Study a Verse

• It is significant that Mahārāja Bharata, by the grace of Vāsudeva, remembered his past life.
• Although Bharata Mahārāja acquired the body of a deer, he again left his hearth and home, in this case the Mountain Kālañjara.
• No one should be captivated by his birthplace and family; one should take shelter of the association of devotees and cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's own sentences, chosen from the purport as its central points. Read the full purport on Vedabase to see them in place.

Compassion and attachment → Regret and vigilance. Affection becomes binding when it displaces devotion.

Chapters 7–9 of Canto 5: Bharata, the deer and the birth of Jaḍa Bharata. An editorial reading of the story's mood, not the text itself. See the emotional arc

Chapter 8: A Description of the Character of Bharata Mahārāja

From the chapter summary, the lines nearest this verse:

He could understand how he had fallen down from his exalted position, and remembering this, he left his mother deer and again went to Pulaha-āśrama. He finally ended his fruitive activities in the form of a deer, and when he died he was released from the deer’s body.