Text 17
api kṣemeṇāsminn āśramopavane śaṣpāṇi carantaṁ deva-guptaṁ drakṣyāmi.
api — it may be; kṣemeṇa — with fearlessness because of the absence of tigers and other animals; asmin — in this; āśrama-upavane — garden of the hermitage; śaṣpāṇi carantam — walking and eating the soft grasses; deva-guptam — being protected by the demigods; drakṣyāmi — shall I see.
Alas, is it possible that I shall again see this animal protected by the Lord and fearless of tigers and other animals? Shall I again see him wandering in the garden eating soft grass?
Mahārāja Bharata thought that the animal was disappointed in his protection and had left him for the protection of a demigod. Regardless, he ardently desired to see the animal again within his āśrama eating the soft grass and not fearing tigers and other animals. Mahārāja Bharata could think only of the deer and how the animal could be protected from all kinds of inauspicious things. From the materialistic point of view such kind thoughts may be very laudable, but from the spiritual point of view the King was actually falling from his exalted spiritual position and unnecessarily becoming attached to an animal. Thus degrading himself, he would have to accept an animal body.