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A person had doubt about this statement—The emperor of such a large empire is a person with few karmas and I, a destitute, am a person with many karmas? How partial Bhagavan is?
When chakravarti Bharat came to know about this, he called the man, gave him a bowl filled to the brim with oil in his hand and said, "Walk around Ayodhya city and come back. Beware that if one single drop of oil is spilled you will be beheaded."
The poor man started his walk with the oil filled bowl in his hand. Behind him walked the king's guards. The city was full of interesting activities like singing and dancing, various other entertainments, decorated shops etc. But passing through all this hubbub, the man was only looking at the oil filled bowl in his hands. He walked around the city with all his attention focussed at the bowl.
When he came back, chakravarti Bharat asked, “Brother, what all did you see in the city?"
"Sire, how could I see anything? My eyes were looking at this bowl all the time. Had I looked anywhere else the oil would have spilled. The fear of death confronted me every moment. And therefore, I focussed all my attention on the bowl while going around the city.”
Bharat chakravarti said, “Brother, I also live with this empire exactly in the same way. I am moving through this journey of life having all my attention focussed at my soul. If I shift my attention away from the soul and get distracted by the mundane pleasures and comforts, I will be caught in this cycle of life and death. That is why I take care not to get absorbed in this large empire. That is the reason Bhagavan Rishabhdev has called me a man with few karmas. And now please judge this for yourself."
The man understood the statement about chakravarti Bharat being a man with few karmas.
One day Bharat chakravarti came into his dressing room after his bath. After adorning himself with regal dress and ornaments he was pleased to look at his reflection in the full length mirror. Suddenly he looked at the index finger of his right hand. The usual ring was not on the finger. It must have fallen down. The finger looked bare and ordinary without the adornment. He thought, 'In contrast with the richly adorned body, this bare finger looks very ordinary. Why the finger has lost its grandeur just because of the absence of a ring? Is the body beautiful only when adorned with ornaments? Does it have no beauty of its own? All this beauty is unreal and superficial.' King Bharat indulged in introspection. He started putting off his adornments one by one and observed the result. A mirror reflects reality and the king was confronted with it now. He thought, 'Oh ! All this grandeur is superficial. My body has lost its glamour the moment it lost the ornaments. The train of his thoughts took a turn. Pondering over the ephemeral and
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