bhaja govindaM verse 3

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naariistanabhara naabhiideshaM

dR^ishhTvaa maagaamohaavesham.h .

etanmaaMsaavasaadi vikaaraM

manasi vichintaya vaaraM vaaram.h .. 3..

 

##naarii## \ = woman;

##stanabhara## \ = breasts that are(full-with milk);

##naabhii## = navel

##deshaM## \ = region;

##dR^ishhTvaa## \ = having seen;

##maagaa## \ = mA+gaa, Don't+go;

##mohaaveshaM## \ = moha+AveshaM = infatuated state;

##etan.h## \ = this;

##maa.nsaavasaadi## \ = mA.nsau+Adi, flesh+etc;

##vikaaraM## \ = (ghastly) appearance;

##manasi## \ = in the mind;

##vichintaya## \ = think well;

##vaaraM## \ = again;

##vaaraM## \ = and again;

 

 

Do not get drowned in delusion by going wild with passions and lust by

seeing a woman's navel and chest. These are nothing but a modification of

flesh etc. Fail not to remember this again and again in your mind.

 

 

Having warned the aspirant of the dangers of striving for wealth,

Shankara acharya asks the sadhaka to be ever on gaurd against the enemy -

women. Here the warning given to the male sadhaka applies equally well to

the female sadhaka as well (in requesting her not to be deluded by men.) As

a moth is eaten by the fire towards which it runs, a man burns himself in

passions

and lust. Agony, suffering and misery verily accompany a man

falling into the trap of lust.

 

The biological urge and attraction is not asked to be suppressed,

but controlled, refined and sublimated to something more useful,

noble and divine. If it is suppressed and repressed, it will

explode some time later Any forceful repression is harmful. Hiding our

urges and putting on a brave front is like hiding an old sore-ridden body

with a cloth of gold. There will come a day when the cloth of gold is

removed, and the sore in all its ugliness is revealed. Hence, any urge or

desire is to be replaced by a divine

sentiment and sublimated (like by replacing the personal lust to universal

love).

 

At the initial stages, the powerful urge can be overcome

by remembering again and again (varam varam) that beauty is

only skin-deep, that beyond the outer skin, there is nothing

but flesh and fat, bones and nerve and every thing that is

considered beautiful is only a modification of the flesh, which

has to be burned in a fire soon.

 

Man is seeking for pleasure and for happiness, through his senses, where it

can never be found. The sages repeatedly teach us that this is futile and

vain, there is no happiness here. But like moths hurling themselves against

the flame, we are hurling ourselves again and again into sense-pleasures,

hoping to find satisfaction there. We experience pleasure for a fleeting

moment, and pain for the next few days. But we return again and again with

freshened energy to find happiness only to fail.

 

We try to create oblivion by making money, by indulging in all kinds of

sense pleasures and trying to forget that we will be consumed by the

greatest avenger, Time. And we can only learn that all this is verily maya

and happiness can never be obtained from sense-pleasures only from our own

experience.

 

AUM shaantiH