Chapter 7 - The Life of Bharata

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Śrī Śuka said:

1. When Bharata, the great devotee of the venerable Lord, was by his volition ordained to protect the earth by Lord Ṛṣabha, he became fully engaged in complying with his will (viz. protection of the world). He married Pañcajanī, the daughter of Viśvarūpa.

2. Just as Ahaṃkāra (ego, the source of all bhūtas) creates the subtle elements (tanmātras), through her he begot five sons who were entirely like himself.

3. (They were:) Sumati, Rāṣṭrabhṛt, Sudarśana, Āvaraṇa and Dhūmraketu. It is after him that this continent (Varṣa) which was (erstwhile) called Ajanābha, came to be designated as Bhārata.

4. The Lord of the earth had a wide knowledge, and like his father and grandfather was devoted to his duties (as a king). Like them, with great (filial) love, he protected the subjects who were engaged in their respective duties.

5. He worshipped the venerable Lord who is of the form of Yajña^[1] and Kratu by performing punctually^[2] and with ardent faith, sacrifices, both big and small such as Agnihotra, Darśa, Pūrṇamāsa Cāturmāsya and those performed with the offering of a beast as well as with Soma sacrifices in their completely detailed forms as well as their modifications. Being properly authorised he got them performed through the four classes of sacrificial priests, viz., Hotā, Adhvaryu, Udgātā and Brahmā.

6. While different sacrifices were being performed wherein all the accessory rites and actions were being conducted with meticulous care (by Adhvaryus, with ghee, rice, puroḍāśa and other oblations in their hands for offering to the fire) Bharata (the sacrificer) mentally dedicated the entire Apūrva^[3] (the prospective transcendental effect) of the fruit of the sacrificial act which is designated as Dharma, to Lord Vāsudeva, the Lord of the sacrifices. He is the doer, as he is the director and controller of deities (lit. objects) of all the Mantras which are symbols of all the gods. In this way, he cleared the impurities (like love, hate) of his mind by his cleverness and wisdom (of dedicating the fruit of sacrifice to Lord). The sacrificer (Bharata) contemplated the gods who partook the offerings from the hands of the Adhvaryus, as resting on the various limbs of the Sacrificial deity (viz. Lord Vāsudeva).

7. In this way, in Bharata’s heart, thoroughly purified by such exemplary (faultless) performance of (sacrificial) actions, developed intense devotion which went on increasing daily with forceful ardour. The devotion was unto the Supreme Spirit (Brahman) who, within the inner space of Bharata’s heart, manifested himself in the form of the Supreme Man, Lord Vāsudeva who was distinguished with the characteristic Śrī Vatsa, the Kaustubha gem, a garland of forest flowers (Vanamālā), the discus (Sudarśana) and the mace (called Kaumodaki) and others. Lord Vāsudeva who stays steady (as if drawn in portrait) in the heart of his devotees, stood effulgent in Bharata’s mind (as well).

9. In this way he spent one thousand myriad (Ten million) years. Having understood that the time of exhaustion of the fund of his karmas (resulting in enjoyment of king- ship) had arrived, he proportionately divided the ancestral property and kingdom which was till then enjoyed by him, to his sons. Abandoning his home which was the abode of all kinds of wealth and prosperity, he retired as recluse to the hermitage of Pulaha.^[4]

10. They say that, out of affection and grace for his votaries who stay there (at Pulahāśrama), Lord Hari, verily even now manifests himself to his devotees in the form desired by them.

11. That eminently holy river called Cakranadī (the Gaṇḍak) hallows all the places in that hermitage with wheellike circular pebbles with navel-like dimples on both the sides.

12. It is indeed said that in a grove adjacent to Pulaha’s hermitage, he performed, all alone, the worship of the Lord with different kinds of flowers, tender leaves of various kinds, especially of the Tulasī-plant and with water, and offered to him (as naivedya) bulbous roots, roots and fruits. He ceased to have any desire for objects of senses and cultivated perfect tranquillity of the mind and attained to supreme bliss.

13. By such type of uninterrupted worship of the Supreme Man, his heart melted with the pressure of his increasing love for God and became slack in making any efforts (as if hypnotised); due to ecstatic joy, the hair stood on their end all over his body; his eyes became bedimmed with tears of joy which flowed profusely due to his love and solicitude (to realize the Lord). His consciousness and thought activity was drowned in the deep lakelike heart overflowing with supreme joy due to the increasing intensity of devotion caused by his constant contemplation of the reḍ-Iotus-like feet of his beloved Lord. And he forgot (even) the worship of the Lord that he was performing.

