Bhaja Govindam - Post 9

One cannot stop wondering at the sequence in which Sankara takes readers through the path of enquiry.

After describing the impermanence  and futility of all relations, wealth, woman, etc., in all the initial verses, Sankara almost takes a sincere reader to a stage where he is bound to ask himself, “If all these things which I have been pursuing endlessly in my life so far are worthless, then what is that I have to pursue in my life, if the relation I have with all others and have been cherishing all my life , my wife, my son, my parents, my children, my friends, my enemies - all these are temporary, then , actually WHO AM I?”.

This verse gives a kick start to that enquiry.

A Chinmaya mission monk explains this verse thus:-

Obstacles to Transcend the Family Unit 

1. What are the main obstacles that bind us to family life beyond its legitimate purpose? – the wife and the children. Thus, without intending to disrupt the family as a social institution, the poet asks the earnest seeker to do some soul-searching here. When one has played his or her role within the family, family life has to be transcended. That is all that is being said here. 

There comes a time in an aspirant’s quest for Truth when he has to forego the comforts of home and take to a secluded lifestyle. This is built into the Indian way of life. There is nothing abnormal about it. 

2. When he does this, he sees the true perspective of family life from the outside. The true nature of worldly existence or Samsara is understood. When we are in a whirlpool, we do not know in which direction we are going. Only when we step out of it, can we see that we were being spun around in never-ending circles. So, it is with Samsara. 

Swami quotes Sankara's verses in a discourse, which aligns with the essence of this verse, the fact about Samsara, thus:-

Quote

Mata Nasti, Pita Nasti, Nasti Bandhu Sahodara,

Artham Nasti, Griham Nasti, Thasmath Jagrata Jagrata.

(Relationships like mother, father, brothers, sisters and friends are not real. House and wealth are also illusory. Hence, beware! beware!)

Embodiments of Love!

I am not asking all of you to become renunciants. Do your duty and keep your focus on God. Realize that there is one fundamental basis for everything. Once you recognize this truth, you will develop detachment automatically. It is not possible to develop a sense of detachment by force. As you develop love for God more and more, detachment will go on increasing in you.

So, beware! beware!"

Unquote

(Extract from divine discourse delivered on 10.9.1996)

3. The answers to “Where have you come from?” come from a deeper level of his personality and that level is reached only under the condition when he has come out of the ‘family’ life. 

4. This whole verse can be answered in two totally different ways, depending on whether one is still family bound or has transcended the family. From the latter perspective, when one is unattached to the family, the answer comes that the real relationship to nurture is the one that links us to the whole of creation, not just to the family of one’s birth. Family relationships are in the realm of unreality; the Self goes beyond such narrow confines and links one to the Pure Consciousness pervading this universe. 

Our true relationship with the world is only understood when we have renounced family ties. The broader picture then comes into focus. 

The line “WHOSE ARE YOU OR TO WHOM YOU REALLY BELONG AND THEN WHERE HAVE YOU COME FROM” is the real enquiry of one’s own self which then leads one to the real spiritual path of SELF ENQUIRY and MEDITATION ON THE REAL SELF (Atman that one really is…)

Love.

Bhaja Govindam - Post 8

Verse 7

बालस्तावत्क्रीडासक्तः तरुणस्तावत्तरुणीसक्तः । वृद्धस्तावच्चिन्तासक्तः परमे ब्रह्मणि कोऽपि न सक्तः ॥ ७॥

Bālastāvatkrīḍāsaktaḥ

taruṇastāvattaruṇīsaktaḥ,

Vr̥ddhastāvaccintāsaktaḥ

parame brahmaṇi ko’pi na saktaḥ.

The childhood slips away in attachment to playfulness. Youth passes away in attachment to woman. Old age passes away in worrying about many things. Alas, there is hardly anyone who wants to be lost in parabrahman.

The dangers that face us throughout Life. Throughout life, there is something or other that always distracts us from the essential purpose of life. We take a look at these distractions. 

The overall point of this verse is, “When do we find time for God in our life?” A broad look at life shows us that three stereotypes predominate in our lives: 

 

Childhood

The boy is usually engrossed in his playful activities.  In childhood, play and games take away all his time. Nothing but play delights him then. 

Youth

The days of dolls and play disappear and the days of youth come with its pressing passions. The youth’s mind is diverted, one may even dare to say captured, by thoughts of his beloved.  

Old age

With the wasting of energies and power, the dreaded old age gains admittance forcing man to bend upon others for support. The old man is preoccupied with concerns over his health and the possibility of being lonely. 

