We are often bogged down when we think about the sins we have committed knowingly or unknowingly. This may even make us feel totally hopeless and helpless since we cannot change what has been done already or turn back time.
If you find yourself in such a situation but you deeply regret the faulty actions of the past, know that there is a way forward for you. The Guru has guided us on how we can uplift ourselves.
Pujayapad Puri Shankaracharyaji explains that chanting the name of Bhagavan has the power to wash away or sins or paap. This applies to sins that are done both, consciously and unconsciously.
However, we must make a resolve that we will not commit the sin, any further. If we do wrong things in the name of Bhagavan it is called “naam-aparadha”. That is incorrect.
An elephant has a bath and then rolls himself in the mud again. This makes the effort of bathing useless. Similarly, we wash away our sins by chanting the name of Bhagavan, and then go and make the indulge in the same sins or paap again. This cycle continues.
If we do not commit any further sins after cleansing ourselves with chanting Bhagavan’s name, then our sins certainly get burnt off.
You must have heard the constant emphasis on uttering the name of Bhagavan before our last breath. Pujyapad explains that if we take the name of Bhagavan just before death, then due to having no further life and opportunity to commit more sins, that remembrance in the last moment becomes taarak for us, or that which frees us from the cycle of birth and death.
To be able to remember Bhagavan before we die, we need to remember His Divine Name throughout our lives. This is rare as expressed through a short story ‘Ram-Ram‘.