Text 22
āsādita-haviṣi barhiṣi dūṣite mayopālabdho bhīta-bhītaḥ sapady uparata-rāsa ṛṣi-kumāravad avahita-karaṇa-kalāpa āste.
āsādita — placed; haviṣi — all the ingredients to be offered in the sacrifice; barhiṣi — on the kuśa grass; dūṣite — when polluted; mayā upālabdhaḥ — being scolded by me; bhīta-bhītaḥ — in great fear; sapadi — immediately; uparata-rāsaḥ — stopped its playing; ṛṣi-kumāravat — exactly like the son or disciple of a saintly person; avahita — completely restrained; karaṇa-kalāpaḥ — all the senses; āste — sits.
When I placed all the sacrificial ingredients on the kuśa grass, the deer, when playing, would touch the grass with its teeth and thus pollute it. When I chastised the deer by pushing it away, it would immediately become fearful and sit down motionless, exactly like the son of a saintly person. Thus it would stop its play.
Bharata Mahārāja was constantly thinking of the activities of the deer, forgetting that such meditation and diversion of attention was killing his progress in spiritual achievement.