Devanagari
इष्ट्वा मां यज्ञहृदयं यज्ञै: पुष्कलदक्षिणै: ।
भुक्त्वा चेहाशिष: सत्या अन्ते मां संस्मरिष्यसि ॥ २४ ॥
Verse text
iṣṭvā māṁ yajṣa-hṛdayaṁ
yajṣaiḥ puṣkala-dakṣiṇaiḥ
bhuktvā cehāśiṣaḥ satyā
ante māṁ saṁsmariṣyasi
Synonyms
iṣṭvā
—
after worshiping
;
mām
—
Me
;
yajṣa
—
hṛdayam — the heart of all sacrifices
;
yajṣaiḥ
—
by great sacrifices
;
puṣkala
—
dakṣiṇaiḥ — comprehending distribution of great charities
;
bhuktvā
—
after enjoying
;
ca
—
also
;
iha
—
within this world
;
āśiṣaḥ
—
blessings
;
satyāḥ
—
true
;
ante
—
at the end
;
mām
—
Me
;
saṁsmariṣyasi
—
you will be able to remember .
Translation
The Lord continued: I am the heart of all sacrifices. You will be able to perform many great sacrifices and also give great charities. In this way you will be able to enjoy the blessings of material happiness in this life, and at the time of your death you will be able to remember Me.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
After worshipping me, the heart of sacrifice by sacrifice and bountiful donations, after enjoying real blessings on earth, you will remember me at death.
You will attain fame in this world.
Purport
The most important factor in this verse is the Lord’s instructions regarding how to remember the Supreme Personality of Godhead at the end of life.
Ante nārāyaṇa-smṛtiḥ:
the result of whatever we do in executing spiritual activities is successful if we can remember Nārāyaṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This program of constant remembrance can be disturbed by many things, but Dhruva Mahārāja’s life would be so pure, as assured by the Lord Himself, that Dhruva would never forget Him. Thus at the time of his death he would remember the Supreme Lord, and before his death he would enjoy this material world, not by sense gratification, but by performing great sacrifices. As stated in the
Vedas,
when one performs great sacrifices he must give charity, not only to the
brāhmaṇas,
but also to the
kṣatriyas, vaiśyas
and
śūdras.
It is assured here that Dhruva Mahārāja would be able to perform such activities. In this Age of Kali, however, the great sacrifice is the performance of
saṅkīrtana-yajṣa.
Our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is designed to teach people (and to learn ourselves) the exact instruction of the Personality of Godhead. In this way we shall continuously perform the
saṅkīrtana-yajṣa
and continuously chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa
mantra.
Then at the end of our lives we shall certainly be able to remember Kṛṣṇa, and our program of life will be successful. In this age, distribution of
prasāda
has replaced distribution of money. No one has sufficient money to distribute, but if we distribute
kṛṣṇa-prasāda
as far as possible, this is more valuable than the distribution of money.