Jada Bharata to Ronald Nixon

There are three personalities with the name of "Bharata" that adore our epics. They are from different periods in time and belong to different clans. All of them are well-known for their valour and rich contributions our land. 

The first Bharata is a part of Adikavi Valmeeki's immortal work "Ramayana". He belongs to the Surya Vamsha (Sun Dynasty) and better known for the 14 year period as ruler of kingdom of Ayodhya. As brother of SriRama, he took care of the affairs of the state as a representative of his elder brother when he was banished to the forests for that period. Though he could have occupied the throne of Ayodhya himself, he chose to be a shadow of his great brother and attained an exalted position due to his qualities of brotherly love and sacrifice, among others. 

The second Bharata finds mention in the epic "Adi Purana" of Poet Jinasena, that describes the life and times of Rishabadeva, the first Tirthankkara in Jainism. The story of the two sons of Rishabadeva, Bharata and Bahubali is well known. This Bharata was also a great warrior and King, though his younger brother Bahubali is more praised and later became known as Gomateshwara. A Kannada Epic "Bharatesha Vaibhava" by Poet Ratnakara Varni in Kannada language describes the life of this Bharata Chakravarthy. (Please click here to read about this.)

The third Bharata finds mention in the epic "Mahabharata" of Veda Vyasa, in the Adi Parva. This Bharata was born in the Chandra Vamsha (Lunar Dynasty). He was the son of King Dushyantha and Shakuntala. Mahakavi Kalidasa has used the story of Dushyantha and Shakuntala as the base for his epic "Abhignana Shakuntalam". This Bharata is the king after whom our land got its name "Bharata". The land known as Aryavarta was called Bharatvarsha after this great Emperor. Those who have seen the tele- serial Mahabharata by B R Chopra will recall that the serial starts with this Emperor Bharata in episode 1.

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Bharata was said to be in mother Shakuntala's womb for 36 months and born as a very strong child. Due to his capacity of subduing even the strongest of wild animals he was named as "Sarvadamana", meaning one who can conquer everyone. After succeeding his father as the King, he won over large areas of land and expanded his Kingdom that reached out to the present parts of Russia, China, Iran and Eastern parts of Asia as well. He was a model and just ruler. It is also said that he was the emperor who sowed the seeds of democracy and chose an outsider as his successor though he had nine sons. He believed that none of his nine sons had the qualities to succeed him as the Emperor. 

After handing over the reins of the kingdom to his successor, Bharata proceed to the forests to live the life of a Vanaprastha, away from the lures of the worldly pleasures. He lived on the banks of the river Chakra and spent all his time in penance. While sitting on the banks of the river, one day he saw a pregnant Doe (female deer) drinking water in the river. There was a big roar of a lion nearby and the Doe became scared, stopped drinking water and jumped to the other bank of the river. The doe delivered the baby deer in mid flight and the baby deer was dropped in the flowing waters and being washed away. The mother Doe reached the other bank, hit a rock and died instantly. All this happened in a flash. Bharata jumped into the river and rescued the baby deer from drowning. As the mother had died, Bharata started taking care of the baby deer. His life changed and the deer became everything for him now! The king who renounced his Kingdom became a prisoner in the love of the baby deer. Shortly thereafter his end came and he died thinking of the baby deer and about its welfare after his death.

As he died thinking of the Deer, Bharata was born in the next life as a Deer. Because of his earlier penances, though born as a deer, he had the memories of the earlier birth and he continued his saadhana in that life also. As a deer he would always be moving and staying around the hermits of the rishis, listening to their discourse and hearing their discussions about the Lord. As a result he was born as a scholar's son in the next life.

Bharata in this life ignored all earthly pleasures and lived like a deaf and dumb boy even though he was perfectly alright. He would not talk to anybody and appeared inert to this world. He was now known as Jada (Inert) Bharata or Jada Bharata. People around made fun of him and called him stupid, but that did not matter to him. One of the Kings needed a human for being sacrificed in a ritual before godess Kaali. Jada Bharata was picked up by his servants and led to the sacrificial altar. Even when the sword was to be lowered on his neck in the ritual, he did not flinch. The mother godess appeared and killed all the others and released him. He continued to live in inner penance but appeared as stupid to outsiders.

