Once upon a time the great saint Nārada, after visiting Lord Nārāyaṇa in the Vaikuṇṭha, went to Prayāga to bathe. Nārada Muni saw that a deer was lying on the path through the forest and was pierced by an arrow. It had broken legs and was twisting due to much pain. Farther ahead, Nārada Muni saw a boar suffering in the same condition. Farther, he saw a rabbit that was also suffering. Nārada Muni was greatly pained at heart to see living entities suffer.When Nārada Muni advanced farther, he saw a fiercly looking hunter with blackish body and reddish eyes behind a tree. This hunter was holding arrows, and he was ready to kill more animals. It was as if the superintendent of death, Yamarāja, were standing there with a bow and arrows in his hands.When Nārada Muni left the forest path and went to the hunter, all the animals immediately saw him and fled. The hunter wanted to chastise Nārada with abusive language, but due to Nārada’s presence, he could not utter anything.The hunter addressed Nārada Muni: “O gosvāmī! O great saintly person! Why have you left the general path through the forest to come to me? Simply by seeing you, all the animals I was hunting have fled.” Nārada Muni replied, “Leaving the path, I have come to you to settle a doubt that is in my mind.
I was wondering whether all the boars and other animals that are half-killed belong to you. Why did you not kill the animals completely? Why did you half-kill them by piercing their bodies with arrows?”The hunter replied, “My dear saintly person, my name is Mṛgāri, enemy of animals. My father taught me to kill them in that way. When I see half-killed animals suffer, I feel great pleasure.”Nārada Muni then told the hunter, “I have one thing to beg from you. From this day on kill animals completely and not leave them half-dead because if you leave the animals half-dead, you are purposefully giving them pain. Therefore you will have to suffer in retaliation. Your business is killing animals. That is a slight offense on your part.
But when you consciously give them unnecessary pain by leaving them half-dead, you incur very great sins. All the animals that you have killed and given unnecessary pain will kill you one after the other in your next life and in life after life.” In this way, through the association of the great sage Nārada Muni, the hunter was a little convinced of his sinful activity and said, “I have been taught this business from my very childhood. Now I am wondering how I can become freed from these unlimited volumes of sinful activity. My dear sir, please tell me how I can be relieved from the reactions of my sinful life. Please deliver me from sinful reactions.” Nārada Muni immediately ordered him, “First of all, break your bow.Then I shall tell you what is to be done.” The hunter replied, Nārada Muni replied, “Do not worry. I shall supply all your food every day.” Being thus assured, the hunter broke his bow. After this, Nārada Muni raised him with his hand and gave him instructions for spiritual advancement. Nārada Muni then advised the hunter, “Return home and distribute whatever riches you have to the pure brāhmaṇas who know the Absolute Truth. You and your wife should leave home, taking only one cloth to wear. Go to the river and construct a small cottage, and in front you should grow a tulasé plant on a raised platform. You should daily circum-ambulate that tulasé plant, serve her by giving her water and other things, and continuously chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra. ‘Every day I shall send sufficient food to you both.”The three animals that were half-killed were then brought to their consciousness by the sage Nārada. Mṛgāri then offered his respectful obeisances to the sage Nārada and returned home. Nārada Muni also went to his destination. The hunter exactly followed the instructions of his spiritual master, Nārada.
