Bhaja Govindam - Sloka 2

Mooda – Oh! Fool

Jahihi – You destroy / give-up

Dhanagamatrshnam – Desire / Thirst for earning more wealth

Kuru – Do / Cultivate

Satbuddhim – the thought of the Self

Manasi – and in the mind

Vitrshnam – dispassion

Yat – That whatever

Labhase- You gain / attain

Nijakarmopattam – through the your acquired karmas (from the past births)

Vittam – with that wealth

Vinodaya – Satisfy / be happy

Chittam – in your mind.

Oh! Fool give-up all the desire for the thirst of earning more wealth and start to cultivate the thought abot the self with dispassion for the worldly things. And whatever wealth you attain as the result of the karmas you have performed in your previous lives / births, be satisfied with that.

Since this person is involved in the experience of the objects of the world, and the activities of the world with the understanding the true nature of his self being a non-experience and non-doer Acharya calls him a mooda - idiot / fool. Oh you fool, and give up completely the desire for accumulating more and more of the worldly wealth. Jahihi cannot be separated as Jahi + iha (destroy here), but the from root Ohak tyage, ha gets Lit suffix and doubled, the former ha becomes Ja and jahi + si, acoording to the sutra “serhyapicca” of Sri Panini, si becomes hi – Jahihi.

 Here, normally people ask to not do something, and they never say what should be done. That doubt is not left here without an answer. Therefore following this advice of giving-up of the desire, Acharya says kuru sadbuddhim - cultivate the thoughts on the self.

 Now there may be a doubt, Now, I have gained the desire for self; can I with it have the desire for accumulation for wealth? This is negated with another reiteration of the same advice; manasi vitrshna - cultivate also the dispassion for the worldly objects. Because here, with the first advice of giving up of desire for accumulating wealth though the dispassion is said still one should not think of having the desire for world and the knowledge can go hand-in-hand.

 Since now I have gained the dispassion and also acquired the desire for the knowledge, should they not experienced anything, like eating etc. which are the minimum requirements of the body if be asked? The answer to this is, whatever you gain because of your past karmas, with that wealth satisfy your mind or happily enjoy.

 This is a very key is stanza, the stanzas from 3 to 8 is an explanation to the words Dhanagamatrshnam and Manasi Vitrshnam. And the stanza 9 is an explanation to the word Satbuddhim.

Bhaja Govinda - Sloka 1

This a simple prakarana, a vedanta treatise, in 12 stanzas. The story goes like this, when Bhagavan Bhashyakara (Sri Shankaracharya) was travelling in Varanasi, he saw an old man trying to memorise the Sutra of Panini. Taking pity on the old man and others similar to him, out of compassion Acharya recited the first stanza. Once he completed it, in a flow he completed the other 11 stanzas which form the primary text. Then his disciples sang the next 14 stanza with the concluding final stanzas by Acharya again we have the text in present form. The first 12 stanzas are called Dwadashapanjarika and the following 14 stanza are called Chaturdashapanjarika or Charpatapanjarika. Normally this is taken as a Bhakti text. But we'll see it in its true form, like any other Acharya’s text this is also another which deals only with Vedanta.

Bhaja Govindam Bhaja Govindam – Definetly worship Govinda (Krishna)

Govindam - Govinda

Bhaja - you worship

Moodamate - oh! You deluded fool

Samprapte - when the right time has come

Sannihite - at the close proximity

Kale - of death

Na hi Na hi - definitely will not

Rakshati - protect

Dukrn Karane - the other activities.

Oh! You deluded fool worship the Lord Govinda now, because when the right time for death has come in the close proximity then no other activity can protect / save you.

Bhaja means to worship, to serve, to adore, to praise, to benedict etc. One should have to worship. Worship whom ? The answer given is the name Govinda. Govinda is another name for Lord Krishna. Govinda means the one who is protector of the herds. The herds here mean the Jiva. Or it can mean, the protector / controller of the sense organs. In the first explanation, Govinda is the lord of all the jivas (Brahman). And in the second, Govinda is the indweller in the jiva, individual Self. Since the, Brahman and the individual self is not basically different, and is intrinsically one and the same.

The scriptures “Brahmaiva atma” (Brahman is atma), “Tattvamasi” (you are that Self) etc. explain the same.

This Govinda is the one we should have to worship. Why should he be worshipped? Because, when the right time has come for a departure from this world. The right time means, the end of our lifespan. When we are in the clutches of death. We cannot be protected by any other means.

