In the previous episode, we had witnessed how Sage Jada-Bharata gave some befitting replies to King Rahugunua’s relatively “stupid” questions, which he had asked out of anger and frustration. Sage Jada-Bharata blunted every question that King Rahuguna had asked with some witty replies. Upon this, Sage Rahuguna slowly started realizing the significance of the person with whom he was conversing with. He immediately asked a set of three questions to Sage Jada-Bharata thus – Who are you? Where are you from? Why did you come here? Again, upon listening to the king’s fresh set of questions thus, Sage Jada-Bharata burst out laughing and once again mocked at King Rahuguna for his utter foolishness! We might wonder what is the big foolishness in asking for an introduction to someone whom we do not know! However, Sage Jada-Bharata being a high-profile “Vedanti” by nature had other plans! He had a different view for these questions and replied to King Rahuguna sharply thus, “Oh king! For heaven sake, please do not ask these three questions to anybody else in your life from today!” King Rahuguna was completely taken aback by such a reply from Sage Jada-Bharata. Upon probing further, Sage Jada-Bharata continued further thus, “Oh king! If you ask these three questions to someone, you’ll end up getting the same answer from all of them! Hence, why waste time in asking people the same questions over and over again?”
So what would be that common answer which all people might end up giving? Let us continue witnessing the “Jada-Bharata-Upaakyaanam” from this point onwards in today’s episode. As Sage Jada-Bharata gives a peculiar reply thus, King Rahuguna asked a counter question – How can that be the case? How can all people have the same answers for these questions? Different people have different identities, isn’t it?” Sage Bharata replies back thus, “Oh King! Listen carefully! You are the same person that I am! You had asked me where did I come from, isn’t it? Let me tell you one thing – I came from the same place from where you had come! Next, what did you ask? What was the purpose behind me coming here, isn’t it? Let me tell you – I also came for the same purpose for which you had come here!”
Now what is Sage Bharata trying to explain here? For the first question – Who am I? The”common” answer for all of us would be, I’m a Jeevatma, and you are a Jeevatma! For the second question, Where did you come from? I came from the womb of a mother, and you also came from the womb of a mother! So all of us have a common answer here also, isn’t it? Now for the third question – What was the purpose behind you coming here? The simple answer is “To wash off my Karma”. This is precisely the same agenda with which all of us come to this world, isn’t it? So what is the big difference between you , me, King Rahuguna or Sage Jada-Bharata? Explaining thus to King Rahuguna, Sage Bharata re-emphasizes his advice to him thus, “Oh King! As you would have witnessed how all of us are the same in terms of the three questions that you had asked, please do not ask these questions to anybody whom you see from today! By doing so, you’re only wasting your time as well as other’s! However, there is a slight difference here. When I had said that all of us take birth in this world to wash away our Karma, we obviously do so in our own different ways. For instance, you’re washing off your Karma by sitting inside the coach, whereas I’m washing off my Karma by carrying your coach in my shoulders! That’s the only difference here!”
What a reply this was from Sage Jada-Bharata? Indeed, something that all of us should ponder over, isn’t it? If we consider our own examples here, both myself and all of our readers are born in this world to wash off our Karma, and we’ve all come from the same place, which is the womb of our mothers. However, the ways through which we wash off our Karmas are going to be different. For instance, in this case, I’m trying to wash off my Karma by writing something little about Bhagawan every passing day, and as readers, all of you are trying to wash off your Karma by reading whatever I’m writing every day. This is how we have differences in the process through which we wash off our Karma. However, the agenda of washing off our Karma remains the same for all of us and that is our ultimate goal in our life. Thus, just because I’m the person who’s writing everyday, I’m not going to be a step higher than everybody else, and just because many of us are only reading this content, we’re not going to be inferior in any way. We should realize and understand from this point that all of us have only one important agenda, and we should meticulously focus on that every passing day!
So for today, let us understand this important message of Sage Jada-Bharata very clearly and let us start doing the needful! We shall wait till the next episode to continue with this important conversation between Sage Jada-Bharata and King Rahuguna further! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 