Bhaja Govindam - Post 3

मूढ जहीहि धनागमतृष्णां कुरु सद्बुद्धिं मनसि वितृष्णाम् ।

यल्लभसे निजकर्मोपात्तं वित्तं तेन विनोदय चित्तम् ॥ २ ॥

MŪḌHA JAHĪHI DHANĀGAMATṚṢṆĀṀ

KURU SADBUDDHIṀ MANASI VITṚṢṆĀM

YALLABHASE NIJAKARMOPĀTTAṀ

VITTAṀ TENA VINODAYA CITTAM

 [O Fool, give up the thirst to possess wealth, create in your mind, devoid of passions, thoughts of the reality. From your actions, whatever you get as wealth, entertain your mind (be content)]

MŪḌHA – One who comes to suffer from one’s own ignorance/delusion.

JAHĪHI DHANĀGAMATṚṢṆĀṀ - Give up the thirst to acquire wealth. Wealth here includes all worldly objects of possessions that provide temporary satisfaction. (Desire for wealth needs to be given up. It does not mean to renounce all wealth.

KURU SADBUDDHIṀ MANASI VITṚṢṆĀM - When the mind is cleansed of passions, with a passionless mind one must meditate upon the Reality. Once the mind is cleared with no lust for objects, greed for possessions, and covetousness for wealth; mediate & contemplate upon the Real, the Enduring and the Eternal.

YALLABHASE NIJAKARMOPĀTTAṀ VITTAṀ TENA VINODAYA CITTAM - While wealth is required to live in this world, Sankara indicates us to live joyously in the contentment and satisfaction with what we get ‘as a result of our actions’.

Man due to their lack of understanding of how to achieve unlimited happiness, seeks wealth of the worldly objects to get their happiness. 

Sankara in this sloka indicates to us, that while wealth is required to function in the materialistic world, give up the thirst to acquire wealth, be content with what we get.

When the mind is cleared of these thoughts of possessing wealth, channel the thoughts to contemplate on Reality – (Brahman). 

Does wealth provide fundamental security? 

Once, a fellow Sai devotee brother was discussing on the “financial security” aspect with the author.

Qn. Am I wrong in providing security to my family by buying more houses, by saving more money for them?

Answer. It is absolutely necessary to save, to invest in real estate etc. but one must have a clear vision of “How much I need to save, for the security of my family”. Once that level of saving is reached, then planning for accumulating wealth, for buying more and more properties etc. should be abandoned. After that, whatever gets saved is ok and one must then aspire fully (not that one has not been aspiring till then, but now, it must be whole soul aspiration / craving) for amassing the real wealth, "LOVE OF GOD'.

Any finite article, being and circumstance cannot provide us what we need. It is a sad belief for this same pattern of thinking believes we can buy sound sleep, peace of mind, Love, etc. 

If livelihood is meant for living, then what is living meant for? What are we going to do with so much wealth? Let us not make the means into an end. Everything has its proper time and limits. Is the wealth going to come with us when we go? 

There is this story of Alexander the Great who had instructed that at the time of his funeral, his hands should be positioned to hang out of the coffin with the palms open, to indicate that after all his conquests he is not taking anything with him! 

The most fundamental security is understanding and appreciating one is Infinite. This is most fundamental, for, the possibility of threat is not possible in Oneness. 

Replacing Evil Thoughts with Good Ones: 

What happens when we give away our excess wealth? The passions in our mind are cooled down. In a mind free from passions, we are able to entertain thoughts of the Reality. Note that the pursuits themselves are not being criticized; only their effect of making us forget God is criticized. Knowledge and wealth are both needed, but not at the expense of losing our spiritual identity. When they are in excess of our need, they tend to make us forget God. By giving this excess away in charity, we can be safe from this danger. 

Remaining Contented: 

What is occupying our mind? What should be occupying it? Is a Sattwic pursuit such as the quest for knowledge going to be of more use than the Rajasic one of earning more wealth? Knowledge also has its dangers. It may make one swollen-headed. One can become great in a particular field. Then there will be welcome receptions everywhere, one will be a speaker at every function, etc. Will this be help to realize one’s spiritual goal? 

Vinodaya Chittam 

“give joy to the mind”. When we use our excess wealth for the welfare of others, it helps to build a noble mind; such a mind is always pleasant and joyful. 

The total message in this verse is therefore to be understood clearly: 

Anything that takes us away from the spiritual goal is to be considered as a wasted effort. 

Those who attended the October month sadan talk would / need to refresh their mind and heart with what we shared during the talk on property. It truly applies to each and every step in our life when it comes to practical steps / actions for providing family security.

Any such action must be taken in the back-drop of the following:

·         willingness to give up fear, 

·          willingness to give up desire, 

· Invoking Swami’s presence within us as pure  energy/consciousness which is available everywhere around us.

And, having taken an action with the above factors in the background, willingness to effortlessly surrender the fruits of such action at His lotus feet, then and there, even before the fruits of actions are to manifest!!!

How wonderfully this lesson fits / aligns with the last expression in this verse - VINODAYA CHITTAM, which is explained above.

Love.

Dear All,

Please take out some peaceful time and go through the link given below, which deals with the 4 Purushartha- Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha in great detail. This has been dealt in " Karma" theme post and the post number under Karma is 9.

4 Purusharthas

Love.