296
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 5, Ch. 8]
past  karma . It may appear to be due to past  karma , but it is offered to rectify the devotee and bring him to pure devotional service.
TEXT 27
तदानीमपि पार्श्ववर्तिनमात्मजमिवानुशोचन्तमभिवीक्षमाणो मृगएवाभिनिवेशित- मना विसृज्य लोकमिमं सह मृगेण कलेवरं मृतमनु न मृतजन्मानुस्मृति- रितरवन्मृगशरीरमवाप ॥२७॥
tadānīm api pārśva-vartinam ātmajam ivānuśocantam abhivīkṣamāṇo mṛga evābhiniveśita-manā visṛjya lokam imaṁ saha mṛgeṇa kalevaraṁ mṛtam anu na mṛta-janmānusmṛtir itaravan mṛga-śarīram avāpa.
tadānīm —at that time;  api —indeed;  pārśva-vartinam —by the side of his deathbed;  ātma-jam —his own son;  iva —like;  anuśocantam —lamenting;  abhivīkṣamāṇaḥ —seeing;  mṛge —in the deer;  eva —certainly;  abhiniveśita-manāḥ —his mind was absorbed;  visṛjya —giving up;  lokam —world;  imam —this;  saha —with;  mṛgeṇa —the deer;  kalevaram —his body;  mṛtam —died;  anu —thereafter;  na —not;  mṛta —destroyed;  janma-anusmṛtiḥ —remembrance of the incident before his death;  itara-vat —like others;  mṛga-śarīram —the body of a deer;  avāpa —got.
TRANSLATION
At the time of death, the King saw that the deer was sitting by his side, exactly like his own son, and was lamenting his death. Actually the mind of the King was absorbed in the body of the deer, and consequently—like those bereft of Kṛṣṇa consciousness—he left the world, the deer, and his material body and acquired the body of a deer. However, there was one advantage. Although he lost his human body and received the body of a deer, he did not forget the incidents of his past life.
PURPORT
There was a difference between Bharata Mahārāja's acquiring a deer body and others' acquiring different bodies according to their mental