SB 5.10.6 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

अहो कष्टं भ्रातर्व्यक्तमुरुपरिश्रान्तो दीर्घमध्वानमेक एव ऊहिवान् सुचिरं नातिपीवा न संहननाङ्गो जरसा चोपद्रुतो भवान् सखे नो एवापर एते सङ्घट्टिन इति बहुविप्रलब्धोऽप्यविद्यया रचितद्रव्यगुणकर्माशयस्वचरमकलेवरेऽवस्तुनि संस्थानविशेषेऽहं ममेत्यनध्यारोपितमिथ्याप्रत्ययो ब्रह्मभूतस्तूष्णीं शिबिकां पूर्ववदुवाह ॥ ६ ॥

Verse text

aho kaṣṭaṁ bhrātar vyaktam uru-pariśrānto dīrgham adhvānam eka eva ūhivān suciraṁ nāti-pīvā na saṁhananāṅgo jarasā copadruto bhavān sakhe no evāpara ete saṅghaṭṭina iti bahu-vipralabdho ’py avidyayā racita-dravya-guṇa-karmāśaya-sva-carama-kalevare ’vastuni saṁsthāna-viśeṣe ’haṁ mamety anadhyāropita-mithyā-pratyayo brahma-bhūtas tūṣṇīṁ śibikāṁ pūrvavad uvāha.

Synonyms

aho — alas ; kaṣṭam — how troublesome it is ; bhrātaḥ — my dear brother ; vyaktam — clearly ; uru — very much ; pariśrāntaḥ — fatigued ; dīrgham — a long ; adhvānam — path ; ekaḥ — alone ; eva — certainly ; ūhivān — you have carried ; su — ciram — for a long time ; na — not ; ati — pīvā — very strong and stout ; na — nor ; saṁhanana — aṅgaḥ — having a firm, tolerant body ; jarasā — by old age ; ca — also ; upadrutaḥ — disturbed ; bhavān — yourself ; sakhe — my friend ; no eva — not certainly ; apare — the other ; ete — all these ; saṅghaṭṭinaḥ — co-workers ; iti — thus ; bahu — very much ; vipralabdhaḥ — sarcastically criticized ; api — although ; avidyayā — by nescience ; racita — manufactured ; dravya — guṇa — karma — āśaya — in a combination of material elements, material qualities, and the results of past activities and desires ; sva — carama — kalevare — in the body, which is moved by the subtle elements (mind, intelligence and ego) ; avastuni — in such physical things ; saṁsthāna — viśeṣe — having a particular disposition ; aham mama — I and mine ; iti — in this way ; anadhyāropita — not interposed ; mithyā — false ; pratyayaḥ — belief ; brahma — bhūtaḥ — who was self-realized, standing on the Brahman platform ; tūṣṇīm — being silent ; śibikām — the palanquin ; pūrva — vat — as before ; uvāha — carried .

Translation

King Rahūgaṇa told Jaḍa Bharata: How troublesome this is, my dear brother. You certainly appear very fatigued because you have carried this palanquin alone without assistance for a long time and for a long distance. Besides that, due to your old age you have become greatly troubled. My dear friend, I see that you are not very firm, nor very strong and stout. Aren’t your fellow carriers cooperating with you?

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

O brother! It is clearly difficult. You are very tired. You have traveled a long path. For a long time you are carrying this load alone. You are not healthy and do not have strong limbs. You are afflicted by old age. O friend! The other workers do not cooperate with you. In this way, though abused badly, Bharata continued to carry the palanquin silently, since he was situated in brahma-bhūta, and was not covered by the false conception of I and mine in his final body not made of the gross elements, senses, karma, and antaḥkaraṇa, not produced by māyā—a body which was real, belonging to Vaikuṇṭha. The King addressed him as brother with sarcasm. Saṅghaṭtinaḥ means associates. By taking the opposite meaning of the words, the King criticized Bharata. You are not tired, because you have just started carrying the palanquin. You are well-nourished with strong limbs, and you are young. Are you showing deceit to me, the King, by saying “I cannot carry the palanquin in a regular way with these other carriers” even though they are moving in unison? Though he was abused, he remained silent and continued to carry the palanquin. The reason is given. He was not covered with a false conception of I and mind in his final body made of the five gross elements, the senses, pious and sinful results, and the antaḥkaraṇa, which was insubstantial since he had no relationship with it, though it was real. He had attained brahma-bhūtaḥ. Actually Bharata, like Śukadeva, had a spiritual body which was not destructible. It was eternal. Because of the arousal of prema at this time, he actually did not have possessiveness for anything except the Lord. However, because of not attaining direct service to the Lord in that body at that moment, he manifested humility produced from increased longing, and therefore did not want to offer his sense of “I” to the Lord. Because of this, Bharata made a show of having a material body, even though he was full of knowledge. Therefore Śukadeva also describes him as if he had a material body, if one takes the superficial meaning of the words. The last phrase appears to mean “ in his final body made of the gross elements, senses, karma, and antaḥkaraṇa, produced by māyā—a body which was insubstantial, though having a particular appearance.” However, it should be explained that his real opinion is that Bharata had a spiritual body. Thus the phrase avidyayāracita-dravya-guuṇa-karmāśaya-sva-carama-kalevare actually means “in his eternal body that remained after all previous bodies had been destroyed, which was not made of (avidyā aracita) material elements, senses, karma and antaḥkaraṇa.” Or svacarame can mean be su acarame kalevare, an exalted body. Instead of avastuni, the word can be vastuni, with no sandhi. Then it means the body was absolute, since it was devoid of prārabdha-karma. That body possessed Vaikuṇṭha-loka (saṁsthāna-viśeṣe). He simply acted like a material person out of humility arising from prema. He had no sense of identification with me and mine.

Purport

In this way the King criticized Jaḍa Bharata with sarcastic words, yet despite being criticized in this way, Jaḍa Bharata had no bodily conception of the situation. He knew that he was not the body, for he had attained his spiritual identity. He was neither fat, lean nor thin, nor had he anything to do with a lump of matter, a combination of the five gross and three subtle elements. He had nothing to do with the material body and its two hands and legs. In other words, he had completely realized his spiritual identity [ahaṁ brahmāsmi]. He was therefore unaffected by this sarcastic criticism from the King. Without saying anything, he continued carrying the palanquin as before. Jaḍa Bharata was completely liberated. He did not even care when the dacoits attempted to kill his body; he knew that he certainly was not the body. Even if the body were killed, he would not have cared, for he was thoroughly convinced of the proposition found in Bhagavad-gītā (2.20) : na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre. He knew that he could not be killed even if his body were killed. Although he did not protest, the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His agent could not tolerate the injustice of the dacoits; therefore he was saved by the mercy of Kṛṣṇa, and the dacoits were killed. In this case, while carrying the palanquin, he also knew that he was not the body. This body was very strong and stout, in sound condition and quite competent to carry the palanquin. Due to his being freed from the bodily conception, the sarcastic words of the King did not at all affect him. The body is created according to one’s karma, and material nature supplies the ingredients for the development of a certain type of body. The soul the body covers is different from the bodily construction; therefore anything favorable or mischievous done to the body does not affect the spirit soul. The Vedic injunction is asaṅgo hy ayaṁ puruṣaḥ: the spirit soul is always unaffected by material arrangements.