the chief priest, was ready to offer the blood of Jada Bharata, to the goddess Kali to drink as a liquor. He therefore took up a very fearsome sword, which was very sharp, and, consecrating it by the mantra of Bhadra Kali, raised it to kill Jada Bharata. But suddenly the deity's body burst asunder, and the goddess Kali personally emerged from it in a body with an intense and intolerable effulgence. Intolerant of the offense committed she immediately leaped violently from the altar and decapitated all the rogues and thieves with the very sword with which they had intended to kill Jada Bharata.
One day, when the wives of the brothers had treated him with more than usual unkindness, Jada Bharata went out of the house, seated himself under the shadow of a tree, and rested there. At that moment, the king of the country called Rahugana was passing by, carried in a palanquin on the shoulders of bearers. He was going to Kapil Muni hermitage to gain insight into the true principles of spiritual philosophy. One of the bearers had unexpectedly fallen ill, and so his attendants were looking about for a man to replace him. They came upon Bharata seated under a tree; and seeing he was a strong young man, they asked him if he would take the place of the sick man in bearing the king's palanquin. But Bharata did not reply. Seeing that he was so able-bodied, the king's servants caught hold of him and placed the pole on his shoulders.
The palanquin was being carried by Jada Bharata, but he was doing it erratically due to his strong sense of nonviolence. He was checking every three feet ahead of him to make sure he wasn't stepping on any ants. As a result, he couldn't keep up with the other carriers, causing the palanquin to shake. King Rahugana noticed this and asked the carriers why they were carrying the palanquin unevenly. He told them to carry it properly. The carriers were afraid of punishment and explained that they were not negligent, but Jada Bharata couldn't make the pace with them, making it difficult to carry the palanquin.
The king criticized Jada Bharata with sarcastic words, yet despite being criticized, he was unaffected by this sarcastic criticism from the King. Without saying anything, he continued carrying the palanquin as before. Thereafter, when the King saw that his palanquin was still being shaken by the carriers, he became very angry and said: "You rascal, what are you doing? Are you dead despite the life within your body? Do you not know that I am your master? You are disregarding me and are not carrying out my order. For this disobedience, I shall now punish you just as Yamaraja, the superintendent of death, punishes sinful people. I shall give you proper treatment so you will come to your senses and do the correct thing."
Jada Bharata didn't care about the insult he received. He thought that if the king approached Kapil Muni with ego, he wouldn't receive spiritual knowledge. Therefore, Bharata laid down the pole of the palanquin and spoke up for the first time in his life. He said, "My dear King, your words of chastisement are true, but the body is serving as a carrier, and the load it carries does not belong to me because I am the spirit soul. Your statements contradict each other because I am not the carrier of the palanquin - the body is."
"My dear King, you have unnecessarily accused me of being dead though alive. In this regard, I can only say that this is the case everywhere because everything material has its beginning and end. As far as your thinking that you are the king and master and are thus trying to order me, this is also incorrect because these positions are temporary. Today you are a king and I am your servant, but tomorrow the position may be changed, and you may be my servant and I your master. These are temporary circumstances created by providence dear King, you have said, "You rascal, you dull, crazy fellow! I am going to chastise you, and then you will come to your senses." In this regard, let me say that although I live like a dull, deaf and dumb man, I am a self-realized person. What will you gain by punishing me? If your calculation is true and I am a madman, your punishment will be like beating a dead horse. There will be no effect. When a madman is punished, he is not cured of his madness."
King Rahugana realized that his arrogance had caused him to disrespect Jada Bharata, a great brahmana. He was humbled and immediately prostrated himself on the ground with his head at Jada Bharata's feet, and apologized for his insulting behavior.
He was curious about Jada Bharata's identity and asked him if he was a learned brahmana and saintly person. He noticed that Jada Bharata was wearing a sacred thread and wondered if he was one of the exalted, liberated saints like Dattatreya and other highly advanced, learned scholars. The king also asked Jada Bharata whose disciple he was, where he lived, and why he had come to that place. He wanted to know if Jada Bharata's mission was to do good for them.
The king was amazed at Jada Bharata's spiritual knowledge and wondered why he appeared to be moving in a world so hidden and unknown to others. He acknowledged that Jada Bharata was fully absorbed in the thought of the Supreme and was unlimitedly advanced in spiritual knowledge.
The king then asked Jada Bharata to clarify his teachings, as he was having trouble understanding them. Jada Bharata had been pretending to be deaf and dumb. But King Rahugana after realizing his self-realized position, sought enlightenment from Jada Bharata and asked for guidance on how to advance in spiritual life.
Jada Bharata instructed on the science of indriya, manas, buddhi, prana, and jivatma. After receiving lessons from the great devotee Jada Bharata, King Rahugana became completely aware of the constitutional position of the soul. He thus gave up the bodily conception completely and then Jada Bharata who again became quiet and calm like an ocean left the place and began to wander all over the earth, just as before.
Whatever one remembers upon giving up the body at the time of death, one attains that state, being always absorbed in such contemplation. (Bhagavad Gita 8:6)
Bharat Maharaja developed an attachment to deer and reincarnated as a deer in the next life. But devotion to the Supreme Lord never vanished and continued in successive lives and therefore he could remember about it in the body of deer as well.
(From Srimad-Bhagvatam, Canto 5, Chapter 7-13)
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