Dear Readers,
We will conclude
Bhaja Govindam verse with where we started, the first verse.
भज गोविन्दं भज गोविन्दं गोविन्दं भज मूढमते ।
सम्प्राप्ते सन्निहिते काले नहि नहि रक्षति डुकृङ्करणे ॥
Bhaja Govindam Bhaja Govindam
Govindam Bhaja Moodhamate;
Samprapte Sannihite Kaale
Nahi Nahi Rakshati Dukrin Karane.
[O deluded man!
Surrender yourself to the Lord, sing the name of the Lord, take shelter in the
Lord! Seek Govinda. When the inevitable death overtakes you, never, never will
the grammar rule ‘dukrin karane’ take care of you. ]
This introductory
admonition explains: "When death comes, this knowledge is not going to
save you. Therefore, adore the Lord who will liberate you from the cycle of
birth and death once and for all, and take you to the realm of His (which is)
beyond darkness. [Having gone thither they return not; that is My Supreme Abode
— Gita, 15.6]. Try to attain That, O man!
“DURLABHAM TRAYAM EVAITAT DEVANUGRAHA HETUKAM
MANUSHYATVAM MUMUKSHUTVAM MAHAPURUSHA
SAMSHRAYAH”
SAMSHRAYAH”
(Manhood, burning
desire for liberation (Mumukshatvam), the capacity to completely surrender to a
man of wisdom - These three things are rare indeed, and wherever they are
found, they are due to the Lord’s own Grace)
"What a
wonderful chance this man is missing just for the sake of earning his
livelihood and maintenance! Instead of using discrimination between the Eternal
and perishable, he is using his God-given intellect and putting his heart and
mind in this mere repetition for remembering by heart a grammar rule! What a
great pity!" Shankaracharya is moved; and he says: "Look
here! This is all right. But worship the Lord. Direct your mind to God. In that
alone is your highest welfare."
This particular
teaching has an appealing naturalness and spontaneity. It has got a universal
appeal, because evidently this student whose repetition attracted
Shankaracharya’s ears must have been a young man preparing to enter life, not
yet having entered into life.
And it is at this
particular stage of an individual that he should be given the right direction.
That is the crucial importance of the Bhaja Govindam composition. It was given
to a young man at the entry point of his life. Shankaracharya thought:
"This is the right time that one should be made aware of the higher
purpose of human life, the deeper significance, the great objective and Goal
for which one has been sent here."
He will take care of
his secular side without neglecting his spiritual side. He would have died in
ignorance, if that right understanding is not given at this entry point of life
when one is young, when one needs to be awakened and made aware that life is
more than mere eating-drinking-sleeping, earning, putting aside little bit of
money, having a family, and getting caught and entangled in the cobweb of
samsara, in the net of maya’.
(Swami Chidananda)
Love.
