All World
Gayatri Pariwar

‘Ever absorbed in that’

How could something that is practiced day and night not stick to us? Do not delude yourself by the story of Ajamila [1]. To all appearances he was a sinner, but there was an undercurrent of virtue in his life. It surfaced at the moment of death. Do not, therefore, delude yourself by imagining that you could continue your sinful ways and still there would be the Name of the Lord on your lips at the last moment. The mind has to be trained and disciplined for this purpose by strenuous practice right since the childhood. It has to be carefully ensured that good samskaras are imprinted on the mind one-by-one. Never have a careless and casual attitude. Do not ask, for example, why one should always get up early in the morning. If you give free rein to your mind, you are bound to be caught in a snare. Then good samskaras would surely elude you. Just like wealth and knowledge, samskaras have to be acquired bit-by-bit without wasting a moment. Therefore, be always alert that the samskara that is imprinted on the mind at every moment is good.

If you utter a foul word, a bad samskara will be immediately imprinted on your mind. Every act of ours is like a stroke of a chisel that shapes the block of stone of our life. Even if the day passes off well, evil thoughts surface in the dreams. It is not that only recent thoughts surface in the dreams. Bad samskaras, got imprinted on the mind inadvertently, may surface any time. Hence one must be ever vigilant even in petty matters. A drowning man clutches even at a straw. We are drowning in the ocean of samsara. Utterance of a few good words too can prove to be the life-line to save us. No good deed is ever wasted; it will save you. Therefore, even the slightest of bad samskaras should be prevented. Always strive not to see anything that could leave a bad samskara, never give an ear to abuse and revilement and keep the speech free from foulness. If you are so conscious and alert, you will invariably be rewarded at the last moment. You shall become the master of life and death.

To inculcate good and pure samskaras, one must always ruminate on noble thoughts. Let the hands be busy in doing pure and good deeds. Remembrance of God within and performance of swadharma without, hands engaged in service and vikarma in the mind, all this should continue day in and day out, without any lapse. Look at Gandhiji. He spins every day on his charkha (spinning wheel). He insists that everybody should spin daily. Why? Will it not do if we spin for the cloth we need whenever it suits us? But then that spinning would be a worldly activity done for a practical purpose, whereas there is spirituality in daily spinning. It reflects an urge to do something for the country. That yarn daily links us to the Daridranarayan - God in the form of the poor. Daily spinning is an affirmation of one’s fellowship with the Daridranarayan.

If a doctor prescribes medicine to be taken daily in particular doses, but we gulp it down all at once, will it serve the purpose? It will be plain stupidity. The body should be restored to health through daily samskara of the medicine. The same holds good for life. Take the example of gradual abhishek [2] on the idol of Lord Shiva. It is my favorite illustration. I used to watch it every day when I was a child. Two buckets of water might be trickling down drop by drop over the idol during twenty four hours. Why not pour two bucketfuls of water all at once on the idol? I got the reply to this at that time itself. Water must not be poured at once; it should trickle down drop by drop uninterruptedly. That is what makes it an act of worship. There should be continuous flow of the same samskaras twenty four hours a day, every day, and every year; even throughout the cycle of births and deaths.

Each moment and each hour, each day and each night, each month and each year - even in each birth, the same samskara should be there. The divine stream of good samskaras should flow in this way through our lives forever without interruption. Then only we can reach our destination and hoist our flag there. The stream of samskaras must flow in one single direction only. If the rainwater falling on hill-top flows down the hill in several different directions, it does not form a river; but if it flows in one single direction, it becomes a stream which gradually grows in size, eventually becoming a river that finally reaches the sea. Water which takes one single direction reaches the sea while that which takes many directions soon dries up and is lost. This also happens in the case of good samskaras. If they come and go, of what use are they? Only when the stream of good samskaras flows continually through life in one single direction, then death will be found to be a source of supreme bliss. A trekker, who does not unduly linger in the way, does not yield to temptations in the way and continues to walk along the path doggedly, reaches the mountain-top, throws down all the load on his back and experiences the fresh breeze blowing there. The joy that he experiences is beyond the imagination of others.

‘Day and night, the fight goes on’

In short, death will be a matter of joy when there is continuous performance of swadharma outside while inwardly the mind is being purified through devotion etc., when the streams of vikarama and karma flow within and without. That is why the Lord says, ‘Mhnooni sagalaa kaal maj aathav jhunj tu’ (Remember Me all the time and fight). He also refers to one who is ever absorbed in that ‘Sadaa tyaant chi ranglaa’ [3]. When love for the Lord pervades your whole being, when your whole life is informed with that love, you will then always rejoice in things sacred. Evil urges and tendencies would never appear before you. Noble resolves and noble thoughts would germinate in the mind and good deeds would follow naturally and effortlessly.

