King Bhartr
ihari was greatly attracted to his wife, but she had no such attraction for him. Rather, she was attracted to her husband’s commander-in-chief, who was also extremely handsome. Therefore, a few days after receiving the excellent necklace, she gave it to the commander-in-chief, desiring to please him.
Although the queen was very attached to the commander-in-chief, he did not feel the same way about her. He was attached to a prostitute. A few days after receiving the necklace, he presented it to that prostitute, desiring to please her. The prostitute did not feel the same way about the commander-in-chief, however, for she was attached to the king. One day she presented that very necklace to the king, desiring to please him.
Seeing the necklace, the king became distressed and asked her from where she had gotten it. Frightened, she did not reply. The incensed king then said, “If you don’t tell me the truth, I will cut off your head.” The prostitute then revealed the truth of the matter to the king, who left her and took the necklace to the commander-in chief.
King Bhartrihari asked his commander-in-chief, “Where did you get this? If you tell me the truth I will not harm you, but if you try to conceal it from me I will have your head removed.” The commander-in-chief revealed the truth to him, and at that moment the king realized that there is no true love in this world. He at once made up his mind to give up all his worldly attachments. He left his palace, his kingdom, and his opulent attire, and he became a very famous renunciant and spiritualist.
If that kind of detachment has come, then one can give up one’s worldly duties and become renounced. He is qualified at that time to become a bhakta. When there is actual detachment, that person will hear hari-katha from the devotee, and by that, sraddha (faith) in krsna-bhakti will come. He will then be qualified to think, "If I simply engage in bhakti, devotion to Lord Krsna, everything is complete and my life will be successful." This is the proper way to see things. -NM
Note: Bhartrihari wrote three collections or shatakas of poems. The Srngara gives us little pictures of love and love-making. The Vairagya describes a gradual withdrawal from worldly matters, and the Niti deals with ethical conduct. Topics not very conducive to poetry, perhaps, yet Bhartrihari shows Sanskrit at its best: profound, pithy and beautifully clear. Each of the shatakahs contains one hundred poems, generally just of four lines, sometimes two. But the content of each poem may be as wide as that of fourteen lines in the English sonnet, and can print out in more when all nuances are translated. The poems are entertaining, observant, wry and often deeply reflective. -Wikipedia
