You Become What You Think: Think Positive, Live Positive

There was a controversy sometime back on the name of this great country. What is widely known as India is also known as Bharath and this ancient name owes its fame to an erstwhile king Bharatha. This is the story of the great king Bharatha.

Bharatha was the son of King Dushyanta & Shakuntala. There is an interesting story about his childhood and how he got united with his father, but that story is not important in the current context.

As a young man he was brought up by his father and taught in the Kshatriya dharma, Bharata ruled the land as per the ‘dharma’ he learnt. He ruled the vast corners of the land which later came to be known as the land of King Bharatha.

After fulfilling his duties as a King, he transferred all his duties to his children and moved to a forest to meditate with the ultimate purpose of attaining ‘moksham’, liberation from the cycle of birth and death.

He soared in realization; his meditation was getting better & better. He was spending last days of his life in search of the ultimate knowledge, brahmam.

Once Bharata was meditating peacefully on the banks of the river 'Chakra'. A lonely pregnant doe was drinking water from the same river. The doe heard a sudden roar of a lion from a short distance and got frightened. Terrified doe jumped into the river. In its flight, it gave birth to a baby doe which fell into the river and the mother doe died hitting a rock on the other side.

Baby Doe was carried by the river current to where Bharatha was meditating. Overcome by the compassion for that little, hapless doe, sage Bharata took pity on the doe, got up from his meditation, saved the doe and took it to his place. He started taking due care of the doe out of empathy.

He would bring milk for the doe from other animals, he brought the sweetest of delicate grass for the doe to eat. The doe considered him to be its mother. As it grew, it filled his heart with joy, but it also made him stray from his spiritual practices. The doe would come and sit on his lap disturbing his meditation and he would start playing with the doe leaving his meditation.

The King's spiritual practices had become irregular. Lots of his time was spent on the doe. A King who had left his entire kingdom, his children, wife and luxury of the palace was now attached deeply to a doe, such is the destiny.

One day he couldn't find the doe anywhere near the cottage. He looked for it all day and couldn't find it. He was overcome with intense pain. His old body couldn't take the toll. Bharata died thinking of the doe.

King Bharata because of his attachment to the doe was reborn in the womb of a doe in his next birth. Though he was born a doe, he retained the memories of his previous birth. He lamented his fascination for the doe in his previous birth. The initial compassion for a young hapless creature is good but he should have sensed the danger when his attachment to the doe was stopping him from his pursuit of the ultimate knowledge.

The story of Jadabharathar continues but this much is enough for our current discussion theme.

Don’t you believe in the stories of rebirth? You don’t have to. What is important here is the message ‘You become what you think the most’. It need not wait for the rebirth. You would become what you think even in this birth. So, what are you waiting for? “Think higher for the most and you will reach higher and higher”.

எண்ணங்களின் உயர்வு  ஏற்றங்களில் நிறைவு  - ஜெகந்நாதன்

I would like to conclude this blog with the thoughts of the most successful and well-respected leader in the entire world, Mahatma Gandhi, on his birth anniversary.

“A man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks he becomes.” - Mahatma Gandhi

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