The Story of Jadabharata

It only takes a single thought to keep you from freedom. Even a single thought will stop you. Long ago there was a great king. His name was Bharata, from which we get the name of our country, “Bharata Desh,” the land of the descendants of King Bharata.

The king left his palace and kingdom and all his wealth and comforts and retired to the forest. He practiced tapas, severe penance, and lived very simply.

One day he found a baby deer. Its mother was pregnant and somebody shot her. The mother died and the baby slipped out. The king was very compassionate. He brought the fawn to his hut. He washed it and fed it milk. It grew up and was very attached to him. He began to think about it more and more. Eventually he was fondling the deer and meditating with it in his lap. The deer, too,was very comfortable and happy. She would rub his body with her back when he was meditating. She would follow him when he went to the river. In this way he became very much attached to the deer.

 Finally, the time came for this king-turned-sannyasin to depart. He was dying and there was only one thought in his mind. “My deer! My deer! What will become of my deer? Will she be devoured by tigers or wolves? Will she starve to death? Oh, my deer! My deer!”

This was his last thought and desire. It was enough to cause him to be reborn as a deer in his next life.

The last thought is very important. The thought with which you leave the body will determine your next birth.

This man had left his kingdom, queens, sons, ministers, treasure, gold and diamonds, and come all the way to the forest to find freedom. And look here! This one desire caused him not only to fail, but to be reborn as a deer. He became a deer due to his last thought, but what about all his penance? That, too, must be taken into account in the next life. His accumulated merit caused him to be reborn in a rishi’s ashram.

This deer knows his previous life. He knows that he had been a king and ascetic, and that his attachment to a deer is the reason for his present birth and form. Therefore, he does not mix with his herd. He sits around the rishis all day, listening to the shastras and upanishads. He listens to the satsang discourses also. Since he is always sitting there, the rishis feed him. He takes food once daily along with them. And keeps quiet. That’s all. No one knows that he had been the famous King Bharata. Finally, he dies at the full span of a deer’s life.

When he is again reborn, he takes birth in a holy family and in good circumstances. Because of the wisdom acquired through his mistake in his last human birth, he has no more desires. So it was enough for him to be reborn in a human body to become enlightened. He was enlightened from the moment of his birth.

So, knowing his previous mistake, he will not speak to anyone. He will not do anything. Everyone thinks he is stupid like a log of wood. They call him “Jada,” which means inert. Therefore, he is known now as “Jadabharata.”