Text 11] The Supreme Character of Jaḍa Bharata
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TEXT 11
यदा तु परत आहारं कर्मवेतनत ईहमानः स्वभ्रातृभिरपि केदारकर्मणि निरूपितस्तदपि करोति किन्तु न समं विषमं न्यूनमधिकमिति वेद कणपिष्याकृफलीकरणकुल्माषस्थालीपुरीषादीन्यप्यमृतवदम्यत्रहरति ॥ ११ ॥
yadā tu parata āhāram karma-vetanata īhamānaḥ sva-bhrātrbhir api kedāra-karmaṇi nirūpitas tad api karoti kintu na samam viṣamam nyūnam adhikam iti veda kaṇa-piṇyāka-phalī-karaṇa-kulmāṣa- sthālīpurīṣādīny apy amṛtavad abhyavaharati.
yadā—when; tu—but; parataḥ—from others; āhāram—food; karma-vetanataḥ—in exchange for wages from working; īhamānaḥ— looking for; sva-bhrātrbhiḥ api—even by his own stepbrothers; kedāra- karmaṇi—in working in the field and adjusting the agricultural work; nirūpitaḥ—engaged; tat api—at that time also; karoti—he used to do; kintu—but; na—not; samam—level; viṣamam—uneven; nyūnam— deficient; adhikam—more raised; iti—thus; veda—he knew; kaṇa— broken rice; piṇyāka—oil cakes; phalī-karaṇa—the chaff of rice; kulmāṣa—worm-eaten grains; sthālī-purīṣa-ādīni—burned rice stuck to the pot and so on; api—even; amṛta-vat—like nectar; abhyavaharati— used to eat.
TRANSLATION
Jaḍa Bharata used to work only for food. His stepbrothers took advantage of this and engaged him in agricultural field work in exchange for some food, but actually he did not know how to work very well in the field. He did not know where to spread dirt or where to make the ground level or uneven. His brothers used to give him broken rice, oil cakes, the chaff of rice, worm-eaten grains and burned grains that had stuck to the pot, but he gladly accepted all this as if it were nectar. He did not hold any grudges and ate all this very gladly.
PURPORT
The platform of  paramahaṁsa  is described in  Bhagavad-gītā  (2.15):  sama-duḥkha-sukhaṁ dhīraṁ so 'mṛtatvāya kalpate.  When one is