SB 5.9.9-10

Srimad-Bhagavatam - Fifth Canto - Chapter 9: The Supreme Character of Jaḍa Bharata

SB 5.9.8 - SB 5.9.11

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

TEXTS 9-10

sa ca prākṛtair dvipada-paśubhir unmatta-jaḍa-badhira-mūkety

abhibhāṣyamāṇo yadā tad-anurūpāṇi prabhāṣate karmāṇi ca kāryamāṇaḥ

parecchayā karoti viṣṭito vetanato vā yācñayā yadṛcchayā vopasāditam

alpaṁ bahu mṛṣṭaṁ kadannaṁ vābhyavaharati paraṁ nendriya-prīti-nimittam

nitya-nivṛtta-nimitta-sva-siddha-viśuddhānubhavānanda-svātma-lābhādhigamaḥ

sukha-duḥkhayor dvandva-nimittayor asambhāvita-dehābhimānaḥ

śītoṣṇa-vāta-varṣeṣu vṛṣa ivānāvṛtāṅgaḥ pīnaḥ saṁhananāṅgaḥ

sthaṇḍila-saṁveśanānunmardanāmajjana-rajasā mahāmaṇir

ivānabhivyakta-brahma-varcasaḥ kupaṭāvṛta-kaṭir

upavītenoru-maṣiṇā dvijātir iti brahma-bandhur

iti saṁjñayātaj-jñajanāvamato vicacāra

SYNONYMS

saḥ ca—he also; prākṛtaiḥ—by common persons who have no access to spiritual knowledge; dvi-pada-paśubhiḥ—who are nothing but animals with two legs; unmatta—mad; jaḍa—dull; badhira—deaf; mūka—dumb; iti—thus; abhibhāṣyamāṇaḥ—being addressed; yadā—when; tat-anurūpāṇi—words suitable to reply to theirs; prabhāṣate—he used to speak; karmāṇi—activities; ca—also; kāryamāṇaḥ—being caused to execute; para-icchayā—by the order of others; karoti—he used to act; viṣṭitaḥ—by force; vetanataḥ—or by some wages; vā—either; yācñayā—by begging; yadṛcchayā—by its own accord; vā—or; upasāditam—gotten; alpam—a very small quantity; bahu—a large quantity; mṛṣṭam—very palatable; kat-annam—stale, tasteless foods; vā—or; abhyavaharati—he used to eat; param—only; na—not; indriya-prīti-nimittam—for the satisfaction of the senses; nitya—eternally; nivṛtta—stopped; nimitta—fruitive activity; sva-siddha—by self-accomplished; viśuddha—transcendental; anubhava-ānanda—blissful perception; sva-ātma-lābha-adhigamaḥ—who has achieved knowledge of the self; sukha-duḥkhayoḥ—in happiness and distress; dvandva-nimittayoḥ—in the causes of duality; asambhāvita-deha-abhimānaḥ—not identified with the body; śīta—in the winter; uṣṇa—in the summer; vāta—in the wind; varṣeṣu—in the rainfall; vṛṣaḥ—a bull; iva—like; anāvṛta-aṅgaḥ—uncovered body; pīnaḥ—very strong; saṁhanana-aṅgaḥ—whose limbs were firm; sthaṇḍila-saṁveśana—from lying down on the ground; anunmardana—without any massage; amajjana—without bathing; rajasā—by dirt; mahā-maṇiḥ—highly valuable gem; iva—like; anabhivyakta—unmanifested; brahma-varcasaḥ—spiritual splendor; ku-paṭa-āvṛta—covered by a dirty cloth; kaṭiḥ—whose loins; upavītena—with a sacred thread; uru-maṣiṇā—which was highly blackish due to dirt; dvi-jātiḥ—born in a brāhmaṇa family; iti—thus (saying out of contempt); brahma-bandhuḥ—a friend of a brāhmaṇa; iti—thus; saṁjñayā—by such names; a-tat-jña-jana—by persons not knowing his real position; avamataḥ—being disrespected; vicacāra—he wandered.

TRANSLATION

Degraded men are actually no better than animals. The only difference is that animals have four legs and such men have only two. These two-legged, animalistic men used to call Jaḍa Bharata mad, dull, deaf and dumb. They mistreated him, and Jaḍa Bharata behaved for them like a madman who was deaf, blind or dull. He did not protest or try to convince them that he was not so. If others wanted him to do something, he acted according to their desires. Whatever food he could acquire by begging or by wages, and whatever came of its own accord—be it a small quantity, palatable, stale or tasteless—he would accept and eat. He never ate anything for sense gratification because he was already liberated from the bodily conception, which induces one to accept palatable or unpalatable food. He was full in the transcendental consciousness of devotional service, and therefore he was unaffected by the dualities arising from the bodily conception. Actually his body was as strong as a bull's, and his limbs were very muscular. He didn't care for winter or summer, wind or rain, and he never covered his body at any time. He lay on the ground, and never smeared oil on his body or took a bath. Because his body was dirty, his spiritual effulgence and knowledge were covered, just as the splendor of a valuable gem is covered by dirt. He only wore a dirty loincloth and his sacred thread, which was blackish. Understanding that he was born in a brāhmaṇa family, people would call him a brahma-bandhu and other names. Being thus insulted and neglected by materialistic people, he wandered here and there.

PURPORT

Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung: deha-smṛti nāhi yāra, saṁsāra-bandhana kāhāṅ tāra. One who has no desire to maintain the body or who is not anxious to keep the body in order and who is satisfied in any condition must be either mad or liberated. Actually Bharata Mahārāja in his birth as Jaḍa Bharata was completely liberated from material dualities. He was a paramahaṁsa and therefore did not care for bodily comfort.

SB 5.9.8 - SB 5.9.11