Srimad Bhagavatam — Panchama Skandha, Shloka 27
Bharata Mahārāja’s Attachment to a Deer and His Fall from Yoga
तदानीमपि पार्श्ववर्तिनमात्मजमिवानुशोचन्तमभिवीक्षमाणो मृग एवाभिनिवेशितमना विसृज्य लोकमिमं सह मृगेण कलेवरं मृतमनु न मृतजन्मानुस्मृतिरितरवन्मृगशरीरमवाप ॥ २७ ॥
tadānīm api pārśva-vartinam ātmajam ivānuśocantam abhivīkṣamāṇo mṛga evābhiniveśita-manā visṛjya lokam imaṁ saha mṛgeṇa kalevaraṁ mṛtam anu na mṛta-janmānusmṛtir itaravan mṛga-śarīram avāpa.
В час смерти царь увидел оленя, сидящего рядом и скорбящего о нём, словно о собственном отце или сыне. Ум царя был поглощён образом оленя; потому — как у тех, кто лишён сознания Кришны, — он оставил этот мир, оленя и своё тело и после смерти обрёл тело оленя. Однако было одно преимущество: потеряв человеческое тело и получив оленье, он не забыл событий своей прошлой жизни.
There was a difference between Bharata Mahārāja’s acquiring a deer body and others’ acquiring different bodies according to their mental condition at the time of death. After death, others forget everything that has happened in their past lives, but Bharata Mahārāja did not forget. According to Bhagavad-gītā:
FAQs
This verse teaches that the mind’s absorption at death strongly shapes the next destination; Bharata, absorbed in the deer, attained a deer body.
Because his consciousness at the final moment became fixed on the deer—seeing it as a dependent like a son—he left his body remembering the deer and thus received a corresponding birth.
Train attention daily toward Kṛṣṇa (nāma-japa, śravaṇa, sādhana) so that deep habits of remembrance replace anxieties and attachments that can dominate the mind in crisis.