BHAJA GOVINDAM "Hammer Blows to Delusion" : Slokam - 10. Sri Adi Shankaracharyaji (Swami Guru Bhaktananda).

 

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Thursday, April  22,  2021. 07 : 42. AM.
Slokam - 10 :  Without Cause, No Effect
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Slokam-10.

"vayasigate kaḥ kāmavikāraḥ śuṣke nīre kaḥ kāsāraḥ |

kṣīṇevitte kaḥ parivāraḥ jñāte tattve kaḥ saṁsāraḥ" || 10 ||

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Translation :

1 vayasi gate kah kaama- vikaarah  = When the age for it has passed, where is lust and its play?

2 shushke neere kah kaasaarah;       = When water has evaporated, where is the lake?

3 ksheene vitte kah parivaaro          = When wealth is reduced, where is the retinue?

4 jnaate tattve kah samsaarah.         =  When the Truth is realized, where is Samsara?

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Commentary :

Shankaracharyaji addressed his words to everybody who would take heed. Hence he uses examples that the common man understands – and that means wealth and woman to the majority. By drawing attention to the two weakest points in one’s life, which have become blown out of proportions to occupy man’s sole attention, the Sage hopes to drive home his point about the worthlessness of pursuing them.

Note that the logic of the last Pada is given a clever twist from that of the first three :

1 There can be no Lust, when there is no Virility;

2 There can be no Lake, when there is no Water;

3 There can be no Dependents, when there is no Wealth;

4 There can be no Worldly life, when there is Self-realisation;

We would be expecting: There can be no Peace, when there is no Self-realisation.

By juxtaposing inserting the last ‘non-dependency’ amidst the other three ‘dependencies’, the Sage draws the maximum attention of the reader to the contrast between worldliness and spirituality – they can never go together! That is the message.

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Conclusion :

When youth is gone, where is the lust and its play? When water is evaporated, where is the lake? When the wealth is reduced, where are the relatives? When Truth is realized, where is the (snare of) Samsaara.

 In this sloka Bhagavan Adi Sankaracharya using the analogies of youth, water and wealth explains that when truth is realized the samasara dissolves for that person.

 As long as one is in the grip of desires, whether one is young or old, one strives to fulfil them. But, when once these desires are dried up, one is freed from all problems.

 When the water dries up, the lake loses not only its form and existence but also its meaning and utility. So is with our emotions and desires. Once the dawn of life sets in, the passion and lust lose their grip on our body, thereby one is liberated from the pangs of all worldly problems.

 The only unfailing remedy for the sorrows of life in this Samsaara is knowledge of the Self.

 One is afflicted by sorrows so long as there is delusion in the mind. The only true path available for a sadhaka to remove delusion is wisdom.

End.

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