We’re amidst an important juncture and a set of turn-around events as part of the “Jada-Bharata-Upaakyaanam”, wherein Sage Jada-Bharata is giving a befitting reply to King Rahuguna’s anger-mixed sarcasm. Initially we’ve witnessed how King Rahuguna made Sage Jada-Bharata lift his carriage and how Sage Jada-Bharata was swaying left and right, which irritated the king very badly. Upon questioning Sage Jada-Bharata for his haphazard way of carrying the carriage, Sge Bharata replies that he was not the person who carried King Rahuguna’s carriage! As the king was puzzled with this answer, Sage Jada-Bharata backs it up further by spinning a web between the carriage and Mother Bhoomadevi! Ultimately, Sage Bharata drove home the point that it was not “he” who carried the carriage, but it was Mother Earth or Mother Bhoomadevi who did it. This left King Rahuguna speechless and angry at the same time!
Now as it was Sage Bharata’s turn to question the king, he grabbed this opportunity to mount more and more questions to King Rahuguna! He continues thus, “Oh King Rahuguna! Do you understand your mistake here? What did you ask me? Who lifted the carriage in an improper fashion, isn’t it? There is a huge mistake in the way your question is formed! Even before this, you had told me that I was well-nourished! How did you say that? Upon looking at my face? Or upon looking at my arms and legs? Or upon looking at my “Atman”? Or upon understanding how I was in my previous birth, as compared to how I look today? So your narratives and questions do not stand any value to me, and you do not know what you’re asking!”
This left the king even more speechless! Every word that the king spoke is being negated by Sage Bharata here. First, the king had told him that he was well-built and well-nourished! Sage Bharata negated that as well! Second, the king had asked, why isn’t he carrying the coach properly! Sage Bharata negated that he was not carrying it at all! With all of these, King Rahuguna slowly started realizing that this person standing in front of him was not an ordinary person by any means! He was a great “Vedanti”! A “Vedanti” is a person who is an expert in all aspects of “Vedanta”. Normally in today’s scenario, a person gets this “title” called “Vedanti” if he / she talks about something that nobody understands! 🙂 We must have seen it in our day-to-day life as well isn’t it? If we talk about something that the other person doesn’t understand, immediately the other person would ask us “Oh! Why are you talking all Vedantic stuff? Talk something that we would understand!” This is exactly what King Rahuguna was thinking here! As he listened to Sage Bharata’s response thus, what would King Rahuguna reply back?
King Rahuguna immediately got down from the coach and stood in front of Sage Jada-Bharata. He now asks Sage Jada-Bharata thus, “Oh! Who are you? Where are you from? Why are you asking such riddle-like questions? Your questions seem to be having a lot of deeper meaning, and I’m sure they are not outward in nature. There’s surely something behind your questions! You’re not an ordinary person by any means. So tell me who you are! What made you come here?” Thus, the crux of King Rahuguna’s reply was a set of three questions importantly here – Who are you? What have you come here for? Where are you from? As Sage Bharata listens to the king’s questions, he bursts out laughing! Sage Bharata laughed out loud for a few seconds, and replied back thus, “Oh King Rahuguna! I had just now asked you a set of questions, and now you’re again asking yet another set of stupid questions! Please remember one thing – Never ever ask these three questions to anybody else in this world!”
As King Rahuguna listened to this reply, he couldn’t understand anything again! Normally whenever we see someone new, we would ask only these three questions, isn’t it? First is, who are you! Second is where are you from and the third is what is the purpose behind your visit! For instance, if you ask me these three questions, I would reply back saying that I’m Jeayaram, I’m here to write about Shri Vishnu Puraana and I’m from Chennai, India. However, Sage Jada-Bharata thinks otherwise here – He says that we should never ask these three questions to anybody whom we see! Why is that so? It is because, as per Sage Bharata, to whomever in this world we ask these three questions, we would get the same reply!
Now what is this “same reply” going to be? An absorbing and a fascinating reply awaits us in the next episode! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 