History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.210

v7.c91.210

Many Purāṇas, particularly the Viṣṇu and the Bhāgavata, are replete with the eulogies, the theory and practice of *bhakti* and illustrative stories about it. For reasons of space it is not possible to go into this matter at any length. A few noteworthy points alone will be touched. A few verses eulogising the Bhāgavatapurāna may be cited as samples of extreme exaggeration. ‘Thousands¹⁵⁹⁰ of Aśvamedhas and hundreds of Vājapeya sacrifices are not equal to even the 16th part of the story narrated by Śuka; he who always recites a half or a quarter verse of the Bhāgavata secures the merit of Rājasūya and Aśvamedha; he who listens to the words of the śāstra of Śuka (*i.e.* Bhāgavata) at the time of death, Govinda being pleased with him confers on him Vaikuṇṭha; this is a good expiation for all sinners viz. uttering the name of Viṣṇu, since (at that time) their mind has Viṣṇu as the only object of thought’. ¹⁵⁹¹ Another point is the story of Ajāmila in the Bhāgavata (VI. 1. 20 ff and VI. 2), Padma (I. 31. 109 and VI. 87. 7) and other Purāṇas. Ajāmila¹⁵⁹² (who abandoned his brāhmaṇa wife and kept a mistress) was a moral wreck addicted to gambling and thieving. When on his death-bed at the age of 80 he loudly called upon his youngest son named Nārāyaṇa (out of ten sons born of the mistress) with affection and recited that name and thought of that alone, he became free from his sins and attained a high position difficult to attain’. Such stories have given rise to the common belief that the last thought at one’s death leads to a new birth appropriate to that thought (*ante matiḥ sā gatiḥ*). The Upaniṣads contain the germ of the idea of the last thought; vide. Chān. Up. III. 14. 1, VIII. 2. 10, Bṛ. Up. IV. 4. 5. In the ‘Questions of Milinda’ (SBE vol 35 pp. 123–124) this idea of the importance of the last thought is taken up. It may be that a single heart-felt invocation of the name of God, a single act of faith after repentance and complete surrender to God's will, cancels the result of a whole life of crime and sin. This is the moral of Ajāmila's story, but it is liable to be grossly misapprehended and might create a complacent belief that a man may commit as many sins in his life as possible, but if he remembers God at his death and repeats His name then, all sins of his are cleared away and wiped out. This is a rather dangerous doctrine. The Gītā (VIII. 5–7) puts the matter in a clear light. 'That person, who remembers me at the time of death and passes from the world leaving the body, attains my essence, there is no doubt about that Whatever form a man remembers when he leaves the body, to that he goes, *because he was always engrossed in that form*. Therefore remember me at all times and engage in battle; there is no doubt that having fixed your mind and intellect on me you will attain to me'. This passage of the Gītā suggests that a person will remember the name of God at the time of his death only if he had been so doing all his life, while engaged in actively performing all his duties and not caring for the rewards thereof and that it is extremely rare or almost impossible for a man to remember God at the last moment when throughout his life he had been ungodly and a great sinner. The above idea is again emphasized in verses 10–13 of chap VIII (of the Gītā) and in chap. XVII. 3 (yo yac-chraddhaḥ sa eva saḥ)