Shrimad Bhagavata Mahapurana
Synopsis of the Thirty Sixth Session
Bhagavata Chaturth Skanda (Book Five)
Chapter 7 to 9
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Story
Rishabh dev crowned Bharat the King and guided all his sons to support him in ruling the kingdom. When Bharat ruled the kingdom it is said that every citizen was selfless and the entire globe was a safe heaven. His rule was so divine that, the subdivision of Jambudwipa, known as Ajanabha, was renamed Bharat Varsa (Varsa meaning subdivision). Bharat Varsa is the name of our country, which is currently called India or at times Hindustan.
During his reign he conduced many Yagnas and offered even the rewards, which was expected by all the sacrifices to the Lord of the Sacrifices. He could see that there was no two, there was only one in the offering, the person offering and that God (various deities including Indra) who was accepting. Such elevated was King Bharat’s state of being.
He was married to Pancajani and had 5 sons, each as divine as Bharat himself. King Bharat realised that 10 million years had gone by and now he must have exhausted all the good merits. Not only this, he also saw that all his sons were able and ready to shoulder his responsibility. Hence, he just like all his ancestors tore down the shackles of the material world, and went on to the next Ashram - Vanaprasth Ashrama.
King Bharat went near the hermitage of Sage Pulaha, situated at the banks of Gandaki, also knows as the Salagramaksetra, a place where Shri Hari reveals himself in his true devotees desired form even today. He made a small tattered hut for himself and immersed in deep Tapa (austerities) with one pointed focus - The Lord. He was focused and discipled and could think of nothing other than the Lord with every breath.
One morning while he was engaged in his daily Tapa, he saw a Doe which had by chance strayed from its herd, drinking water, when a loud roar of the lion scared her into taking a leap from one bank to another, in the course of the leap, its womb gave way and the baby deer feel into the stream of water. The doe reached the other side but died immediately due to fear and fatigue.
Bharat immediately jumped to rescue the deer and nursed it back to health. In the process, he developed a strong attachment towards the deer and spend most of his time tending and waiting on the deer. When the deer went into the jungle, Bharat would spend time worried waiting for it to return safely. His entire being was immersed in the thought of the deer, leaving no place for anything else.
Soon all his austerities and spiritual practices were forgotten and the Great King Bharat who was able to snap in a minute the ties with his kith and kin, got entangled in attachment with this deer. Time went by and the time for his death arrived, even then all he could think of was this deer standing next to him like a son, shedding tears and worrying about what would happen to the deer after he died, he left his body, without turning his mind towards God.
Hence, he was born as a deer in his next birth, and luckily because of his love for the Lord, his precious lives memories did not leave him. He repented and left his mother, the doe and his home in the Kalanjara forest and ones again went to sage Pulastya and Pulaha’s ashram, there keeping away from all, yet listening to the divine Satsang, he waiting for the time to leave this animal body, which was unfit for meditation. He would stand in the water half submerged, this posture knowns as Ardhajala, which is said to have a potential to give a higher birth, if in this posture at the time of death.
When the time came, he left the Deer Body and was born in the family of a great Brahmin sage, who was a decedent of sage Angira. This Brahim...
