Me, my Guru
Journey of the soul - Jada Bharath – Bhagavatham
“King Bharath on whose name
India was called as ‘Bharathavarsha’ ruled his kingdom for very many years. All
his subjects were prosperous, contended, peaceful and happy in his rule. As was
the tradition as per Vedic principles, after attaining certain age, every
person was to go for ‘vanaprastha’. In India, each person was to follow four
stages in his life – brahmacharya – the period when he accumulates knowledge
and becomes eligible to lead a worldly life. Next, was the stage of
‘Gruhasthashram’ – that of an house-holder, i.e., being married, going through
life following Dharma in earning and spending money, leading a social life, in
raising family and in being a responsible citizen of the state. At 60 years he
was to enter ‘vanaprasthashram’ that of a recluse who leaves his family, mostly
along with his wife, living on meagre things and practising all such of study and
techniques needed to know ‘Self’ and last was the ‘sanyasashramam’ i.e.,
leading a life of a monk – totally concentrating on the ‘Divine’ and working
towards that end only.
This way every person’s
life-span was divided in the ratio of 50:50, ie., there was balance of a
materialistic and spiritual life and both tasks of the soul could be easily and
completely attended to.
Now King Bharath also followed
‘Dharma’ and hence coronate his son and left to live in the forest. There he
lived only on fruits and roots and prepared his body fit enough for spiritual
practices. Other times, he would be lost in meditation in the middle of that
lush forest. He had progressed considerably in that path and realization was
just few ‘blocks’ away when he faced a very common phenomenon in the forest. He
was taking bath on the banks of a river when he saw a tiger chasing a deer. Now
this deer that was in advanced stage of pregnancy out of fear gave birth to a
fawn but she herself was to become food for the tiger immediately.
Contd..........
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