Commentary on the Panchadasi

by Swami Krishnananda

Naināṁ prāpya vimuhyati: No delusion will overtake a person after having attained the good state. Just as a person who has woken up and sees the light of day will not once again be deluded by the objects of dream which he saw earlier, so too this awakened person who is established in the Universality of Godhood will not any more be deluded by the forms and names of the world.

Even if we cannot attain this state now – immediately, today – if it could be possible that we should be established in this state even at the time of passing, that also is good enough. Sthitvā’syām antakāle’pi brahma nivārṇa mṛcchati: Even if for a moment one is established in this state at the time of the departure from this body, that is sufficient to destroy the bundle of ignorance and the heap of all desires, and one attains to Brahmanirvana – merger in Brahman.

This verse from the Bhagavad Gita is quoted by the author of the Panchadasi here, and in the next two verses he tries to explain what is the actual import of this verse.

Sadadvaite’nṛte dvaite yadanyo nyaikya vīkṣaṇam, tasyānta kālas tadbheda buddhi reva na cetaraḥ (104). At the time of passing, at the last moment – the word used in the verse of the Bhagavad Gita means ‘having established oneself at the last moment’. Now, what is this ‘last moment’? It has two meanings.

It can be the moment when discrimination between the real and the unreal has arisen, in which case it can be even today itself. Once knowledge arises in the person, ignorance is destroyed simultaneously, at the same time, and this discrimination is what is called wisdom. The end of ignorance is called ‘the last moment’. The last moment of the prevailing of ignorance in this world, the last moment of desires in this world, the last moment of clinging to the objects of sense – this is the meaning of ‘the last moment’. And if this moment is to be attained, it can be the source of one's liberation – not necessarily at the departure of the body; it can be even earlier. This is the meaning, the import of this verse, says the author of the Panchadasi.

Or, it can be the usual meaning: When the prana departs from this body, may we be established in this Great Being. Then we shall not be reborn. We attain to Brahmanirvana, Universal Existence.

Yadvāntakālaḥ prāṇasya viyogo’stu prasiddhitaḥ, tasmin kāle’pi no bhrānter gatāyāḥ punarā gamaḥ (105). The esoteric meaning has been explained that it can be even today, provided that ignorance ends just now. But otherwise, we take it in the literal sense of the last moment of the body. Even at that time, if we are established, it is good for us and there will be no rebirth. Whatever be the physical condition of a person, that is immaterial to the consciousness that is attained to this Universality of experience.

Nīroga upaviṣṭo vā rugṇo vā viluṭhan bhuvi, mūrchito vā tyajatveṣa prāṇān bhrāntirna sarvathā (106). A great question which sometimes arises in our minds is answered here. Is it necessary to be aware of the Supreme Being only at that particular moment when the prana is cut off from the body? Suppose we are unconscious at that time and for two or three days we are not thinking. What will be the last thought from the point of view of this instruction?

The verse that follows makes out that the consciousness that was maintained by the person prior to becoming unconscious is to be considered as the real state of consciousness. And what was that state of consciousness? If the person is totally unaware of things, one cannot be held responsible for anything that takes place to that person. It is consciousness that is the cause of any kind of effect or product that may be produced in terms of that particular individual. So the kind of consciousness that one maintains (or one has been maintaining) prior to the comatose condition (that may sometimes intervene in certain cases) will determine the future of the person.

A person may be very healthy, or he may not be healthy physically. He may have some kind of illness. He may be standing, he may be sitting, or he may be lying down on the ground. He may not be even conscious. It does not matter. If he casts off the body in any of these conditions, not knowing that actually the body is cast off – because of his not being aware of what is happening – it does not matter, because the determining factor is the consciousness that he was maintaining, even if it be days before. Therefore, it is important to know what was the last thought that a person maintained when he was conscious. And if that is identical with Brahman Consciousness, he is freed forever, though subsequently he might not be aware of it.

Dine dine svapna suptyo radhīte vismṛte’pyayam, para dyur nāna dhītaḥ syāt tadvad vidyā no naśyati (107). Even if there is a momentary unconsciousness or even if it be for some days together, it cannot destroy the knowledge that one has acquired earlier, in the same way as the long sleep of unconsciousness into which we enter every night does not obliterate the learning of the previous day. All our knowledge is intact the next morning, in spite of our total unawareness and unconsciousness for hours together in the state of deep sleep. So the unconscious condition is not in any way a deterring factor to the fructification of the nature of the consciousness that one was maintaining prior to the occurrence of unconsciousness, as in the case of waking and deep sleep. Knowledge cannot be destroyed once it is attained.

Pramāṇo tpāditā vidyā pramāṇaṁ prabalaṁ vinā, na naśyati na vedāntāt prabalaṁ māna mīkṣyate (108). By the deep study of the Vedanta doctrine, the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, when the conviction has been driven into the mind and it has been planted in the heart by sravana, manana, nididhyasana, and this knowledge or conviction has become part and parcel of one's own life, one lives that knowledge, as it were. One becomes an embodiment of this knowledge; it is a moving wisdom that we can see in the form of a person. If this is the case, no other experience can refute this knowledge. All illusions that may present themselves for different reasons subsequent to the acquirement of this great wisdom will not affect the conviction that has once been driven into the mind by right knowledge, pramana; and no pramana, or right knowledge, can equal the Vedanta Shastra.

Tasmād vedānta saṁsiddhiṁ sada dvaitaṁ na bādhyate, antakāle’pyato bhūta vivekān nirvṛtiḥ sthitāh (109). There is nothing that can refute the consciousness of non-duality once attained by the study of scriptures or by the analysis that we have conducted in the manner of the study of the second chapter; and the future state of a person is decided even long before the actual departure from the body. Tasmād vedānta saṁsiddhiṁ sada dvaitaṁ na bādhyate: The consciousness of non-duality is not refuted under any circumstance. Antakāle’pyato bhūta vivekān nirvṛtiḥ sthitāh: Moksha is certain; Brahmanirvana is assured. There is no need of having any doubt in the mind, provided that this knowledge has become our direct experience. This is the last moment. So if our ignorance has not been destroyed entirely – ie, the mind is still operating in terms of objects outside – it does not matter. We may hope that a day may come at the time of the departure of this soul from this body, and one may be established in that.
 
Whatever we hope for, sincerely and intensely, we will certainly get. Therefore, may there be a deep aspiration, as students who are well up always aspire to be first in an exam and never go there with the idea that they will be second or third. They may be second, but the expectation is to be first. So let there be the expectation of certain liberation in this birth: “There is nothing wrong with me; I have been very diligently practicing the Yoga Vedanta sadhana, and my mind is clear. The perception of the world is perspicacious and even now, in a way, my consciousness is established in the conviction of God being the only Reality.” If this conviction is there in us, we are freed forever.