Chapter XVI

Ordinary folk do not get the mind fixed on Madhava so easily at the point of death. It presupposes long training, previous achievement of certain accomplishments; what is called Purva samskara. The mind should have gone through a certain course of discipline; it has to be Yogayuktha, possessed of Yoga. Even that is not enough. The mind must discard all other thoughts as low and inferior, even as defiling. This disgust towards all other objects should grow in strength. When these two are present, the thought of Madhava will certainly emerge and be steady during the last moments.

So your mind is the important thing; when the mind rots, all else rots. Man moves as fast as his mind, in the direction that the mind takes. To tame and train the mind, good habits and disciplines have to be sought. Therefore, Krishna began describing how the Lord has to be pictured in the mind during the Sadhana stages and with what feelings and emotions He has to be fixed in the mind.

"Arjuna! People describe Me in three different ways:

1. as Nirguna Niraakaara
2. as Saguna Niraakaara and
3. as Saguna Saakaara.

I shall tell you about the second, the Saguna Niraakaara first, and how you have to picture the Lord in this aspect. Listen, He is described as Kavi, Puraanam, Anusaasitha, subtler than the subtle, the sustenance and basis of all, having unpicturable form, with the splendour of the sun as His complexion, beyond all trace of ignorance and darkness."