shuddhayati hi nantaratma
krishnapadambhoja bhaktimrite
"Without devotion to Shri Krishna even the
purification of the mind is not possible." All the scriptures unanimously
declare that without devotion or surrender to God, it is impossible to attain
God. To achieve the ultimate goal of life the following process is recommended:
First, surrender to your Guru serve him with your whole being and completely
follow his instructions for practicing devotion to God. Always regard God and
your Guru to be one. By this practice, when your mind becomes completely
purified, your Guru will grace you with Divine love. Immediately you will
attain your goal of Divine Bliss and you will be freed from the bondage of Maya
and the effect of three modes of Maya, triguna, the three humours of the
body, tridosha, the five afflictions, panchaklesha and the five
material sheaths covering the soul, panchakosha will be removed forever.
There are contradictory views in our scriptures regarding the means to attain
God. On the side it is stated that devotion is the only means, but on the other
side, sankirtana is declared as the best means in Kali yuga to
attain God.
koti koti muni yatna karahim,
anta rama kahi avata nahim
(Ramayana)
Even the greatest of yogis and sages, who
make innumerable efforts to remember God's name during their lifetime, fail to
take His name at the final moment. In the world, people use various techniques
like hanging Shri Krishna's pictures everywhere in the room of a dying person
and placing the Gita on his chest and dropping the holy water of the
river Ganges into his mouth. But none of these techniques helps. because of the
intolerable pain of death, no one's mind and intellect can function. Then the
question of the senses working, does not even arise. Therefore, while dying it
is quite impossible for anyone to call out or even remember somebody. It is
only possible for the person who leaves his body of his own free will, and not
for Ajamila or anybody else. Only a God realized saint, who leaves his body of
his own free will, can do so.
Many times I have explained to you, how the soul
of a saint departs from his body. There are a total of 720 million nadis
or subtle channels in our body. Out of these nadis, 101 are directed
towards the head, and among these, one penetrates the centre of the head. This
is the track taken by the soul of a God realized Saint while leaving the body.
However, Yamaraja, the God of death, personally approaches a Saint before his
leaving the body. He offers his obeisances at his lotus feet and humbly reminds
him, The time period that you had decided to be on this earth is over. If
you desire, you may stay longer or leave for your divine abode, Goloka.
Since no law is applicable to a Saint, Yamaraja cannot compel him to leave his
body. Yamaraja approaches even God during His descension period. You must have
heard or read about the meeting between Yamaraja and Shri Ram. As Shri Rama's
servant, it was Yamaraja's duty to remind Him that eleven thousand years were
over. He said, "You are the Lord of the entire universe. You can choose to
either stay or leave. I have just come to remind You that the period of Your
descension is over."
So Yamaraja pays his obeisances, then the soul of
a God realized Saint departs from the body following the upward route; carried
by sunrays he crosses the universe and arrives at God's divine abode. He leaves
the body out of his own free will. However, a worldly person due to his strong
attachment to his relatives does not happily want to leave the world and so his
soul is forcibly separted from the body by the messengers of Yamaraja. That is
why at the time of death, he wants all his loved ones around him. This is my
mother, this is my father, this is my child, this is my grandchild, these are
all my relatives. He wants to embrace everyone, as though he would attain
God in this manner! However, all this happens before death while one still has
consciousness. At the time of death a worldly person cannot remember anyone as
his mind and intellect cease functioning. However, a Saint has no attachments
to this world, not even to his own body. Therefore, he leaves his body out of
his own free will. He constantly remembers God, whether he takes God’s name or
not he definitely goes to God’s abode.
antavattu phalam
tesham tadbhavatyalpamedhasam
devandevayajo yanti
madbhakta yanti mamapi
(Gita 7.23)
“One attains, after death, whatever one is
attached to in one’s lifetime. Those who worship celestial gods go to the
celestial gods, but those who love Me, come to Me.”
yanti devavrata
devanpitriinyanti pitrivratah
bhutani yanti
bhutejya yanti madyajino’pi mam
(Gita 9.25)
“Those who worship the celestial gods will go to
the celestial gods, those who worship their ancestors will go to the ancestors,
those who worship lower beings will go to the lower beings but those who
worship Me, will come to Me.” From above it is clear that whoever we are
attached to is what we will attain. Even a
paramahamsa (self-realized soul) like Bharata developed attachment for a
baby deer. At the time of his death he was concerned about the fawn’s welfare
and consequently he received the body of a deer in his next birth. When such
was the state of a great paramahamsa,
then how could an ordinary human being remember God or chant His names at the
time of death and attain Divine Bliss? One has to think now about one’s welfare
and act accordingly. Thus there is no importance to the verbal chanting of God’
name at the time of death. All that matters is loving remembrance of God. The
cause of bondage and of liberation is the mind. Whether you verbally chant or
not, your mind should be attached to God. Deaf, dumb and blind, attain God.
Suradasa, who was blind, attained God. There is no need for the external
senses; the mind alone is required for constant loving remembrance of God.
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