24. If he (the Jiva) escapes the bondage (punishment meted out by the king, the woman’s husband or the master of the property), one Devadatta wrests the prize away from him, and from him Visnumitra (another) takes it away, and so on endlessly. None retains permanently the objects of enjoyment.
25. And sometimes, incapable of warding off miserable conditions like biting cold winds, and others caused by super-human agencies or by elements (or created by beings), or pertaining to his body, he sinks despondently in unending anxieties.
26. Sometimes, while transacting business with others, if he deceitfully takes away a petty amount, say, twenty cowries or even less then that, he incurs the enmity of others owing to deceitful dealing in money.
27. On this path (of pravrtti), there are these obstacles (financial losses, difficulties, etc) and also other ones such as pleasure and pain, lust and hatred, fear and pride, negligence and madness, delusion and greed, envy and jealousy, insult, hunger and thirst, anxieties and diseases, repeated birth, old age, death and others.
28. Sometimes, (when) embraced with the creeper-like (tender) arms of the woman who is the Maya (deluding divine potency of the Lord) incarnate, he loses his power of judgment and wisdom. He becomes anxious at heart to construct a pleasure-house for her. His heart becomes transported by the (sweet) speech, (affectionate) looks and (winsome) behaviour of his wife, sons, daughters, etc who look to him for protection. Thus, being of uncontrolled mind, he goes to the abysmal hell of blinding darkness.
29. Sometimes, he gets terrified in his heart at (the thought of) the discus (kala – time, death) of the Supreme Ruler, Lord Visnu. (The discus is alternatively designated as Time and consists of divisions beginning from the minutest point to the period covering two parardha years (the life-span of god Brahma). With inexorable velocity consisting of ages (childhood, youth, old age), this un-winking (watchful) discus mows down all created beings from god Brahma down to a clump of grass while they are (helplessly) looking on.) But disrespectfully ignoring the Supreme Lord, the presiding deity of sacrifice whose weapon is this eternal discus, Time, he, on the basis of un-authoritative canon of the heretics, resorts to the deities of the heretics which are no better than kites, vultures, cranes on the banyan trees (in extending protection against death) which are discarded in the religion of the Aryans.
30. When he is devastatingly deceived by those heretics who are themselves deluded, he (returns to and) stays within the Brahmanic fold.
He, however, does not like their pious way of life, and propitiation of the glorious Lord of sacrifices with acts prescribed in the Veda and Smrtis after performance of the thread investiture ceremony. As he is impure (and hence ineligible) to perform duties enjoined by the Veda, he resorts to the sudra community which, like the species of monkeys, indulges in copulation and maintenance of the family.
31. Even in that community, he behaves as he likes, without any restraint. The low-minded man forgets the limit of his (span of) life in vulgar gratification of senses such as looking at the faces of each other (mutually by husband and wife).
32. Sometimes, he enjoys himself in the householder’s life which, like trees, yields pleasures pertaining to this world only. He is fond of children and wife, and like a monkey, he delights in sexual enjoyment.
The allegory to a monkey is in the context of a monkey addicted to sexual enjoyment becomes negligent of its own safety and is caught by the hunter while indulging in that enjoyment on the trees. When once caught, it is unable to get released.
33. Enjoying and suffering pleasures and pain on the path (of pravrtti), he falls into the veritable dark vale of ailments and other calamities, and stays (there) constantly in the fear of the elephant in the form of death.
34. Sometimes, when incapable of protecting him against innumerable miseries such as heat and cold – miseries caused by supernatural agencies, the elements or creatures or by his own body or mind – he sinks (sits) despondently worrying over endless sense-objects.
35. Sometimes, entering into business transactions with others, he acquires some wealth through fraudulent monetary dealings.
36. Sometimes, when his wealth is spent, he becomes destitute of (normal necessities of life such as) a bed, a seat, food, etc. He then makes up his mind to snatch away from others the objects which he covets, but has not succeeded to acquire till then. As such, in due course, he becomes subject to insult and ridicule by the public.
37. Although their mutual hostility is enhanced by their covetousness for wealth, they enter into matrimonial relations or break them, according to the tendencies resulting from actions of their previous lives.
38. On this path of samsara, if one is afflicted with innumerable sufferings and obstacles and succumbs to calamities or death, one is definitely abandoned then and there. The others take with them the new-born children. They sometimes weep, fall in a swoon, are afraid, quarrel, cry and are overjoyed, sing and are bound down. They are avoided by saintly people and are thus denied pious company. In this way, they continue to go ahead. This multitude of men (the Jiva) has not yet returned to the starting point of this journey (God) which, the sages say, is the terminus of the path (of samsara).
39. For, he who gets knowledge of and takes to the discipline of yoga does not definitely return to the physical world or samsara. It is only the meditative persons who have renounced all forms of violence (to all creatures) and are firmly given to self-control (and consequent serenity), and who have detached their minds (from worldly objects), that reach the Supreme (Self).
40. Even the royal sages, who have conquered the elephants guarding all directions and perform sacrifices, do not attain to it. Asserting their claim to the earth that it is their own and entering into hostilities for it (its possession), they lie dead on the battlefield, leaving their bodies on the earth (claimed by them), and depart. (These do not reach the other end of samsara).
41. Supporting themselves by catching hold of the creeper of karma and getting out, with great difficulty, from the miserable hell, they are again present on the way of samsara, and rejoin the caravan of men. Similar is the case of men who have gone up to the heaven.
Thus do they sing of Bharata!
42. Just as a fly cannot, even in its imagination, soar up along the path of Garuda (high up in the sky), no other king in this world can even mentally follow the path of the high-souled royal sage Bharata, the son of Rishabha.
43. Even while he was a youth, he longed to serve the Lord of hallowing renown (supreme glory), and abandoned, like excreta, his wife and children, friends and kingdom, so endearing to the heart, and (hence) so difficult to renounce.
44. It is quite befitting on the part of the King (Bharata) that he did not long for the (kingdom of the) earth, sons, relatives, wealth and wife, so difficult to renounce. Nor did he wish for Sri (the Goddess of Fortune), coveted by great gods, even though She waited for having a gracious look from him. For, in the view of the great (souls) whose minds are devotedly attached to the service of Visnu, even the Final Emancipation is of little account.
45. At the time of casting off his body as a deer, he (Bharata) nobly praised the Lord thus: ‘Salutations to Lord Hari who is Himself the yajna (sacrifice) personified, the defender of righteousness, punctilious observance of scriptural injunctions, yoga incarnate, the head (the ultimate, chief principle) of the Samkhyas, the controller of Prakrti (the personified Will or Maya of the Almighty), and the shelter of all created beings’.
46. One who faithfully listens to, recites or praises the history of the royal sage Bharata, whose spotless virtues and pure actions are appreciated and eulogized by devotees of the Lord, secures good fortune, long life, riches, renown and attains to the heaven and Final Beatitude.
