Page 159 - Wisdom Unfurled

provided the faculties cooperate. The Lord states that the person who leaves the body remembering Him alone would surely attain to His Being without doubt. Great saints thought about the practical problem facing all of us, namely that the body being prone to illness and disease it may not be possible even for the devout to remember or even utter the name of the Lord at the last moment. The great azhwar Kulasekhara recognized this problem and prays, ‘ May the king swan that is my mind may enter the cage of Thine lotus feet now itself; How can there be remembrance of Thee at the time of impending death when the throat is choked with phlegm, wind and bile and the voice falters (pranaprayana samaye kapa vatha pitthairkanthavarodhanavidhow smaranam kuthaste). In fact it may be said that the saints devised the technique of constant remembrance for this purpose. They also felt that the Lord can not be so unmerciful and unkind that He will not take care of the devotee who has practiced devotion and surrender all through his life merely because he can not remember Him consciously and be able to utter His name due to bodily circumstances beyond his control.
However the type of constant remembrance which shall qualify for the purpose of liberation will be remembrance done purely and solely for the purpose of the Divine alone and not all sundry prayers for fulfillment of animal wants or elementary requirements of existence.
It should be realized by the serious aspirant that our existence is a gift of the Divine and it shall be used solely for the purpose of the Divine as the Divine wills. Revered K.C.Varadachari exhorts us to live our lives with the force, with the breath, with the vision, with the audition and with the conscience which the Lord gives us as men determined to achieve perfection in this world and yonder worlds with absolute fearlessness. That is the consciousness of the Master into which we shall constantly enter into and dive deep to unfathom the pearls of the Divine. The link to the Divine Master who is permanently established in the Base is provided under PAM and the aspirant feels the repeated call of the Divine Master in every meditation and contemplation session to get back to the original condition which is but His domain. Awareness of the Master and our grateful attitude towards Him being maintained in all the states of consciousness, waking, dreaming and sleeping, control is secured over body and mind. With gratefulness established Constant remembrance becomes the state of being for the dedicated aspirants in the system thus ensuring their liberation (Ref. PAM and Anthyakalasmarana BP V2 173-7).
Devotion – Introduction
The Master takes up next the topic of devotion and describes it as something which enhances the efficiency and efficacy of constant remembrance. As we