Aditya, Thursday, June 15, 2017 2:53 am

Life and Death – Bhaja Govindam

Once upon a time over 1200 years ago in the holy city of Varanasi (India), a great Hindu saint, Adi Shankaracharya, was walking with his disciples along the bank of the river Ganges. As they strolled, they came across an old man devoting all his energy to chanting some rules of grammar (Sanskrit grammatical rules can be chanted to help memorise them). Seeing this old man spending the last precious moments of his life engaged in such worldly pursuits, Adi Shankaracharya spontaneously composed the famous set of verses known as ‘Bhaja Govindam’ (Seek the Truth). The aim of these verses is to encourage the man (and us) not to waste time devoting our energy towards materialistic or purely intellectual pursuits. Life is short, time is precious, and therefore Adi Shankara advises that we use our time to ‘Seek the higher Truth of life, before death arrives!’ I have selected a few of Adi Shankaracharya’s verses here:

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Seek Govinda, Seek Govinda, Seek Govinda, Oh Confused one!

Rules of grammar will not save you at the time of your death. (1)

Here Govinda is a name for the Lord/Bhagavan. The Vedas teach us that this entire Universe is a manifestation of Govinda. Govinda does not sit in the clouds, he is in the form of this entire Universe – the trees, the rivers, the mountains, people, animals, planets, stars, space, time, physical laws, economic laws, karmic laws….everything! (See Ishavasya Upanishad Mantra 1 and Gita Chapter 10). Understanding the true nature of this Universe, is the same as understanding Govinda. At the time of death, you will not take any of your possessions or intellectual pursuits with you to the next birth. So to spend all your energy on such things is confused. Only your previous good deeds (Punya), good habits (samskara), and wisdom (jnana-bhava), will benefit you in the next birth.

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Oh fool! Give up your thirst to accumulate wealth, devote your mind to thoughts of the Truth. Be content with whatever comes through actions already performed in the past. (2)

Money is not the be all and end all of life. Yet many of us are highly insecure with reference to money. This insecurity manifests as greed to acquire more and more and more. This greed never ends, money can always be increased. There is no limit. But can money buy us happiness? No, only our mental state can bring us happiness. So is money bad then? No. It’s neither bad nor good. Money is money. There’s nothing inherently wrong with it. We must have a healthy respectful attitude towards money. In fact, we respect wealth as Lakshmi and work so that we have enough to provide us with our basic needs. Giving something to others is also a big part of Vedic teaching. Here Adi Shankara advises us to be content with what we have materially. Instead, focus our energy on seeking Govinda through worship, charity, meditation and Vedanta study.

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So long as a man is fit and able to support his family, see what affection all those around him show. But no one at home cares to even have a word with him when his body weak due to old age.(5)

This is a harsh truth designed to cut through to the listener and shock them into action. Respect and attention from others is often linked to wealth and power. Once wealth and power go, for example in old age, we can observe that respect also goes (not always, but in many cases). Hence the elderly are often ignored and neglected to differing extents. Only then we realise that all that attention and respect was really for the money and power, not the person. Clearly this is not true for all, but there is a profundity to Shankara’s work which cuts straight to the point in order to inspire us into seeking the Truth before death arrives.

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Childhood is lost by attachment to playfulness. Youth is lost by attachment to the opposite sex. Old age is lost by attachment to worry/reminiscing. But there is hardly anyone who wants to be lost in parabrahman (the highest truth).(7)

Whenever I see my 3 year old nephew and ask him what he wants to do…guess what he says? “Play!”. All children love to play, it’s natural. Most of their time and effort is devoted to playing. Then as we get older, playing games is less of priority. But attracting a partner is. A lot of energy is consumed by this in youth. Then in old age, priorities shift again. Health becomes a bigger issue – back pain, head pain, stomach pain, all sorts of pain! You start to see your Doctor more than you see your own friends. Hence in old age a lot of energy is devoted towards worrying about health. And reminiscing about the past. So childhood, youth, old age has gone – life has passed – but what have we really achieved in terms of spiritual progress? We have time for everything other than the spiritual pursuit. We must ask questions about life and seek answers: Who am I? Where did this world come from? Why am I here? Where will I find peace? If we seek Govinda, worship Bhagavan, meditate, help others and study some Vedanta – all these questions will be resolved.

Bhaja Govindam!

Om

Aditya

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