Karma Sanyasa Yoga
Chapter 5, Verse 23
śaknotīhaiva yaḥ soḍhuṁ
prāk-śarīra vimokṣaṇāt
kāma krodhodbhavaṁ vegaṁ
sa yuktaḥ sa sukhī naraḥ
One who is able, even here, before one is released from the body, to resist the impulses arising from desire and anger, is a yogi competent for Self-Realisation, and is a happy person.
Everyone in this world seeks happiness, but only a few know what real happiness is and how to attain it. Due to ignorance, people think that happiness is obtained through the objects of the senses. They think that the outside world will make them happy: they try their whole lives to achieve that outer happiness. If you ask people, “What is your goal in life?” they often answer, “I want to have a big business!” “I want to have lots of money!” They put much effort into achieving their goal, but when their goal is not attained, what happens? They become angry; kāma krodhodbhavaṁ vegaṁ. Due to their desire, anger arises. One who is under the effect of anger can do much mischief. One is always busy trying to gain more and more. Living like this, one will never be happy; one will always suffer.
“One who is able, even here, before one is released from the body…” Before leaving the body, the wise ones realise that these pleasures always bring misery. At the moment of death, they focus their minds on the Divine, pray to God sincerely from the heart, and renounce these pleasures. Bhagavan says of these souls: “They are ready to attain God. Due to their detachment from desire at the moment of death, in their next life they will carry on towards God-Realisation and attain real happiness.”
One might be an angry person, always deluded by ignorance, always attached to the outside reality and bringing about his own downfall. But also one may have some positive samskaras, some positive merits from performing good deeds in the past. If one has been born as a human being, this means that one has some good merits. Due to these past good deeds, if that person – even at the last moment – focuses his mind on God and surrenders to God, in his next life, he will be born in a higher level and this will help him attain perfection. In the next life he will be like a yogi.
However, if the mind continues to run towards the outside reality, towards attachment or sense objects, don’t think that it will be easy to think of God at the last moment and instantly attain Him. No! It doesn’t happen just like that. That’s why many people have to go through the cycle of birth and death. If you haven’t realised why you came here, if you have always done negative actions, at the end of your life, you’ll not be able to all of a sudden think, “Now, I will do good for one short second.” And then, “Poof!” Finish! Nevertheless, it can happen! Take the life of Ajamila.
Ajamila was a man who was very devoted to the Lord when he was young. But one day when he was looking for wood in the forest, he met a prostitute and fell in love with her. He had many children with her and soon began living a life that was very immoral. He started gambling and doing other bad activities and was not living a spiritual life anymore. He became a very wicked man. But his good karma didn’t leave him. Even though he had become very wicked, he still had the good karma from his younger years and from his previous lives.
It is said in the Hindu tradition that if you die remembering and chanting the Name of the Lord, you will go to Heaven. It doesn’t matter what you have done in your life. So very wisely, Ajamila gave holy Names to his children. He named his youngest son Narayana, and he loved him very much. As he was dying, he called for his son, Narayana. The moment he said, “Narayana…” he died. ‘Narayana’ was his last thought and his last word. So what happened? Quickly, Yamraj, the lord of death, the devil, whatever you call him, sent his servants to get Ajamila’s soul. But, at the same time, the servants of Maha Vishnu also came from Maha Vishnu Loka (Heaven).
Both the servants of Yamraj and the servants of Maha Vishnu claimed, “This soul belongs to us!” The devil wanted to pull the soul of Ajamila down to Hell, because he had been wicked, and the angels were trying to pull the soul of Ajamila up to Heaven. There was a battle for Ajamila’s soul! The poor man was on his deathbed and could see what was happening. He saw the devil who wanted to bring him down to Hell and he saw the angels who wanted to take him up to Heaven, all because he had chanted the Name of Narayana just one time, and he had not even thought of Narayana, but only of his son.
The servants of Maha Vishnu said, “This soul belongs to us. You have to let him go to Heaven, because the Name of the Lord has the power to erase all the sins of one’s life.” Then the servants of Yamraj said, “No, no, no! He wasn’t even calling to Narayana, he was calling to his son.” The servants of Maha Vishnu replied, “It doesn’t matter, the Name of the Lord is the Lord Himself. There is no difference between God’s Name and Him.” A big argument then took place over this point. Meanwhile many hours passed. As you know, there is a time for everything: there is a time to be born and there is a time to die. When the time of dying passes, the soul re-enters the body. Ajamila’s soul re-entered his body and he could remember everything he had seen.
This experience changed his life, because he had seen that the Lord had sent his servants to protect him, because he had called out His Name only one time. Ajamila realised that he had made many mistakes. He completely changed his life and lived a life of single-pointed surrender to God. At the end of his life, when he finally died, only the servants of Maha Vishnu came to take him to Heaven, to Vaikunta.
Note one thing: before entering a life of debauchery, Ajamila was fully surrendered to the Lord. Due to this merit, he could give the Name of Narayana to his son. The story of Ajamila is related in the Shreemad Bhagavatam, a holy scripture about the life of Krishna. The Lord narrated this story in the Shreemad Bhagavatam so people would realise that to take the Name of God at the time of death is not easy if you haven’t first trained yourself. If you don’t have the habit of doing it, it’s not easy. Nevertheless, it is possible, due to the Grace of the Lord, due to His Mercy!
Bhagavad Gita
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