Sri Adi Shankaracharya Swamiji's BHAJA GOVINDAM - A Call to Wakefullness - 5 : Swami Chidananda

06/10/2018

He may teach other students. What all these will bring to him? He will miss the purpose for which God has sent him as a human being.’

And Shankaracharya burst forth: "What is this? The whole life will be wasted in this. Instead of making use of God-given intellect for vichara, viveka and Self-realisation, here is one who is intent upon mere intellectual acrobatic exercise. This is not good. What will help him at the time of death? Adore the Lord, remember Him, take His name, Bhaja Govindam, Bhaja Govindam, Bhaja Govindam. "

The beauty of this Bhaja Govindam is that it can be sung sweetly. One of the greatest singers of our present contemporary age Padmashri M.S. Subalakshmi Mataji, who has sung before the United Nations Organization, and who has also been honoured with the great Magsaysay award, has sung this Bhaja Govindam Stotram very beautifully.

The Refrain: The recurring refrain is: "Bhaja Govindam, Bhaja Govindam, Bhaja Govindam. " Inspired at that moment by this foolish man’s giving away his God-given life, time and intellect to this little thing like getting by heart a grammar rule, Shankaracharya says:

Bhaja Govindam Bhaja Govindam
Govindam Bhaja moodhamate;
Samprapte sannihite marane
Na hi na hi rakshati dukrin karane.
Bhaja Govindam Bhaja Govindam. [Dhruva padam]

[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. (Refrain)].

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!

[These three, so difficult of attainment, are acquired only by the kindness of the gods: humanity, desire for emancipation, and the guidance of (spiritually) great man. - Viveka-chudamani, 3].

"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."

If he enters into life with a proper understanding about life: "Why have I come here? What is the objective for which God has sent me here?" — then all will be well. 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’. Being born in ignorance, having lived all his life in ignorance, non-discrimination, avichara, aviveka, he would have died too in ignorance.

ENDS