Lord Narayana assumed the form of a boar, in order to rescue Goddess Earth (Bhooma Devi), who had been taken captive by the demon Hiranyaksha. But Bhooma Devi expressed no happiness at Her rescue. In fact, She was reluctant to even go back with the Lord! She explained the reason for Her sadness.
The Lord could not be separated from Her even for a minute and had promptly come to her rescue. But what of the countless jivatmas, which were caught up in samsara and suffered on Earth?
What was the easy way for them to get out of the samsaric cycle, She asked Him. In a discourse, M.V. Anantapadmanabhachariar expanded on Bhooma Devi’s concern for us. She has mercy for all, regardless of whether they are deserving of it or not.
The Lord told Bhooma Devi that the path to reach Him was very simple. All one had to do was to surrender to Him once. This would guarantee moksha to the one who surrendered. But the Lord also gave a very important message.
He said that He would save those who surrendered to Him when their physical and mental faculties were unimpaired. Those who did this did not have to think of Him at the time of death, for they had His promise that they would be granted moksha.
Why did the Lord have to add the words about our faculties? He had to do it, because of our tendency to postpone our quest for liberation.
We tell ourselves that there is time enough for such things, and that youth is for enjoyment of worldly pleasures. But, even assuming we live up to a ripe old age, our last thoughts will not be about God or moksha, but about our family whom we are about to leave behind.
Or we may be worried about our state of health, or even our material wealth and about how to leave it to our descendants. Or we may be senile and incapable of thinking coherent thoughts. In short, we will think of everything but God. So isn’t it better to think of Him while we still can and are strong enough to do so? If we surrender, He will save us. We have His word for it, conveyed to us, because of Bhooma Devi’s mercy.
