Born and brought up in Rode village near Moga in Punjab, India, he moved to Canada in 1960s.

His book Leela (ਲੀਲਾ), co-authored with his brother Ajmer Rode, is more than 1000 pages long and is considered one of the most important Punjabi poetry works of the twentieth century.

[2] In 2012 he wrote a long poem Lali(ਲਾਲੀ), based on the iconic character of Prof Hardiljeet Singh who taught in Punjabi University, Patiala and was known as 'Lali'.

The book was also a tribute to the legendary Bhootwara (ghost house) in Patiala that was a centre of intellectual activities involving Lali among others with Sutinder Singh Noor, Gurbhagat Singh, Harinder Singh Mehboob, Prem Pali, Amarjit Sathi, Surjit Lee and Kulwant Grewal besides Bharati.

[4] While living in India, Bharati was a three-time winner (1959, 1960, 1961) of the Best Poet of the State award, given by the Punjab Languages Department.