Here normally, the word "Dukrn Karane" is translated as the grammatical rules. The word is a statement from the Paninis Dhatu pata, the text dealing with the root word. The Dukrn is the root and Karane is the meaning. That is, the root Dukrn means to do. It is just a pointer to the other activities. Whatever is achieved through some action is limited. And the unlimited, eternal Self cannot be gained through some action. Anything which is a part of action can be done, not done or done otherwise. But still being the inherent nature of the Being cannot be gained through an action. And the Vastu (Self) is Akarta and Aboktha (non-doer and non-experience).

To fill the meter Acharya could have used any other word like “vyakaranam” – the Sanskrit, or if he wanted to use only a root word, it could have been “dupachas pake – to cook or dukrin krayane – to buy” etc., but he uses this root word to point out to the ephemeral State of the action.

So this stanzas summary is, they have to worship the Lord who is none other than the Self instead of wasting our time in different forms of action. Since no action can make us attain the ever attained.

There is another version of this text with an extra 13th sloka, whick looks like an interpolation to prove the nature of thses stanzas to be a teaching meant for a Grammarian. Though, it can be argued in this light that, the old man was trying to memorize the Dhatu “Dukrn Karane” when Acharya went past him.

Since, any treatise starts with an invocation, this being one treatise, Acharya starts with an invocation on the Lord Govinda. This invocation is in the form of a remembering the Self, Vastu smaranatmaka.

Any Prakarana will have these four Anubandhas (characteristics) vishaya, prayojana, sambandha and adhikari.

Vishaya - the subject matter of the text is the knowledge of Self. In this case Knowledge of the Self. By the word “govinda” – Self. 

Prayojana - the usefulness of the text is to help the Jiva in attaining the self. In this case Knowledge of the Self. Knowledge of Govinda. 

Sambandha - The relationship is, the text being team means and the Jiva being the one who uses it to gain the knowledge.                 

Adhikari - A person who has understood the ephemeral state of the world. Here, “moodamati” who understands the “dukrn karane” will not help him.

Who Cares ?!?

After my lecture in Sringeri, there was Q & A. I had explained from the Bhashya, that it is not only Sravana but for some, very rare exceptional, people can gain release through other means also. There was
One Sanyasi who asked me, if iam saying that on need not do Sravana etc ?
That is a tricky question, I told him so too. One cannot answer these type of questions with just a YES or NO. I gave him the example of such a question from Yoga Sutra Bhashya, the question like, "is there birth after death?" , and, I added another question, "I heard you were mentally unstable and got it cured, is it true?". You say Yes, you are in problem if you say No, you are in deeper problem. That is why Bhagavwn Bhashyakara has added so many adjectives, Very rare exceptional..

Next, one old Sannyasinis disciple asked the difference between Patana and Paatana and Adyayana and Adyapana, they are synonyms.

After the Q & A when I was going toward to my room, a group of people started asking different questions. The old Sannasini asked about, the difference between Sravana and Patana or Adyayana. And said they were different, because after Sravana one does Manana etc...
I simply asked her, whether if that was a Siddanta or a Poorvapaksha (Answer or a Question). The difference is if it was a Siddanta, I said i accept what she says, When see said it was a Poorvapaksha, i said it was wrong to say Manana after Sravana, she interupted and said but that is the way. I said here (now) itself you are disproving your statement. If it was Sravana and then Manana, you would have taken time to think and ask. So, the conclusion is Sravana and Manana normally takes place simultaniously, and in some rare cases later, like understantion a joke when we are travelling or in the washroom.

Another mataji asked me, why i asked the question, if it was a Siddanta or Poorvapaksha?. Here i would like to introduce you to some dialogue which took place between us before a couple of years. In Uttarkashi, when i was invited for a lecture, one day they had asked this Mataji to speak, in the evening, i just commented on it and said, "i heard the lecture was nice". She immediately asked me whether i listened. To which i had replied in Tamil "naan yaar pechaiyum ketkaradillay" (I don't listen to anyone). This I reminded her then, That was then and now i understand not only me but no one really listens to anybody, i answered. As bhagavan says in Gita "Prakrtim yati ca bhootani nigraham kim karishyati" - the jivas are slaves to theit Prarabdha, what will control do, and below this sloka Bhagavan Bhashyakara says, "mama va anyasya va" - mine or others (control).


So, as i already in another blog had explained that when we see in a birds eye view, there is nothing wrong with the creation.