[Advaita-l] ***UNCHECKED*** Re: Doesn't a mentally challenged person deserve Moksha in this lifetime ?

[Akilesh Ayyar]

True, but he *seemed* to be to all appearances for most of his life, thus
the part of the story which says: "...but would not speak a word, and lived
as one inert and insane..."

On Tue, Jul 14, 2020 at 1:38 AM V Subrahmanian <v.subrahmanian at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Jada Bharata was not a mentally challenged person. His wisdom found
> expression in that famous dialogue with King Rahugana that is described in
> the Bhagavatam. His instruction to the King is a highest Vedantic discourse.
>
> On Tue, Jul 14, 2020 at 1:00 AM Akilesh Ayyar via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
>> Namaste,
>>
>> I'll just make one point in response: the so-called mentally challenged
>> can
>> also obtain moksha, depending on their prior karma. The famous story of
>> Jada Bharata from Srimad Bhagavatam illustrates. Swami Vivekananda's
>> retelling of this story is at:
>>
>> https://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_4/lectures_and_discourses/the_story_of_jada_bharata.htm
>> .
>>
>> Jada Bharata was a sage who became attached to a deer, and so was reborn
>> as
>> a deer, and then after that reborn as a son in a rich Brahmin family. "And
>> in that life also, he remembered all his past, and even in his childhood
>> was determined no more to get entangled in the good and evil of life. The
>> child, as it grew up, was strong and healthy, but would not speak a word,
>> and lived as one inert and insane, for fear of getting mixed up with
>> worldly affairs. His thoughts were always on the Infinite, and he lived
>> only to wear out his past Prârabdha Karma..."
>>
>> Hari Om,
>> Akilesh
>>
>>
>>
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