It is true that good deeds become natural when one always remembers the Lord. But the Lord’s command is to keep on striving. Saint Tukaram says, ‘Ratri divas aamhaan yuddhacha prasnag %Antarbahya jaga aani mana %%’ (Day and night, we are required to fight with the world without and the mind within.) This conflict is going on relentlessly. It is not that you will win every battle. One has to persevere till the end to win the war. It is the final result of the war that matters. During the war we shall succeed and fail many a times. But failure is no cause for dejection. When a stone breaks at the twentieth blow, it does not mean that the previous nineteen blows had been in vain. In fact, they were preparing ground for the success of the twentieth blow.

To feel dejected means to lose faith in God. God is always there to support and protect you. Have faith in Him. To develop self-confidence in a child, the mother lets it wander here and there, but she keeps watch. She does not let it fall. If it starts tottering, she is there to lift it up in her arms. God too is watching you. He holds in His hands the string of your life’s kite. Sometimes He pulls it taut while sometimes He lets it loose; but be assured that He Himself is holding the string in His hands. To teach swimming in a river, one end of a rope is tied to a tree on the bank and the other end is tied to the learner’s waist, and then he is thrown into the water. Trainers are there in the river to take care of him. The novice struggles initially but, in the end, masters the art of swimming. God teaches us the art of living in this way.

Uttarayan and Dakshinayan

So, if you continue striving day and night with all the resources of the body and the mind at your command with faith in the Lord, the last moment will be extremely happy. You will have all the gods - that is, divine powers - on your side when the hour of death comes. This has been said at the end of this Chapter using a metaphor. Understand this metaphor properly. If at the time of one’s death fire is burning, the sun is shining, the moon is waxing and there is beautiful and cloudless sky of Uttarayan (six months of the northern course of the sun), then one unites with the Brahman. But if at that time there is dense smoke, there is darkness within and without, the moon is waning and there is cloudy and dull sky of Dakshinayan (six months of the southern course of the sun), he again gets caught in the cycle of births and deaths.

This metaphor is puzzling to many. It tells that the grace of the gods of fire (Agni), sun, moon and sky is necessary for a holy death. Fire symbolizes karma and yajna-work and sacrifice. The sacrificial fire must be burning even at the time of death. Justice Ranade used to say, “Blessed is the death which comes while one is performing one’s duties. I shall be happy to die while reading, writing or doing something.” This is what the burning of sacrificial fire means. Working till the last breath signifies the grace of Agni, the god of fire. Grace of the sun-god keeps the intellect bright and radiant till the end. Grace of the moon is indicated by the growth of pure and sacred feelings in the heart at the time of death, as the moon is the god of the heart. Sacred feelings like love, devotion, enthusiasm, altruism, compassion etc. should wax and grow to fullness in the mind like the moon in the bright half of the month.

The grace of the sky means having the heart completely free from the clouds of attachment. Gandhiji once said, “I am always talking of the spinning wheel. I consider it sacred. But I must not have attachment even to it at the last moment. He who led me to the spinning wheel is fully capable of taking its care. Now the spinning wheel has been taken up by many leading figures. I should now cease to worry about it and be ready to meet the Lord.” Uttarayan thus means freedom of the heart from the clouds of attachment.

If death comes when a man’s body is engaged in service till the last breath, pure sentiments have grown to fullness, there is no trace of attachment in the heart and intellect is sharp and radiant, he becomes one with God. To have such a supremely auspicious end, one must ever be alert and continue to strive day and night. No impure and evil samskara should be permitted in the mind even for a single moment. One must pray constantly to the Lord to have the necessary strength to achieve this. Again and again, one should remember His Name and meditate over His nature and essence.

[Reproduced with kind permission of Paramdham Publication, Pavnar from   Chapter 8 of ‘Talks on The Gita’ by Sant Vinoba Bhave, 16th edition (Jan 2005)]

Notes:

1.    Ajamila led a life full of sin. At the time of death, he called his son Narayan (which is also a name of Lord Vishnu). Lord Vishnu, hearing His Name, rushed to Ajamila and redeemed him.

2.    Ceremonial bathing of the Lord’s idol. In the temples of Lord Shiva, a pot having a hole at the bottom is hung over the idol of the Lord. It is filled with water. Water trickles down drop by drop on the idol and bathes it uninterruptedly.

3.    ‘Thinking of whatever state a man .in the end casts his mortal frame aside, to that state does he accede, being ever absorbed in the thought thereof.’ – Gita

Every aspect in life has two sides - one good and the other bad;
we become the one we keep our focus on.