In the 5th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, we hear the story of how Bharata Maharaja became attracted to a deer and ended up becoming an animal in his next life, even after renouncing his kingdom and family to dedicate himself to practicing devotional service.
The story is that Bharata Maharaja once saw a pregnant female deer being attacked by a lion. Terrified, she aborted her embryo and died shortly afterward. Seeing the unfortunate young deer, Bharata Maharaja couldn’t avoid giving it shelter. However, as he started feeding and taking care of the deer he grew attached to it, and gradually abandoned his spiritual practice. At the time of death, he thought of the deer and thus had to become a deer in his next life. It took him two more lives until he was able to finally go back to Godhead.
Bharata Maharaja was not an ordinary person. He was extremely advanced in the practice of devotional service, especially after renouncing his kingdom. It’s described that “In the gardens of Pulaha-āśrama, Mahārāja Bharata lived alone and collected a variety of flowers, twigs, and tulasī leaves. He also collected the water of the Gaṇḍakī River, as well as various roots, fruits, and bulbs. With these he offered food to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vāsudeva, and, worshiping Him, he remained satisfied. In this way, his heart was completely uncontaminated, and he did not have the least desire for material enjoyment. All material desires vanished. In this steady position, he felt full satisfaction and was situated in devotional service.” (SB 5.7.11)
Being so elevated, to the point of not having the least desire for sense gratification, how could he fall down by becoming attached to a deer, to the point of becoming a deer in his next life?
There are many occasions when pure devotees act in mysterious ways, like Maharaja playing dice and gambling his kingdom and eventually even his wife, Bhismadeva not protesting when Draupadi was being insulted, Arjuna refusing to fight in the battle of Kuruksetra and so on. One could question how pure devotees can commit such mistakes, but these are ultimately pastimes enacted under the dictation of Krsna. If Yudhistira Maharaja had not joined the dice game, the Pandavas would not have lost their kingdom, and thus the whole pastime leading to the battle of Kurukshetra would not have happened. Similarly, if Arjuna had not lamented for his relatives and refused to fight in the battle, Krsna would not have had the opportunity to narrate to him the Bhagavad Gita.
Pure devotees know how to dovetail their activities with the will of the Lord, and thus Krsna can dictate their actions from inside the heart. This happens even with us, the difference is that we often ignore the dictation of Krsna, while pure devotees know how to harmonize their desires with the desires of the Lord. This is what is called Yogamaya, or the spiritual illusory potency of Krsna. Is under this potency that Mother Yashoda tries to bind Krsna with a rope, that the gopis rebuke Krsna, and that even Krsna Himself gets involved in His pastimes and momentarily forgets that He is God.
There is the material Maya, that binds us to the material world, and there is the spiritual Maya, that connects us with Krsna. Pure devotees also fall under the spell of Maya, but it’s not the material Maya like us. The Maya they fall under is the spiritual Maya, which makes them cooperate with the pastimes of Krsna. Even when they appear to commit a mistake, that’s usually to teach us some important lesson.
The pastime of Bharata Maharaja is quite important because it teaches us about an important issue in our spiritual life, which is attachment to our dependents.
Of course, while we are in family life, that’s perfectly normal and healthy. A husband who doesn’t have an attachment to his wife and children will probably not be able to take proper care of his family. Srila Prabhupada comments that attachment in this context is natural, it just should not be excessive.
However, this attachment to dependents can present itself in a much more dangerous form later in our spiritual lives.
How can someone like Bharata Maharaja who became indifferent to the urges of the senses become attached and fall down from his position? The point is that there is something more subtle and harder to surpass than it.
Frequently we speak about the difficulty in controlling our sexual impulses and how this is detrimental to our spiritual path, however, attachment to dependents can be an even more subtle and formidable problem, that may affect us later in our spiritual lives.
Bhajananandis avoid this problem by just abandoning the world and focusing on their own spiritual practice, far away from all distractions. However, a preacher has to interact with people and help them to advance in their spiritual lives. He has to accept many dependents in the form of followers, disciples, and so on. It’s not difficult for even someone in the renounced order to start seeing himself as the doer, and thus to become attached to them, just like one can easily get attached to his children.
Having followers can be the greatest allurement of Maya because it acts in the deepest areas of our ego. We come to this word to imitate Krsna, and this implies getting love and attention from others and being the center of attention. This is much harder to give up than sexual attraction or other types of enjoyment of the senses. Once one gets this attention, being from disciples and followers or even from a deer, one can easily become addicted to it, and start “playing the game”, just doing whatever is necessary to increase the number of followers and get more attention from them. That’s basically what many of us are doing on social networks nowadays.
At this point, one may continue externally performing his spiritual sadhana (as Bharata Maharaja was doing) while internally meditating simply on the objects of his attachment and how to increase it. This in turn usually leads to a fall down, since subtle attraction and attachment can easily progress into more carnal affection, but even if there is no such gross fall down, just the subtle attraction can be sufficient to lead one to another material body, just like in the case of Bharata Maharaja.
To avoid that, one needs to be very firm in the idea of being an instrument of Krsna. He may be using us as instruments to perform amazing deeds, but we must not take credit for it, just as a hammer or a chisel can’t take credit for a sculpture made through them. When we are fixed on this idea, we can pass whatever attention we are receiving upwards, to our spiritual master and ultimately to Krsna. Acting as an instrument and out of a sense of duty, we can avoid this last trap of Maya and continue our path back home, back to Godhead.
This same approach can also be cultivated in family life. When one does not see himself as the doer, but simply as an instrument of Krsna, he can perform his duties to his family without developing unhealthy attachment to them. This is one of the secrets of family life in Krsna Consciousness since unhealthy attachment is one of the greatest sources of problems. One who is unhealthily attached will try to control or even manipulate his dependents, which can have very negative consequences. Only one who acts as an instrument for Krsna can have the peace of mind to guide them in the direction that is best for them, and not for himself.