IV-2 Śrī Bhāshya | Rāmānuja | 9
Topic 9 - The soul of the knower of the Saguṇa Brahman comes to the heart at the time of death and thence goes out through the Sushumnā
Sutra 4,2.17
तदोकोऽग्रज्वलनं तत्प्रकाशितद्वारः, विद्यासामर्थ्यात्
तच्छेषगत्यनुस्मृतियोगाच्च हार्दानुगृहीताः शताधिकया ॥ १७ ॥
tadoko’grajvalanaṃ tatprakāśitadvāraḥ, vidyāsāmarthyāt
taccheṣagatyanusmṛtiyogācca hārdānugṛhītāḥ śatādhikayā || 17 ||
tat-okaḥ-agrajvalanam—The illumining of the top of its (soul’s) abode (the heart); tat-prakāśitat-hāraḥ—with the passage illumined by this light; vidyā-sāmarthyāt—owing to the efficacy of knowledge; tat-śeṣa-gati-anusmṛti-yogāt—because of the appropriateness of constant meditation of the way which is a part of that knowledge; ca—and; hārdānugṛhītāḥ—being favoured by Him who resides in the heart; śatādhikayā—by the one that is beyond the hundred.
17. (When the soul of a knower of the Saguṇa Brahman is about to depart from the body, there is) the illumining of the top of its abode (the heart);
with the passage (for the exit of the soul) illumined by this light (the soul departs), being favoured by Him who resides in the heart,
along that nerve which is beyond the hundred (i.e. the hundred and first nerve or the Sushumnā) owing to the efficacy of the knowledge and the appropriateness of his constant meditation on the way which is a part of that knowledge.
So far it has been shown that, up to the beginning of the journey, the souls of them as well who possess true knowledge as of those who do not, pass out of the body in the same way. Now a difference is stated in the case of those who have true knowledge. We have on this point the following text: 'There are a hundred and one arteries of the heart; one of them penetrates the crown of the head; moving upwards by that a man reaches immortality; the others serve for departing in different directions' (Kh. Up. VIII, 6, 5). The doubt here arises whether he who knows departs by this hundred and first artery in the top of the head, while those who do not know depart by way of the other arteries; or whether there is no definite rule on this point.--There is no definite rule, the Pūrvapakshin holds. For as the arteries are many and exceedingly minute, they are difficult to distinguish, and the soul therefore is not able to follow any particular one. The text therefore (is not meant to make an original authoritative statement as to different arteries being followed by different souls, but) merely refers in an informal way to what is already settled (viz. by the reason of the thing), i.e. the casual departure of any soul by any artery.--This view the Sūtra rejects 'By way of the hundred and first.' The soul of him who possesses true knowledge departs only by way of the hundred and first artery in the crown of the head. Nor is that soul unable to distinguish that particular artery. For, through the power of his supremely clear knowledge which has the effect of pleasing the Supreme Person, and through the application of remembrance of the way--which remembrance is a part of that knowledge--the soul of him who knows wins the favour of the Supreme Person who abides within the heart, and is assisted by him. Owing to this the abode of that, i.e. the heart which is the abode of the soul, is illuminated, lit up at its tip, and thus, through the grace of the Supreme Soul, the individual soul has the door (of egress from the body) lit up and is able to recognise that artery. There is thus no objection to the view that the soul of him who knows passes out by way of that particular artery only.
-- Here terminates the Adhikaraṇa of 'the abode of that.'