296 Srimad-Bhagavatam [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

aerataty qedafdaneastaaaasecattararon arcana fra-
wa fiasa orafid ag aig aati aang a aasengeala-
RATTAN 21

tadanim api parsva-vartinam atmajam ivanusocantam abhiviksamano
mrga evabhinivesita-mana visrjya lokam imam saha mrgena kalevaram
mrtam anu na mrta-janmanusmrtir itaravan mrga-Sariram avapa.

taddnim—at that time; api—indeed: pdrsva-vartinam—by the side of
his deathbed; dtma-jam—his own son; iva—like; anusocantam—
lamenting; abhiviksamdnah—seeing; mrge—in the deer; eva—cer-
tainly: abhinivesita-manadh—his mind was absorbed; visrjya—giving
up; lokam—world; imam—this; saha—with; mrgena—the deer;
kalevaram—his body: mrtam—died: anu—thereafter: na—not;
mrta—destroyed: janma-anusmrtih—remembrance of the incident
before his death; itara-vat—like others; mrga-sariram—the body of a
deer; avapa—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. Ac-
tually the mind of the King was absorbed in the body of the deer,
and consequently —like those bereft of Krsna 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 Maharaja's acquiring a deer
body and others’ acquiring different bodies according to their mental
