निरूपितस्तदपि करोति किन्तु न समं विषमं न्यूनमधिकमिति वेद
कणपिण्याकफलीकरणकुल्माषस्थालीपुरीषादीन्यप्यमृतवदभ्यवहरति ॥११॥
yadÄ tu parata ÄhÄraá¹ karma-vetanata Ä«hamÄnaḥ sva-bhrÄtá¹›bhir api kedÄra-karmaṇi nirÅ«pitas tad api karoti kintu na samaá¹ viá¹£amaá¹ nyÅ«nam adhikam iti veda kaṇa-piṇyÄka-phalÄ«-karaṇa-kulmÄá¹£a-sthÄlÄ«purÄ«á¹£ÄdÄ«ny apy amá¹›tavad abhyavaharati
yadÄ - when; tu - but; parataḥ - from others; ÄhÄram - food; karma-vetanataḥ - in exchange for wages from working; Ä«hamÄnaḥ - looking for; sva-bhrÄtá¹›bhiḥ api - even by his own stepbrothers; kedÄra-karmaṇi - in working in the field and adjusting the agricultural work; nirÅ«pitaḥ - engaged; tat api - at that time also; karoti - he used to do; kintu - but; na - not; samam - level; viá¹£amam - uneven; nyÅ«nam - deficient; adhikam - more raised; iti - thus; veda - he knew; kaṇa - broken rice; piṇyÄka - oil cakes; phalÄ«-karaṇa - the chaff of rice; kulmÄá¹£a - worm-eaten grains; sthÄlÄ«-purÄ«á¹£a-ÄdÄ«ni - burned rice stuck to the pot and so on; api - even; amá¹›ta-vat - like nectar; abhyavaharati - used to eat.
Jaá¸a 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.
The platform of paramahaá¹sa is described in Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (2.15): sama-duḥkha-sukhaá¹ dhÄ«raá¹ so ’má¹›tatvÄya kalpate. When one is callous to all duality, the happiness and distress of this material world, one is fit for amá¹›tatva, eternal life. Bharata MahÄrÄja was determined to finish his business in this material world, and he did not at all care for the world of duality. He was complete in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and was oblivious to good and evil, happiness and distress. As stated in Caitanya-caritÄmá¹›ta (Cc. Antya 4.176):
‘dvaite’ bhadrÄbhadra-jñÄna, saba-‘manodharma’
‘ei bhÄla, ei manda’ — saba ‘bhrama’
“In the material world, conceptions of good and bad are all mental speculations. Therefore, saying, ‘This is good and this is bad,’ is all a mistake.†One has to understand that in the material world of duality, to think that this is good or that this is bad is simply a mental concoction. However, one should not imitate this consciousness; one should actually be situated on the spiritual platform of neutrality.