14. He had thus undertaken the sacred vow of propitiating the Lord. With the deer-skin for his clothing and with his mass of tawny, curly matted hair, wet on account of his ablution in the morning, noon and evening, Bharata appeared charming. He praised the glorious Lord, the golden (Self-effulgent) Supreme Man manifested in the orb of the rising Sun by means of Ṛgveḍic hymns addressed to the Sun, thus:

15.^[5] The light of the Sun-god (the Creator of the universe) which dispenses the fruit of actions, is transcendental to Prakṛti (lit. is beyond rajas, is purely Sāttvic unalloyed with rajas and tamas). It created this (phenomenal universe) by its will (power) only, and having entered it (as the antaryāmin—the Inner Controller), it protects, by its intellectual capacity, the jīva who seeksits help. We resort to that light which actuates our intellect.^[6]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

A sacrifice conducted without the use of Yūpa or a sacrificial post is Yajña and that with the use of a sacrificial post is a Kratu—Bhāvāratha Dīpikā

[2]:

i.e. at the proper time in the morning, at noon and in the evening.

[3]:

Apūrva: (A) Lit. Something new, not known before. It is ‘a Force set in motion by the action of sacrifice, this Force being the Direct Instrument whereby, sooner or later, the Action brings about the Result’ (G.N. Jha—Pūrva Mīmāṃsā in its Sources, p. 231). Jha discusses the details of this (Apūrva) theory and the differences between the Prābhākara and Bhāṭṭa Schools of the Mīmāṃsā (ibid., pp. 226-35).

(B). Jhalkikar defines Apūrva as the special potency developed by performance of sacrifice and leading to heaven. (yāgādijanyaḥ svargādi- janakaḥ kaścana-guṇa-viśeṣaḥ / Nyāyakośa, p. 48-49). He further states that Prārabdha-karma of Vedāntins, dharmādhārma of the Nyāya Schools, adṛṣṭa of the Vaiśeṣikas and Puṇya and Pāpa of followers of Purāṇas are the same as apūrva. Śaṅkara criticises this theory that it is noil-spiritual and if God is said to act according to apūrva, it becomes identical with the Vedāntic view that God acts with reference to the law of Karma (Śārīra Bhāṣya 3.2.41).

[4]:

Pulahāśrama—Bhāvāratha Dīpikā, Siddhāntapradīpa, Bālaprabodhini call it Harikṣetra, while Bhāgavata Candrikā,Padaratnāvalī, Bhaktamanorañjanī identify it with Śālagrāma (Śāligrāma). N. L. De locates it somewhere near the source of the Gaṇḍaka. However, he points out that (Jaḍa) Bharata’s hermitage was situated on the Kakaveni river on the north of Redigrama and that of Pulaha in the latter village.—GDAMI. 174.

The place is confirmed by Padma P. Pātālakhaṇḍa, Ch. 78 and Brahma Vaivarta, P. 2.13.

[5]:

(i) Bhāgavata Candrikā: We take shelter with the brilliantly luminous form of god Viṣṇu—Viṣṇu who is beyond the sphere of Prakṛti and whose knowledge is ever manifesting, eternal and limitless. He created this universe by His Will (-power). He entered again his own creation, along with Jīva, charged with his power (or it is by his Will-power and knowledge that he entered the universe consisting of the sentients and insentients). He sees (protects) the Jīva who hankers after the objects of senses and who enjoys the fruits of his action by his intelligence leading to the miseries of the cycle of births and deaths.

(ii) Padaratnāvalī: You transcend (i.e. are superior to and beyond) Prakṛti or are free from rajas. You are the maker of the world. You have perfect knowledge of everything. Being established by the Vedas, you are the offspring of the Vedas. The Lord created this universe by his mental power. By his power, he entered the universe and stayed there as the controller. You put an end to miseries. You are the Lord of all jīvas who are full of cravings (of all kinds). We eulogize you.

(iii) Siddhāntapradīpa: This verse elucidates the meaning of Gāyatrī. The main idea is: “Lord Vāsudeva is the creator of the universe. To his brilliantly shilling golden form, we take shelter.”

(iv) Bālaprabodhini: This verse brings out the following characteristics of the Lord:

(1) The creator of the universe; (2) the protector of the world; (3) Being a witness—aloof and above the world; (4) Being the inner controller as follows:

(1) His lustre being identical with the Lord’s form created the universe with his mental power. (2) From him does the wealth i. e. the fruit of Karmas, issue. (3) Having re-entered the universe, he, by his cit-śakti (intellectual capacity) sees the Jīva hankering after pleasures. (4) He motivates the intellect, organs of senses and vital airs among beings.

[6]:

Cf. also:

tat savitur vareṇyam bhargo devaṣya dhīmahī /
dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt / Ṛg Veda Saṃhitā. 3.62.10.