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bhishma-stuthi-6

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M K Sudarshan • June 5, 1997 


srimathE lakshmi-nrsumha parabrahmaNE namaha
sri vedanta guravE namaha

Dear "bhAgavatOttamA-s", 

Lord Varadarajan of Kanchi is believed to have appeared in a vision before
Tirukacchi-Nambi (Kanchi-purnA) and clarified to him certain intricate
details of SriVaishnava faith and which were meant to be re-conveyed to
Ramanujacharya. In that encounter it is said the Lord postulated six
Articles ("tattvA-s") of Faith:

1)"ahamEva para-tattvam"    : I am the Supreme Truth

2)"darshanam-bhEdam-Evacha" : That I am different in nature from the souls I
have Created, and in all respects, is axiomatic

3)"upAyEshu-prappathisyA"   : It is by Faith shall souls reach Me

4)"antima-smriti-varjatham" : Recollection of My Glory is unnecessary for a
devotee at the time of death

5)"dEhAvasAnE-mOksham cha"  : Liberation for the "jIva" shall be secured in
the                               very moment of its bodily death

6)"mahapUrNam-samAsraya"    : Let Ramanuja adopt Mahapurna as his preceptor.


Now, we should take note of (4) above. The rest are not relevant to the
subject- matter presently at hand.

On reading (4) above it's quite intriguing, isn't it, that the Lord Himself
should dismiss "antima-smriti" as redundant for a devotee ! 

One is immediately tempted to ask if Lord Varadaraja was not contradicting
His own statement in the "bhagavath-gita" (Ch.8.10 -- pls. refer to post #1
in this series) where he speaks of "antima-smriti" as necessary condition
for a soul to reach Godhead.

The apparent contradiction between the Lord's statement in the Gita and the
one He made to Kanchi-purna, we see, are reconciled in the famous
"Varaha-charama- shloka".

>From the "pUrAnA-s" we know that Lord Narayana, in his "avatara" as Varaha,
the Boar, rescued "Bhoomi-pirAtti" (Mother Earth) from her untold sufferings
at the hands of evil forces ("asUrA-s").

The Good Mother Earth, after She was rescued, then beseeched the Lord to let
Her know if there was a fail-proof way by which ordinary souls of the world
could seek permanent deliverance from the miseries of existence She herself
briefly underwent in the temporal world. She sought the Lord's kindness in
the matter out of Her utter compassion for and Her empathy with the general
mass of humanity at large which, having lived a life of Ignorance,
terminates without even once realizing, not even through "antima-smriti",
the truth of His Glory and His Bliss.

The Lord, it is believed, then gave "bhoomi-pirAtti-Ar" a solemn guarantee
through what we all know is the famous "varAha-charama-shlOkam":
  
    stiThE manasi susvasTE sharIrE sati yO nara-ha I
      DhAtu sAmyE sThitE smartA vishwa-rUpam cha mAm ajam II
    tatastam mriyamANam tu kAshta pAshaNa sanniBham I
      aham smarAmi madh Bhaktam nayAmi paramAm gathim  II

The gist of the above "charama-shlOkam" is as follows :

"My protection is hereby guaranteed to any mortal soul (jIvA), even the ones
which are physically incapable of securing "mOksha" (liberation) in the
terminal moments of life on earth; the protection is guaranteed so long as
the "jIvA" devotedly submits to ME ; such devotion and surrender to Me is to
be performed by the "jIva" in the times when it is youthful, physically fit
and sound of mind. Such simple devotion is more than sufficient to invoke My
protection; naught else is necessary, believe Me ... least of all,
"antima-smriti" .... for, I shall Myself ensure such a "jIvA" experiences
"antima-smriti" ; I shall Myself appear before such a dear soul in the
moment it sheds its mortal coils and convey it into my Kingdom with all due
honours and ceremony !" 

True to His Word, the Lord therefore did appear, we see in the Mahabharata,
before Bhishma in his final moments in Kurukshetra, after the old warrior
had said, in the very opening words of his famous "stuthi", that he was
surrendering his mind ("buddhi") unto the Lord ..."iti matirupakalpitA
vitrishnA..etc..".

It is thus clear from the above that what Lord Varadaraja said to
Kanchi-purna and what Lord Krishna declared in the 'Gita' about the subject
of "antima-smriti" have very little to do with each other :

The Gita emphasises the absolute NECESSITY of "antima-smriti" for the
non-"prapanna". 

Lord Varada, on the other hand, was talking about the absolute UN-NECESSITY
of "antima-smriti" for the "prapanna".

In the case that the 'Gita' describes, "antima-smriti" at the time of
"prayANa-kAlE" is required to be induced by the "jIvA" by its own effort
("sva-prayatnam").

In the case that Lord Varada was describing to Kanchi-purna, it was the
"varAha-charama-shlOka" that was operative i.e. "antima-smriti" induced by
the Lord Himself and no "sva-prayatnam" on the part of the dying "jIvA"
being involved.

Thus, thanks to the "varaha-charama-shlOka" it becomes evident to us that
the Lord's statement on "antima-smriti" in the 'Gita' and the one He made to
Tirukachi-nambi in Kanchi are to each other what chalk is to cheese.

This fine but important distinction, of tweedledum and tweedledee, between
the two statements is also poetically well essayed in a single crisp verse
(#48) in the "Daya-satakam" of Swami Desikan.

We will study that Verse in the next post.

srimathe srivan satagopa sri narayana yathindra mahadesikaya namaha
sudarshan