King Rahoogana was now ruling the land. On a particular when he was travelling in his land, his servants found one person short to carry his palanquin (palki or pallakki). When they were looking for a person to fill the gap, they found Jada Bharata nearby. They found him fit for the job and drafted him to carry the palanquin. Jada Bharata quietly joined the pall bearers. While carrying the palanquin, he would jump whenever he found an insect on the way to avoid stepping on it. This resulted in violent shaking of the palki and caused severe discomfort to the King sitting in the palki. Rahoogana shouted at him but Jada Bharata did not change his ways. When the palanquin shook with very violent jerk, the King lost his patience and shouted that he would award death penalty to Jada Bharata. Jada Bharata now spoke for the first time and asked the King whether the punishment would be for the body or the soul. The King was taken aback and realised that this was no ordinary person. 

He requested Jada Bharata to accept him as his disciple and took him to the palace. He later learnt that Jada Bharata was his ancestor in earlier life. In due course Jada Bharata attained salvation. His story is remembered with respect and admiration even today.

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Ronald Henry Nixon (1888-1965) was born in England and educated at Taunton. He became a British fighter pilot during World War I. Elevated as a Flying Officer in Royal Flying Corps in 1917, he had a miraculous escape when surrounded by many enemy planes. He had several close encounters with death during those days. He left air force at the end of the war and went to Kings College, Cambridge to study English Literature. During his studies there he developed interest in spiritual life, Hinduism and Buddhism. He got an offer to teach English literature in Lucknow University in India. He accepted the offer, came to India and taught in Lucknow University for some time. While so working he became close to the first Vice Chancellor of the university Shri Gyanendra Nath Chakravarti. He became a disciple of Gyanendra Nath's wife Monika Devi and pursued his spiritual journey.

When the family of Gyanendra Nath moved to Varanasi, Ronald Nixon also moved and joined Benaras Hindu University and taught English literature there. Monika Devi later renounced the world and became a sanyasi under the name Sri Yashoda Mai. The bright English Professor Ronald Nixon also chose to quit his job in BHU and became a sanyasi. People around him made fun of him but it did not matter to him. He learnt Urdu, Hindi, Sanskrit and studied various texts relating to spiritualism. He took sanyas later under the name of Sri Krishna Prem. Sri yashoda Mai and Sri Krishna Prem together founded the Mirtola Ashram in present Uttaranchal. Sri Krishna Prem travelled to South India to have interaction with Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Aurobindo. Sri Krishna Prem was widely accepted by Indian disciples, and the then President of India Ir S Radhakrishnan held him in high esteem for his spiritual knowledge. 

Sri Krishna Prem lived his last years in the Mirtola Ashram, on the Almora - Pithoragarh Road. Entry of foreigners was banned to Badrinath in those days, after the Indo-china war. Nehru Government gave special permission to Sri Krishna Prem to visit Badrinath and prey there. He has authored many books on the spiritual pursuits. It is said that that Sri Krishna Prem, known as Gopal Das to his disciples, used to offer fruits to the Krishna idols he worshipped, close the doors of the pooja room, come out and offer prayers. When the doors were reopened, the plate in which the fruits were kept would be empty. Sri Krishna Prem was known to say "My Krishna Really Eats!". This was not an occasional occurrence, but repeated many times.

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Bannanje Govindacharya (1936-2020) who passed away recently and known for his discourses rich in content and delivery, has made references to Sri Krishna Prem in his discourses. One such reference led to further learning about Sri Krishna Prem and this blog post.

Many enlightened souls would be around us and look like stupid and inert human beings. We may not be able to recognise them, but it does not matter to them. They concentrate on their spiritual pursuits and are oblivious to their surroundings.