Bhaja Govindam - Sloka 3

Naristhanabhara - woman's full bosom

Nabhivisesham - and her body around the navel

Drshtva - seeing it

Maga - don't get

Mohavesham - caught by the delusion

Etat - this form

Mamsavasadivikaram - is a transformation of just the flesh and the fat

Manasi - in the mind

Vichintaya - remember this well

Varam Varam  - again and again.

Seeing the body of a woman's full bosom and the body around her navel area should not get caught by the delusion of passion. But one should have to remember again and again very clearly that all these are just a transformation of the flesh and fat.

In the last stanza we were asked to gain dispassion over the objects of the world. Now, in this stanza , among the most deluding object in the world is taken. Women, wealth and the order of speech / taste are the three things which a seeker of truth should be beware of. Woman is just a pointer to the other sex or the desires of the body.

The normal way of giving the knowledge of dispassion on this (woman) is to show it as just the creation of matter that removes the idea of beauty in it. To give the idea of dispassion over the birth is shown by presenting the fetus in the womb amidst of excreta, puss, blood etc. So in this line, person is attracted to a woman’s body is because of a fuller bosom and the hip area. Here and in the other vedanta text when the beauty of woman is described it is just to remove the idea of attractiveness and it. So when a person sees these areas, he will be caught by the waves of passion and which will delude him from gaining the knowledge of truth. So, one should understand that this body which one sees as attractive is just the transformation of flesh and the fat.  One should have to remember this well always. Ma - don’t , aga – prapya – gain.

In Vedanta, generally the Adhikari accepted is a Man. Therefore, the discussion always revolves in tarnishing the idea of beauty in a woman’s body. But, when a woman (adhikari) is studying this, she should understand this as, not a chauvinistic idea, but, a general representation. Only in the study of Vedas we have some restriction with respect to its study. But, with respect to the knowledge in it, there is no restriction for a woman or anyone who has the required faculties to understand the teaching of the Guru.

How is this not a beauty? Because this body (bosom or hip) is just a gross form of the flesh and fat. We are not attracted by the flesh or fat, in a slaughter house. And just so, what we see in the body is also a transformation of flesh and fat etc.

Therefore, to gain the dispassion, we should think very clearly / remember this about the body, again and again. The repetition is just to show, till we gain total conviction on this idea.

After discussing in the “other” body the idea of beauty as mithya (only a superimposed) and thereby, gaining the dispassion to giveup the attachment. Acharya goes-on to say in the next stanza, even this (one’s own) body is nothing to be attached to.