Bhaja Govindam - Sloka 5

5.

Yavad – until (man is)

Vitta – wealth

Uparjana – to earn

Saktha – able / eligible

Tavat – till then

Nija – one’s

Parivara – relations

Raktha – are attached / affectionate

Paschat – later

Jivati – when he lives

Jarjara – in old age

Deha – fragile body

Vartam – news / enquiry / well being

Kopi – no one

Na – does not

Pruchchati – ask

Gehe – in the house

Until one is healthy to earn money to take care of the family, till then all the relations will attached to him and be affectionate. But, when he becomes old and not eligible to earn money then no one in the house is interested even in asking about his welfare.

In the previous stanza, Acharya showed the futility of attachment towards one's own body by showing the fickle state of the life. Now in this stanza he goes on to prove the attachment or the love showered by others is not unconditional. The affection shown is directly proportional to the ability to earn wealth. The people around, relations, are interested only in the wealth, in the later stanza (10th) Acharya will point out to this. People are only interested in sharing the wealth, and this was what was pointed out to the great sage Valmiki by Sage Narada.

The story goes like this, Valmiki was a dacoit who robbed people travelling through the forest. Narada to guide him in the path of truth appeared before him as a simpleton. When the dacoit Valmiki arrested him and was about to rob him, Narada questions him, N : who are you doing this for?  V : for my family N : will they accept also a share of the papa (sin) from what you are doing? V : of course N : please check it up with your family, I'll wait for you till then. When Valmiki asked his parents, they said it's his duty to take care of him. When he asked his wife she also said it's his duty to take care of her. Any asked his children they too said its duty to take care of them. When he asks his friends and relatives, they too say as a leader it's his duty. Valmiki comes back dejected to Narada and explained what happened. Narada tells him the path to salvation or a release from the sins is to chant the name of Rama. So in this way, we understand the people around us are interested only in sharing the good fruits of the Karma and not otherwise. This is exactly what is pointed out to by the Acharya. And, when the ability to earn is lost, we become weak or retire; we are relinquished to the back seat. The importance automatically goes to the next in line (to the retirement), the person who earns for the family.

Bhaja Govindam - Sloka 4

4.

Nalinidala gata jalam - the droplet of water on the leaf of the Lotus

Ati taralam - is very unstable

Tadvat - in the same way

Jivitam - this life

Atisayacapalam - is very fickle

Viddhi - understand this

Vyadhi Abhimana grastam - to be in the hold of disease and ego

Lokam - whole world

Sokahatam ca - and also in the grasp of sorrow

Samastam - is everything.

The water droplet on the lotus leaf is very unstable so is the life of a being is very unstable. Know this entire world to be in the strong grasp of disease, ego and sorrow.

If one thinks that for some period of his life after enjoying the worldly things one can devote his life to the knowledge of self, then, he has to think twice. And again, just giving-up the desire for the woman’s body is in itself not all. There is something which requires our immediate attention. Because the life is so fickle, we don't know when it will come to an end. But people only associate the death with others and not as something which may happen to themselves.

As we saw in the first stanza the death is around the corner, and it can happen to anyone any time. This fickle life is equated with the state of the droplet of water which cannot hold onto a single place in the lotus leaf. As it keeps moving around from one area to the other, so too, this Jiva travels from one body to the other. And the strangest thing is everyone thinks that this life is eternal, or just that his life is eternal.

As from the direct experience itself one can understand that this life is not eternal. And not just that, there are so many other problems which one faces in the life, like disease, ego and the different types of sorrows.

These are the very reason which gave Siddhartha, Gautama the Buddha, the dispassion. And this became the basis for his teaching the four cannons of Buddhism - sarvam kshanikam kshanikam (everything is a momentous / ephemeral), sarvam dukham dukham (everything is sorrowful), sarvam svalakshanam svalakshanam (everything is in its own nature) and sarvam shunyam shunyam (everything is void). Which became the basis for the four schools of Buddhism, namely, sautrantika, vaibhashika, yogachara and madhyamika.

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.