Chapter 5
Advising the people to worship God before the time of their death - (ஆசைவாய்ச் சென்ற)
பத்தராய் இறப்பார் பெறும் பேறு
Everyone should recite the divine names of the Lord. Those who chant the Lord's names daily will reap great benefits. Their glory is boundless. "Do not wait for a particular time to recite the Lord's name. Can you call upon Him at the moment of death? Can you utter His divine name then? Say it now. Build a temple in your heart, establish the Lord there, and offer flowers of devotion with eagerness," says the āzhvār.
ஒவ்வொருவரும் பகவானின் திருநாமங்களைச் சொல்ல வேண்டும். நாள்தோறும் பகவத் நாமங்களைச் சொல்லுகிறவர்கள் பெரும் பயனடைவார்கள். அவர்கள் பெருமை அளவு கடந்தது. "பகவந் நாமத்தைச் சொல்ல ஒரு காலத்தை எதிர்பார்க்க வேண்டா. உயிர் போகும் நேரத்தில் அவனை அழைக்கமுடியுமா? அவன் திருநாமத்தைச் சொல்லமுடியுமா? இப்போதே சொல்லுங்கள். இதயமாகிற கோயிலைக் கட்டி, அங்குப் பகவானை நிலைநிறுத்தி ஆர்வமாகிற மலரை இட்டு வணங்குங்கள்" என்கிறார் ஆழ்வார்.
Verses: 371 to 380
Grammar: Eṇcīrk Kaḻinediladi Āsiriya Viruththam / எண்சீர்க் கழிநெடிலடி ஆசிரிய விருத்தம்
Recital benefits: Will become devotees, who only think of the Lord
- Verse 1:
371. Even if people have only thought of their mothers, fathers, children, and wives with fragrant hair, if they close their eyes when they are dying and praise the god and say, “Kesava, Purushothaman, you became a boar and you are faultless, ” they are my dear friends, and no words are enough for me to praise them. - Verse 2:
372. If people who were never the devotees of Nārāyanan are sick and their wounds become putrid and swarm with flies, and if, fainting and coming to the end of their lives, they fold their hands and worship him, saying “Namo Nārāyana, ” they will never again go near people who are not the devotees of Nārāyanan. - Verse 3:
373. If someone has collected and saved wealth and if his relatives come to him before his death and ask greedily, “Tell us where you keep your wealth! Tell us where you keep it!” if he, without saying anything, makes his heart a temple of Madhavan, places the god there and sprinkles his love as flowers, he will be saved even if a snake comes to bite him. - Verse 4:
374. When someone is old, his breathing may become thin. His neck will be swelling with air. His legs and hands will be shaking. If he says the mantra of one sound before he closes his eyes and thinks of him, he will go to the spiritual world. - Verse 5:
375. Before someone comes to the time of his death and the water he has drunk is spit out and the food that he ate is vomited and his eyes close, if he praises god saying, “Rishikesā!” on his way, the dogs will not come. No one will hurt him with their spears. He will not lose his wealth any time. - Verse 6:
376. Before someone loses the sense of his eyes, nose, mouth, ears and touch, and before his breath ceases, and before he can no longer swallow the water given to him from a conch, and before his head sags to the side, if he thinks in his heart of the Māyan Madhusudhanan resting on the ocean, abundant with water, there is nothing that he cannot achieve. - Verse 7:
377. Before the heartless messengers of Yama enter someone’s home like kidnappers, tie him with strong ropes and pull him away, if he worships in his heart faultlessly and says “O Madhusudanan, you are my king, I am your slave!” he will reach the spiritual world. - Verse 8:
378. Before someone’s relatives gather together, speak only of his good qualities and not his faults, sing and sing, and put him on a bier and take him to the burning ground and leave him there in the forest after putting new clothes on him, if he sings, dances and worships the god Govindan adorned with the Kaustubham ornament, he will escape from Yama and join the god. - Verse 9:
379. Before someone cannot speak and his weakening eyes shed water and his mother, father and wife weep, and before fire takes hold of his body, if he worships the lord and thinks of himself as the devotee of the lovely-eyed Thirumāl, and if he thinks of the god as his relative, he will escape from Yama’s messengers. - Verse 10:
380. Vishnuchithan, the chief of Villiputhur, composed ten pāsurams which say that if people worship the lord and ask for his refuge and become his devotees, before Yama’s messengers come and take them they will be able to reach god. If people learn and recite these pāsurams they will become devotees, thinking only of him. .