Chapter 7: The Activities of King Bharata

(1) S'rî S'uka said: 'When Bharata ['to be maintained'] who was a most exalted devotee, to the order of his father decided to rule the earth he, assuming that supreme command, married the daughter of Vis'varûpa, Pañcajanî. (2) The way one identified with matter has to deal with the five sense objects [of sound, taste etc.], Bharata likewise begot in her five sons who were just like him: Sumati, Râshthrabhrita, Sudars'ana, Âvarana and Dhûmraketu. (3) This part of the world called Ajanâbha [referring to king Nâbhi, see 5: 3] is since the rule of Bharata celebrated as Bhârata-varsha [the land of Bharata, now India]. (4) He who was a great scholar, was a ruler as great as his father and grandfather who governing with a caring heart kept himself and his citizens to the duties. (5) He next to that worshiped the Supreme Lord with great and small sacrifices with and without animals. Full of faith agni-hotra, dars'a, pûrnamâsa, câturmâsya, pas'u and soma-rasa yajñas were performed in part or fully, which as was prescribed practically always were conducted by  four priests (*). (6) When the expert priests with all supplementary rites were engaged in performing the various sacrifices, he who constantly thinking of Vâsudeva, the Supreme Lord in the spirit of the hymns was freed from lust and anger, recognized that all the different demigods, the recipients of the results, the ingredients of the offering and he himself the sacrificer, were all part of the body of the One Original Person. He was the one enjoyer who, irrespective the results of the sacrificial ceremony for the dharma in question, was their controller, their doer and their origin, He was the one responsible for the complete of all the gods. (7) He [Bharata] in the purity of his service was thus of the purest goodness unto the Supersoul within the heart of the ethereal body, unto the impersonal spirit of Brahman and unto Bhagavân, the Supreme Lord, Vâsudeva, the Supreme Personality whose form is recognized by the S'rîvatsa mark on the chest, the Kaustubha gem, the flower garland, the disc, the conch shell, the club and other symbols. Once He as an indelible image has appeared in the heart of the devotee, He who on the highest level is known by His radiating personal form, has the power to increase one's devotion day after day. (8) Thus for a countless number of millennia [by this exemplary practice] having ascertained the wealth he had received from his forefathers, he personally, at the right moment for abandoning his earthly duties, properly divided his kingdom among his sons and then left that ancestral abode behind to go to the meditation resort of Pulaha in Hardwar. (9) It is the place where even today the Supreme Lord Hari moved by His paternal affection shows Himself to the there residing devotees in the form they prefer. (10) At different places that meditation resort is blessed with water from the main river the Cakra-nadî [the Gandakî]. In that river one finds the [round] stones with the concentric circles on top and below [the black oval pebbles that serve as objects of worship, the so-called S'âlagrâma-s'ilâs]. (11) There in the fields of Pulaha's meditation resort he with offerings of roots, bulbs and fruits combined with water, twigs, tulasî leaves and all kinds of flowers, worshiped the Supreme Lord and was thus, delivered from all material desires, purified in a steady increase of transcendental tranquility that brought him satisfaction. (12) By that constant practice of serving the Original Personality of the Supreme Lord, with the weight of the incessantly increasing attachment to Him the laxity of his heart disappeared. By the force of his transcendental bliss the hairs on his body stood on end with tears blurring his vision that sprang into his eyes because of his intense longing. Thus meditating upon the pink lotus feet of the Lord, there was from his bhakti-yoga an increase spreading everywhere of the highest and deepest spiritual ecstasy in his heart in which he was immersed as in a lake and because of which he, despite of  his intelligence, no longer in his efforts for the Lord was capable of remembering his regular service. (13) Dressed in a deerskin he, with the mass of his beautiful brown, curly, matted hair being wet because of bathing three times a day, thus vowed to serve the Supreme Lord was of worship for the Original Personality in His golden appearance as the sun globe (**). Thereto he at sunrise payed homage to [Him as] the Sun God with reciting the following Vedic hymn: (14) 'Beyond of passion [in goodness] minding this created universe, there is the self-effulgence illumining, the grace of God fulfilling with sacred knowledge. Time and again entering [this world with Your radiating sun globe or as a Vishnu avatâra] You supervise the living being hankering after material pleasure. All my respects for the One residing among us who moves all!'