In the previous episode, we had witnessed Bhagawan Krishna letting out another important message that whatever is going to be our thought process during our last breath of our current birth, we’re going to take birth once again exactly similar to what we were thinking then. For this, we’ve witnessed the example of Sage Bharata, wherein he was so concerned about a deer that he had adopted. Even though Sage Bharata was extremely strong in his penance, during his last days, he was concerned as to who will take care of this deer after his demise. Thus, as he passed away with the deer in his thoughts during his last birth, he had to take a re-birth as a deer only! Hence, it is important that if we’ve to attain the highest “Moksha”, we’ve to have Bhagawan in our thoughts during our last birth. Only then we’ll be able to reach Bhagawan’s highest abode of Vaikunta, from where we will never come back to this world again!
Bhagawan Krishna lets out this important message during the commencement of the eighth “Adhyaaya”, wherein, He is getting deeper into the concept of “Bhakti Yoga”. We shall witness the shloka that narrates this point. Bhagawan Krishna says thus,
“Anta kaalecha maameva smaran muktvaa kalebaram!
Yah prayaadhi samadhbhaavam yaathi naatyatra samchayaha!!”
This again illustrates how Bhagawad Dhyaanam has a lot of prominence. In the sixth “Adhyaaya”, Bhagawan has clearly instructed us how to perform the “Yogam” or “Dhyaanam”, keeping Bhagawan in mind. As we try to focus our mind deeper and deeper into Bhagawan during our “Dhyaanam”, our mind is going to clearly capture Bhagawan’s divine form in an unforgettable manner. As this happens, we will be able to see Bhagawan in front of us immediately after we close our eyes and sit for meditation. Of course, this will take a lot of time and effort, but we’ve to start somewhere, shouldn’t we? As our practice intensifies, more than just during the time of performing our “Yogam”, we will be able to see Bhagawan with open eyes as well! In other words, we will be able to see Bhagawan in whomever and whatever we see in front of us. This is the highest state that we can reach through constant practice of our “Yogam”. We’ve seen this earlier as Bhagawan Krishna had advised us. At that point in time, we might not have been able to connect Bhagawan’s words to the purpose behind why Bhagawan is instructing us to do it, isn’t it?
Now, the connection is clear – If Bhagawan says that we’ve to have Him in our thoughts during our last breath, we will be able to harness Bhagawan within us only if we’re able to attain that highest state of our “Yogam”. This is because, it is not easy to get Bhagawan’s thoughts in our mind during our last days, when we’ve not practised it while we were young. Readers might be able to appreciate this – If we’ve to attain perfection in any skill that we learn, we need to practise it repeatedly. For instance, if we’ve to attain perfection in singing, we’ve to practise music every day by performing the “Saadhagam”. Similarly, if we’ve to perfect our skills in dance, we should repeatedly keep practising it to maintain the flexibility of our various body parts. Similarly, here also, if we’ve to ensure that we’re able to see Bhagawan in all whatever we’re doing, we need to have that constant practice of thinking of Bhagawan and chanting His divine “Mantra” at all times. This is very important, and this constant practice is what will enable us to think of Bhagawan even during our olden days.
Moreover, we’ve to remember one thing clearly as well – Do we know when our last breath is in this world? We never know, right? Hence, if there’s uncertainty here, we need to be all the more careful! This is the reason why we should develop this expertise of having Bhagawan in our thoughts always, as soon as possible. We never know what will happen to us tomorrow morning when we get up from bed! We never know what is going to happen to us next minute! Thus, with every minute of our life being uncertain, we should not delay this process, and this is exactly why Bhagawan is stressing upon the importance of practising our “Yogam”. In fact, Bhagawan is so concerned about us that He doesn’t want us to waste even a single minute. Normally on any given day, we waste so much time doing so many things like watching some useless things, gossipping about others, etc. If we go to bed with these thoughts during the night, and if we’ve to unfortunately breathe our last during this night itself, won’t we take birth again in this world with all the same problems that we’ve been thinking of? This is why we always propagate that whenever we go to bed every night, we should have Bhagawan in our thoughts! If we do so, even if we’ve to pass away in our sleep, the process will be so peaceful and Bhagawan will directly take us to His Vaikunta! So for today, let us understand this point very clearly once again and keeping the urgency in mind, let us start having Bhagawan in our thoughts at all times, somehow or the other! We shall continue this discussion in the next episode as well! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 