Even then, when so much of sorrow, suffering and misery batters him like the waves of the turbulent sea, he does not wholeheartedly turn to God. His fickle mind does not take delight in the thoughts of God. 

Instead, his poor health, advancing age and fear of death, all these haunt a man and in fact, take him nearer to his death, with no peace of mind!

In some cases, repentance does set in old age, man does feel the need to get inwards, turn towards God, but his physical health, his dependence physically and otherwise on others in that age-all these things shatter his confidence and he is left high and dry, without any courage and conviction to turn towards God.

Sankara has covered 3 stages- childhood, youth and old age and related these 3 stages with the desires / state in these 3 stages which haunt a man.

There are few desires / craving which haunts a man which are in between the 3 stages covered in this verse.

Once man settles for marriage, the physical attraction and affection for wife haunts man.

Then, to provide security for himself and his family and to glorify his ego, power, wealth and fame haunts a man.

Simultaneously, affection for his children, then his children’s family…, and the list is endless.

If one examines the basis / underlying factor for whatever has been given by Sankara in 3 stages in this verse, one can realize that it is EGO of a man, ignorance that he is verily divine!!!

The onus is on each one of us to make definite arrangements to bring God into our life at the earliest possible age. If this can be done before we begin to get knocked about by desires in life, then it would save us a lot of bitter experiences in life. 

Love.

Bhaja Govindam - Post 7

Verse 6

यावत्पवनो निवसति देहे तावत्पृच्छति कुशलं गेहे ।

गतवति वायौ देहापाये भार्या बिभ्यति तस्मिन्काये ॥ ६॥

Yāvatpavano nivasati dehe

tāvatpr̥cchati kuśalaṁ gehe,

gatavati vāyau dehāpāye

bhāryā bibhyati tasminkāye.

[When one is alive, his family members enquire kindly about his welfare. But when the soul departs from the body, even his wife runs away in fear of the corpse.]

Worldly man’s attraction for his family has a tinge of madness. 

Till the time one gets married / one meets the girl whom he gets married later on, there is no remote connection with that girl.

Once he falls in love with her or marries her, man develops so much affection for her and she develops so much affection for him, as if they have been together ever since this creation emerged!!

Same affection then spreads to their children who are born out of their intimacy.

Suppose it is possible somehow to succeed in being a breadwinner throughout one’s life; i.e. no disease and no infirmity. Does that nullify the truth that selfishness is at the core of all human relationships? No. For there is yet one event – that of Death – which proves beyond doubt that all human dependencies have to come to an end. 

When death comes, it ends all dependency that others have for us. At that moment, even one’s wife shudders to remain close to her husband’s dead body! 

Dear Brothers and sisters,

We may love someone in our family / circle and they may be very near and dear to us. But when they pass away and are to be cremated, it becomes difficult to stand very near to the body of that person, to bear the smell of that dead body!!

When the author was in 7^th standard, he used to maintain a spiritual diary which was between him and Swami only.

In that, he remembers to have written a line - “When it is raining heavily and someone wants to leave his slipper at someone’s home, they would not object to it at all. But when a dead body is being carried for cremation and it rains heavily and if you want to keep that dead body at some one’s home, will that person allow that dead body to be kept at his house?”

Death is something which every one fears so much that no one wants to ever discuss about death.

We close our eyes to the reality that is certain to overtake us one day. To a Vedantin / a spiritually evolved person, there is no fear of death. He is quite comfortable seeing things face to face. Death does not scare him. 

Sankaracharya, as a Vedantin, would not have any convulsive feelings when writing about death. Death is frightening to very worldly-minded persons who have strong attachments to people. This verse is designed to make us see the futility of human relationships at the time of death. 

Coming back to the essence of this verse, the reality of the selfishness of human nature should help all of us to turn our mind from over indulgence in social life, from excessive affection for family and relations and to turn our mind towards God and to start adoring and worshipping.

When we are obsessed with affection for our near ones, then what happens? We expect them to behave, to move with us, to understand our feelings, our personality, our expectations in a particular way which will gratify our senses, our individuality, our ego.

But when we understand the impermanence of all relationships and understand the same in correct perspective as explained by Sankara, it does not mean that we have to develop aversion towards them and to draw away from them.

It is just that we start viewing all our relationship with a new, wonderful glass, the glass of Lord’s love or our Love for God.

When we view this entire world, sporting (filled with) the glass of Love, then the attachment goes, expectation goes, our ego goes and we are able to pour our selfless love more and more, which is pure and desire free.

The art of detaching from the world to attach to the Lord is explained in detail  in the blog post given below, with reference to a quote by Swami Chinmaya.

 Art of Detachment - Swami Chinmayananda

  

Love.