Remembering Nama at the Moment of Death
To remember nama at the time of death is a consummation devoutly to be wished; and to achieve it, one must practise nama-smarana. Our real home is with the Supreme Being; the body that the soul inhabits at present is a 'rented' house. So one should be happy to leave this body, like a person moving into his own home from rented quarters. We can manage this when we have the conviction that our true home is with the Lord. For this we should be in unbroken remembrance of His nama. We should pray to God: "Lord, call me Thine; I have surrendered myself entirely to Thee; now let me never think of asking for anything."
We should always consider God as our protector. To remember Him continuously is to believe that whatever takes place at our hands is by His will. Spiritual life means doing our worldly duty without a sense of ownership, but only as an agent of God; knowledge is to have the conviction that God is our all-in-all. When this knowledge is assimilated, then alone can one be called a true seeker. Then he yearns for nothing but God; and it is this intense, pin-pointed liking which is called Bhakti or devotion. The culmination of Bhakti is the crowning achievement, namely, remembering God at the moment of death: and this can be achieved only by remembering nama continuously. It is not to be assumed, however, that remembering God at the last moment of life absolves a man from all desire for sense-pleasures, but such desire is sublimated in his next birth; that is, his desire will be extremely keenly inclined to attainment of God.
The sadhana should go on parallel to breathing: it should be as continuous, and without conscious effort, without egoism, as breathing. We should forsake the restless eagerness with which we pursue family matters.
Scrupulously obey the sadguru. Because we have long association with the physical body over many incarnations, we come to have great attachment for the body; we can similarly cultivate attachment for nama by long, continuous association; thereby, craving for sensuous pleasures will also decline.
Yogic practice calls for great physical discipline, and therefore, to attain perfection in it is well-nigh impossible in the present-day world. The consummation of all kinds of spiritual discipline is in nama.
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