SB 5.9.4
tasyapi ha va atmajasya viprah putra-snehanubaddha-mana asamavartanat samskaran yathopadesam vidadhana upanitasya ca punah saucacamanadin karma-niyaman anabhipretan api samasiksayad anusistena hi bhavyam pituh
putreneti.
Translation by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
The brahmana father’s mind was always filled with affection for his son, Jada Bharata [Bharata Maharaja]. Therefore he was always attached to Jada Bharata. Because Jada Bharata was unfit to enter the grhastha-asrama, he simply executed the purificatory process up to the end of the brahmacarya-asrama. Although Jada Bharata was unwilling to accept his father’s instructions, the brahmana nonetheless instructed him in how to keep clean and how to wash, thinking that the son should be taught by the father.
Purport by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada:
Jada Bharata was Bharata Maharaja in the body of a brahmana, and he outwardly conducted himself as if he were dull, deaf, dumb and blind. Actually he was quite alert within. He knew perfectly well of the results of fruitive activity and the results of devotional service. In the body of a brahmana, Maharaja Bharata was completely absorbed in devotional service within; therefore it was not at all necessary for him to execute the regulative principles of fruitive activity. As confirmed in Srimad-Bhagavatam: svanusthitasya dharmasya samsiddhir hari-tosanam (Bhag. 1.2.13). One has to satisfy Hari, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. That is the perfection of the regulative principles of fruitive activity. Besides that, it is stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam:
dharmah svanusthitah pumsam
visvaksena-kathasu yah
notpadayed yadi ratim
srama eva hi kevalam
“Duties [dharma] executed by men, regardless of occupation, are only so much useless labor if they do not provoke attraction for the message of the Supreme Lord.” (Bhag. 1.2.8) These karma-kanda activities are required as long as one has not developed Krsna consciousness. If one is developed in Krsna consciousness, there is no need to execute the prior regulative principles of karma-kanda. Srila Madhavendra Puri said, “O regulative principles of karma-kanda, please excuse me. I cannot follow all these regulative principles, for I am fully engaged in devotional service.” He expressed the desire to sit somewhere beneath a tree and continue chanting the Hare Krsna maha-mantra. Consequently he did not execute all the regulative principles. Similarly, Haridasa Thakura was born in a Mohammedan family. From the very beginning of his life he was never trained in the karma-kanda system, but because he was always chanting the holy name of the Lord, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu accepted him as namacarya, the authority in chanting the holy name. As Jada Bharata, Bharata Maharaja was always engaged in devotional service within his mind. Since he had executed the regulative principles continuously for three lives, he was not interested in continuing to execute them, although his brahmana father wanted him to do so.