318 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 5, Ch. 9

knowing his real position; avamatah—being disrespected; vicacaéra—he
wandered.

TRANSLATION

Degraded men are actually no better than animals. The only
difference is that animals have four legs and such men have only
two. These two-legged, animalistic men used to call Jada Bharata
mad, dull, deaf and dumb. They mistreated him, and Jada Bharata
behaved for them like a madman who was deaf, blind or dull. He
did not protest or try to convince them that he was not so. If others
wanted him to do something, he acted according to their desires.
Whatever food he could acquire by begging or by wages, and
whatever came of its own accord —be it a small quantity, palatable,
stale or tasteless—he would accept and eat. He never ate anything
for sense gratification because he was already liberated from the
bodily conception, which induces one to accept palatable or un-
palatable food. He was full in the transcendental consciousness of
devotional service, and therefore he was unaffected by the
dualities arising from the bodily conception. Actually his body was
as strong as a bull’s, and his limbs were very muscular. He didn’t
care for winter or summer, wind or rain, and he never covered his
body at any time. He lay on the ground, and never smeared oil on
his body or took a bath. Because his body was dirty, his spiritual
effulgence and knowledge were covered, just as the splendor of a
valuable gem is covered by dirt. He only wore a dirty loincloth and
his sacred thread, which was blackish. Understanding that he was
born in a brahmana family, people would call him a brahma-
bandhu and other names. Being thus insulted and neglected by
materialistic people, he wandered here and there.

PURPORT

Srila Narottama dasa Thakura has sung: deha-smrti nahi yara, sam-
sdra-bandhana kahan tara. One who has no desire to maintain the body
or who is not anxious to keep the body in order and who is satisfied in
any condition must be either mad or liberated. Actually Bharata
Maharaja in his birth as Jada Bharata was completely liberated from
material dualities. He was a paramaharnsa and therefore did not care for
bodily comfort.
