THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 08
AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:
VERSE NUMBER 05
Text in Transliteration:
antakaale cha maam eva smaran muktvaa kalevaram
yah prayaati sa madbhaavam yaati naa ‘sty atra samsayah
Text in English:
And whoever, at the time of death, leaving the body, goes forth remembering Me alone, he attains My being: there is no doubt about this.
THE SUMMARY OF THE COMMENTARY OF SHANKARA:
antakale means the time at which death happens. mam eva indicates Vishnu. Those who think of this way the Lord while death happens attain the abode of Vishnu. There is no doubt about whether they go to Him like this or not.
THE SUMMARY OF THE COMMENTARY OF RAMANUJA:
Who at the time of leaving his body thinks of me alone, he attains my state. One Bhradhan thought of a deer at the time of his death and he had to come back here as a deer. Like that, who worships me in whatever way, they attain me that way. This is what has been said here.
THE SUMMARY OF THE COMMENTARY OF MADHVA:
madbhavam means subject to my word, with no worries, without any expectation, with full bliss. But this state does not indicate becoming like God.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBAHVANANANDA:
‘My being’, mentioned here comprises Iswara in His supreme state.
The essence of the sum total of the entire thoughts and feelings that have been taking place in the mind of man during the span of his life, stands condensed into a single state of mind at the time of his departure from the body. To effect the thought of the Lord at the last moment is therefore well nigh impossible. Preparation for it has to go on all through life. He who is absorbed in the thought of God while departing from the body gets merged in Cosmic Consciousness. And this is mukti getting which there is no more return to mundane life. This is the universal law; there need be no doubt about it.
What becomes of those who do not think of the Lord, but get fixed, in other thoughts at the time of death? The answer comes in the next verse.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
This verse takes up the point raised in VII, 30. The importance of the state of mind at the moment of death is emphasized in the Upanishads. Chandoygya Upanishad, III, 14, I; Prasna Upanishad, III, 10. We will think of God in the last moments only if we are devoted to Him previously also.
Comments by the blogger:
Thinking of the Lord even while normal life goes on is difficult for us. We are busy always. The children are busy either with their all-consuming homework or with some modern gadgets. Some years ago, a great scandal happened in a school in Tamil Nadu State whereby a set of students compelled another student to have an oral sex with them! This might shock you. The story does not end here. All the students were studying in the fifth or sixth standard. The boy went back home and told his mother and there was a great outrage. All this happens because the small children have uninhibited access to the Internet. Right from the stage of being school children, we all are blissfully or in a tensed up manner, busy. There is little time for us to devote to God. There is a rat race. We all, irrespective of age and station in society, the modern lifestyle has us busy.
We saw a story about Naradha Maya. Another story about him is when he asked Lord Narayana as to who was His best devotee. The Lord said without any doubt that a potmaker at a particular village was the best devotee. This had come as a rude shock to the incomparable saint who spends his time in three Lokas chanting the name of Narayana. So Narada went to the village to see the potter and know personally how many times he invokes the name of the Lord Vishnu. To his utter amazement the potter said Narayana once when he got up from sleep and at the end of the day when he retired to his bed, he invoked for the second time and cried, O Naryana! So upon his bringing this matter to the Lord’s notice and complained to Him that the potter called His name only twice a day while he called a thousand plus time His name in a day, the Lord said, “You are a rambler of the three Lokas, Narada. Can you go around the earth with a small vessel filled with oil to the brim before the day is out?” “So can I do!” said and set out to go around the earth with a small lamp filled to the brim with oil. Part of the game was that Narada should do so without spilling even a drop on the earth. Well, Narada took utmost care in his going around the earth with the oil-filled lamp. Before the day was out he had come back to the Lord successfully without spilling a single drop of the oil! Well done Narada, the Lord congratulated and asked as to the number of times he had invoked His Name throughout the day. Narada was obfuscated. “Lord, who had time for the recitation of thy name. I had an onerous task on my hand!” The Lord said, “So you did not invoke my name even for once throughout the day. But you were burdened with just a small vessel filled with the oil. But think of that potter’s case. He was bearing a huge family on his head and still, he could invoke my name twice. The samsara or the worldly life more onerous than the task you have completed successfully but without chanting my Name even for once!
So God understands our problem and that is why so many innings or rebirths are given to us to shape us up through the births step by step. Anyhow there is no problem in our chanting His or Her name at least a hundred times a day.
In those days, people used to name their children as Ganapathi, Siva, Subramaniyam, Parthasarathi, Govinda, Parmeshwari, Ishwari and this made them call the name of the Lord or Goddess at least a hundred times a day automatically. For example, my name is Raguram. How many times my departed parents ought to have called me by Lord, Rama’s name!
But now people call their children Yakshitha, Rakshitha, Nayantara, Susmitha, Swetha, etc., etc., And what a world of opportunities they lose. Even at the time of death, if they only think of their children they would have automatically complied with the Lord’s demand! But what would you gain if you think of Yakshita or Nayantara at the time of death?
Therefore we should go back to the olden and golden days at least so far as to naming our children in the name of God or Goddess.
And namasmarana or chanting the name of the Lord is the important way for the Kalki Yuga. In the days of Lord Rama, sacrifices were ordained. But to the Kalki Yuga, all it takes is to chant the Holy Name of the Lord. Then we would automatically call His name even at the time of death! There need be no doubt about this.
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