Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana Book 5 Chapter 7:8-14

Book 5: Chapter 7

Srimad Bhagvata Mahapurana: Book 5: Chapter 7: Verses 8-14 The story of Bharata Having concluded at the end of ten million years that the store of merit responsible for his royal fortune must have thus been exhausted by that time, he proportionately divided among his own sons the hereditary fortune he had been legitimately enjoying (till then), and himself retired as a recluse from his own residence, which was the abode of all prosperity, to the hermitage of the sage Pulaha (situated on the bank of the river Gandaki and known as the Salagramaksetra). Impelled by His paternal affection for His own devotees residing in that hermitage, it is said, Lord Sri Hari reveals Himself there in their desired form even today. The holy river Cakranadi (Gandaki or Gandaka) hallows on all sides the (various) places of this hermitage through contact with circular (wheel-like) pebbles having nave-like marks on both sides (above as well as below). Duly performing all alone the worship of the Lord through flowers and tender leaves of various kinds, particularly the leaves of the holy basil plant, and water as well as through edibles such as bulbs, roots and fruits, in a lonely retreat in the grove of the said hermitage, Bharata was rid of all craving for the pleasures of sense and, developing (great) tranquillity of mind, derived supreme gratification. His heart melted and was benumbed (as it were) under the pressure of exceptionally increasing love for the Lord, occasioned by incessant worship of the Supreme Person carried on in the aforesaid manner. The hair stood on their end all over his body as a result of intense delight; his eyes were bedimmed by tears of love proceeding from an ardent longing (to meet the Lord); and his consciousness being drowned in the deep lake of his heart, brimming over with supreme felicity flowing from devotion-which was enriched by constant thought of the feet of his beloved Lord, red as a lotus-he forgot even the worship that was being done by him as aforesaid. Having thus undertaken vows of propitiating the Lord and looking very bright in his covering of deerskin and with his head of tawny, curly and matted hair wet through ablutions performed thrice (everyday), he waited upon the all-effulgent Lord Narayana (the Supreme Person)-as manifested in the orb of the rising sun-with hymns addressed to the sun-god and prayed as follows :- The Light (constituting the very essence) of the sun-god, which lies beyond the material plane (is made up of Sattva unmixed with Rajas and Tamas), dispenses the fuit of our actions, it is the same Light which evolved this (phenomena) uiverse y its mere thought and again, entering it (as its inner Controller), protects the Jiva, seeking its protection, with Its power of consciousness. We resort to that Light, which propels our intellect. Thus ends the seveth discourse, forming part of the story of Emperor Bharata, dealing (mainly) with the worship of the Lord, in Book Five of the great and glorious bhagavata-Purana, otherwise known as the Paramahamsa-Samhita