A Victim of affection

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Humble Pranams at the divine lotus feet Of our beloved Bhagawan, Continued..................... One day as Bharata was meditating,he began,as usual,to think of the deer instead of the LORD, breaking his concentration,he glanced around to see where the deer was,and when he could not discover it,his mind became

agitated,like that of a miser who has lost his money.He got up and searched the area around his ashrama,but the deer was no where to be found. Bharata thought,"when will my deer return ?Is it safe from tigers and other animals?When shall I again see itwandering in my garden,eating the soft green grasses?" As the day wore on and the deer still did not return,Bharat became overwhelmed with anxiety. "Has my deer eaten by a wolf or a dog?Has it been attacked by a heard of wild boars,or by a tiger who travels alone? The sun is now setting,and the poor animal who has trusted me since its mother died has not yet returned." He remembered how the deer would play with him,touching him with the points of its soft,fuzzy horns.He remembered how he would sometimes push the deer away from him,pretending to be annoyed with it for disturbing his

worship or meditation,and how it would then immediately become fearful and sit down motionless a short distance away. "My deer is exactly like a little prince.Oh, when will he again pacify my wounded heart?" Unable to restrain himself,Bharata set out after the deer,following its tiny hoof printsin the moonlight.In his madness,he began to talk to himself:"This creature was so dear to me that I feel as though I have lost my own son.Due to the burning fever of seperation,I feel as if I were in teh middle of a blazing forest fire.My heart is now blazing with distress." While frantically searching for the lost deer along the dangerous forest paths,Bharata suddenly fell and was fatally injured.Lying there at the point of DEATH,he saw that his deer had suddenly appeared and was sitting at his side,watching oveer him just like a loving son. Thus at the moment of his death,the

King's mind was focused completely on the deer.In Bhagawad Gita we learn,"What ever state of being one remembers when he quits his body,That state he will attain without fail". King Bharata Becomes a Deer In his next life,King Bharata entered the body of a deer.Most Living entities are not able to remember their past lives,but becuase of the spiritual progress the King had made in his previous incarnation,he could even though in the body of a deer,understand the cause of his taking birth in that body.He began to lament"What a fool I was!I have fallen from the path of self realization.I gave up my family and kingdom and wen to a solitary holy place in the forest to meditate,where I always contemplated the lord of the universe.But due to my foolishness,I let my mind become attatched to - of all the things - a deer,and now I have justly received such a

body.No one is to blame but MYSELF." But even as a deer,Bharata,having learned valuable lesson,was able to continuehis progress in self realization.He beame ditatched from all material desires.He no longer cared for the succulent green grasses,nor did he give a thought to how long his antlers would grow.Similarly,he gave up the company of all deer,male and fema;le alike,leaving his mother in the Kaalanjara mountains,where he had been born. He returned to Pulaha Ashrama,the very palce where he had practiced meditation in his previous life.But this time he was caerful never to forget the Supreme Personality of GODHEAD.Staying near the hermitages of the great saints and sages,and avoiding all contact with materialists,he lived very simply,eating only hard,dry leaves. When the time of death came and Bharata was leaving the body of the deer,he loudly uttered the following prayer

:"The supreme personality of God head is the source of all knowledge,the controller of the entire creation,and the supreme soul with in the heart of every living being.He is beautiful and attractive.I am quitting this body offerring obeisances unto him and hoping that I may perpetually engage in his transcedental loving service." To be continued........... Jai Sai Ram