While undergoing various vicissitudes of the life, a person comes across various experiences that throw the mind in elation, and at the same time rob it from even a inch of peace. The mind is often thrown to the fields where the sprouts of Vairagya (detachment) grow aplenty. However, these sprouts of detachment are often momentary and on the scale of spirituality, they are termed as counterfeit.
I have myself gone through these thoughts various times. However, these feelings are fleeting and the attractions or this world often bind me back. The mind is too weak to avoid savoring the food of senses. However, when you look at the example set by brother Bharata when Lord Rama was sent to exile, you just marvel at the spirit of detachment that grows when your beloved one is sent away or you lose something that is more beloved than your own self.
I am referring to the incident when he learnt that due to his mother’s attachment to make her son the kind, Lord Rama, most beloved of her mother and him too, is sent to the forest exile, he couldn’t bear it. He was burdened under the pile of shame and sorrow. The only emotion that sprouted out was of detachment. The whole regal paraphernalia and royal living style pricked him like nothing. He threw away everything and moved to a nearby village from his capital city and started living like a hermit, where he ruled over the kind with utmost detachment but performing his duties. He lamented over his misfortune that while brother Lakshmana could serve Lord Rama in his immediate presence, he could not get the chance. This thought made him serve Lord Rama in a detached way, which Lord Rama hailed as one of the brightest virtues. Lord Rama declared that he deems brother Bharata equally to brother Lakshmana.
However, this genuine detachment arouses only if the love is genuine, which is rare to possess. The depth of this type of love marks the depth of detachment that ensues.
I see no other example in parallel to this grown detachment. Brother Bharata’s love for Lord Rama is unparalleled in this spirit.
