Vedanta Sutra 4.3.16

Adhikarana IX.

Now the author teaches that as regards certain Nirapekṣas the Lord Himself comes to take them to His abode and does not leave that task to any of His messengers.

Visaya: In the Gopala Purva Tapani we have the following:-

1. They who constantly harmonised and without heedlessness fully worship the Supreme state of Vishnu, not with the desire of getting rewards, to them that Cow-herd-shaped One verily then carefully reveals his own state.
2. He who repeats silently this five-syllabled prayer of Govinda with the word 'Om' preceding it, him verily the Lord Himself shows His own Form, therefore, let the seeker of freedom always recite this mantra in order to get eternal peace.

Doubt: Are the Nirapeksa [sannyasi] worshippers of the Lord carried also by the ātivāhika divinities to the Lord, or are they carried by the Lord Himself.

Purvapaksa: The opponent maintains the view that the Lord Himself carries no one. The scriptures mention only two paths, the path of the Devas and the path of the Pitṛis. All knowers of Brahman have to go by the path of light, and are to be carried by the divinities of that path. The scripture also declares that the Lord is the causal agent in everything, for He never directly does anything. His agents work out His will.

Siddhānta: This view is set aside in the next sūtra.

viśeṣam ca darśayati

16. And the Scripture itself shows the special case
with regard to some Nirapeksas. - 537.

COMMENTARY

The general rule is no doubt that the conducting divinities carry all the knowers of Brahman to Brahman. But with regard to those Nirapeksa devotees who are extremely ardent, and much suffering in their yearning, in their case the Lord Himself comes to fetch them to Himself; because He Himself feels impatient to bring such souls at once to Him. This is a special case only. The scripture also shows this. The two verses of the Gopala Tapani quoted above are an authority for this proposition.

In the Gita also [12.6-7] we find that the Lord Himself comes to carry His ardent devotees to Himself:

ye tu sarvāṇi karmāṇi
mayi sannyasya mat-parāḥ
ananyenaiva yogena
māḿ dhyāyanta upāsate

"Those verily who, renouncing all actions in Me and
intent on Me, worship meditating in Me, with whole-hearted Yoga."

teṣām ahaḿ samuddhartā
mṛtyu-saḿsāra-sāgarāt
bhavāmi na cirāt pārtha
mayy āveśita-cetasām

"Those I speedily lift up from the ocean of death and
existence, O Partha, their minds being fixed on me."

The word "Cha", "and", used in the sūtra means by implication that as soon as such devotees die and shake off final body or Liṅga Deha, the Lord gives them the celestial or apṛākritic body at once. These devotees get rid of their Liṅga Deha along with their physical body, at the time of death. Other devotees have to remain in their Liṅga Deha for some time after death.

Nor is it correct to say that there are only two paths and no third, and that all the knowers of Brahman must pass over the road to archirādi, to the abode of the Lord. For in the Varaha Purana we have the following:

"I bring him seated on the shoulder of Garuda, without hindrance and according to my own will, to my Supreme abode, by a path other than that of archirādi."

Therefore, what the author has said is perfectly correct. The above passage is to be found at the end of the Varaha Purana.