At last, Jadabharata spoke to the king. The moment he opened his mouth, he started talking in a very wise and philosophical way. The king was shocked, because he thought Jadabharata was mad. Now, listening to his profound knowledge, the king was bewildered.
The king was actually on his way to get some advice from a sage. And here, the young Jadabharata, the fool palanquin carrier, seemed to know more about spirituality than any other sage. So the king apologised to Jadabharata, and bowed down to the him saying, “Please, accept me as your disciple. Show me the way. Give me the true knowledge. Tell me how to attain salvation.” The king realised that Jadabharata was a great sage disguised as a fool. Thus, the king asked him, “Please, forgive me for all the harsh words I spoke to you out of ignorance. Please have mercy upon me, and reveal to me who you are!”
Then, Jadabharata revealed his whole story to the king. He told the king what had happened in his life as King Bharata, the son of King Rishabhadeva. He explained how he had been born as a deer due to his attachment to a fawn. Next, he revealed to the king that he was actually the son of a brahmin. But, he acted dumb so that he could stay free from desires, infatuation, attachment, arrogance, pride, ego, and all mundane things.
Afterwards, Jadabharata taught the king the depth of spiritual wisdom. He revealed to him that the physical body is not permanent. Throughout life people tend to forget that death will come to all, but there will always be a reminder. When you fall sick, it’s a reminder that this body is not perfect. It’s a reminder that anytime you may die.
Jadabharata explained to the king the difference between a stone, the body and the Self. He told him that there is no difference between the physical body and a stone, but due to the Self the body moves around and the stone does not. Then, as the body moves, it becomes a carrier. He said, “I was carrying the palanquin in which your body lay. Your body was infected with your pride of being a king.” (As I mentioned earlier, if somebody would have asked the king, “Who are you?” He would have said, “I am King Rahugana.” Here, Jadabharata is reminding him, “Is that you?”)
In the same way, if I ask you, ‘who are you?’ and you tell me your title or what your function is, you are not answering my question. If I ask you, ‘what is your function?’, then you can tell me about it! People have different titles, different names, different functions. A doctor has the title of doctor, a banker is a banker, an accountant is an accountant, and a teacher is a teacher. Everyone has their own function. But your function is not you, it is just an activity you perform in the outside world. When I ask you ‘who are you?’, referring to your true nature, the Self, you should tell me about the Self! Of course, if people don’t know about the Self, how can they talk about the Self? Like this, people go throughout life thinking they know everything, yet they don’t know who they really are. Jadabharata says that this is due to the ‘illness’ of pride. Due to that ‘illness’ one is covered with arrogance and cruelty. So he started rebuking the king saying, “Due to your pride and arrogance, you make all these poor people carry you. If you would really knew who was the true provider, and the true protector of the people, who lives inside your body and their body equally, you would not behave that way.”
Jadabharata kept explaining to the king that all bodies are made of the five elements, and this ‘dust’ will go back to ‘dust’. When time comes to die, who carries the body? As I told you earlier, there are the ones like Dhruva, who have had their bodies carried to Vaikunta or to other heavenly places. In this way, Jesus Christ and many saints left this physical plane with their body. Some of the most well-known examples are Elias, the prophet, Andal, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Kabir, Guru Nanak, Meerabai, and Tukaram.
It's very interesting how some saints leave their body. In Vrindavan, there is saint named Devraha Baba. When he took Maha Samadhi, his body was put inside a box with stones for Jal Samadhi. Then, the box was fully submerged in the river Yamuna. Jal Samadhi is the water burial of the body, letting it decompose until it disappears. One hour after they had put his body in Jal Samadhi, some devotees arrived and said, “We came from far away, and we would like to have the last Darshan of our Gurudev. Please let us to have his Darshan.” They were showed where the box was, and they went there by boat. The boxes used for the Jal Samadhi burial procedure have holes, where people can put their hands to touch the body. So they went there, dived into the river, and put their hands inside the holes. As they could not find the body of Gurudev, they thought, “Maybe it’s mistake.” When people heard about this incident, they started wondering what could have happened to the body. Then, thousands of people came to the Devraha Baba Jal Samadhi. The box was taken out from the river, still sealed with nails. People said that somebody had stolen the body of the saint, but that could not have happened because the box was still sealed. When the box was finally opened, there were just flowers inside it. His body had disappeared.
It happened the same way with Kabir and Trailanga Swami. Trailanga Swami was a saint from Varanasi, who lived for almost 300 years. After his Maha Samadhi, while the box with his huge body was being carried to the Ganges, the box fell down and opened a little bit. People said, “Maybe it is the will of Gurudev, so that we can see his face one last time.” Then, everybody saw that his body had disappeared. And, he was not a small person! It is said that he was seven feet tall and very big. In his place there were only flowers.
So Jadabharata gave this knowledge to the king, saying that all that is born on Earth will dissolve and will go back to Earth. When you cut a tree, after some time, what happens? The leaves start falling down, and a month later the leaves have also disappeared down into the soil. All that you have taken from here, when you leave, you will leave here. This physical body is made up of the five elements, which have been taken from here. When you die, you will leave these elements here. They go back into nature. Everything dissolves and regains its atomic form. But you take with you your good punya.
Furthermore, Jadabharata told the king that all activities on Earth are not the true reality, because when pralaya happens everything disappears. Even the atom form disappears into the Supreme Lord Himself, so that He can create again.
This is His Maya, the illusion of His creation. This is how He deludes the minds of Man. Maya created the three gunas, the three basic qualities of material nature: sattva, rajas and tamas. These gunas are present in everybody, and in everything, and they represent the power through which Maya operates. Only Ananda is real, because Ananda is Bhagavan. Ananda is God. Ananda doesn’t have a beginning nor an end, and this is your true form, who you really are. Bhagavan Himself is manifested through His own power, taking the aspect of devotion, devotee, and God. When you are on the spiritual path, and when your mind is fully absorbed into the Lord, all these three become one. All these three become only Ananda, only supreme bliss, Premananda. Prem is Ananda, there is no difference between them. Prem is Bhagavan, and Ananda is Bhagavan. Prem and Ananda go together. So your true aspect is Premananda, the ultimate form of Love. You are Love! Love is what links you to the Ultimate, this Ananda. But first, this Premananda has to awaken inside you, and only then will Bhagavan reveal Himself.
Here, Jadabharata continues explaining to the king, “On a physical level, a man acts like a trader who is always after wealth and riches.” Your mind always makes you think that there is never enough. You always want to accumulate more, more, more. This is the nature of man. Whether it is knowledge, material wealth, or spiritual wealth, you always want to get more.
Jadabharata tells the king that the physical body is like a jungle infested with thieves. The thieves are the mind and the senses, feeding the lower qualities, which snatch one away from the true identity. These lower qualities are pride, arrogance, lust, jealousy, envy, ego. Jadabharata says to the king, “The spiritual knowledge is the real wealth of a person. The thieves are always trying to snatch it away. However, through sincere bhakti, through heartfelt devotion to the Lord, one keeps the thieves under control.”