The essence of Bhaja Govindam

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Worship always Govinda. Oh ignorant man! Rules of grammar will not save you at

the time of your departure.

 

Give up your desire to amass wealth; devote your mind on thoughts

which is the Real. Be content with what comes through actions already

performed in the past.

 

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

by seeing a woman's navel and chest (for women, the sight of men's body). These

are nothing but a mass of flesh. Fail not to remember this again and again in

your mind.

 

The life of a person is as uncertain as rain drops floating on a

lotus leaf. Know that the whole world remains a prey to disease, ego

and grief.

 

So long as a man is fit and able to supports his family, see what

affection all those around him show. But no one will care or even

have a word with him when his body totters due to old age.

 

When one is alive, his family members enquire kindly about his

welfare. But when the soul departs, even his wife runs away in fear

of the corpse.

 

The childhood is lost by attachment to playfulness. Youth is lost by

attachment to woman. Old age passes away by thinking over many

things. But there is hardly anyone who wants to be immersed in

parabrahman.

 

Who is your wife (husband?)? Who is your son? Strange is this samsaara! Of whom

are you? From where have you come? O men ponder over these truths.

 

From satsanga, comes non-attachment; from non-attachment comes

freedom from delusion, which leads to self-composure. From self-

composure comes Jeevan muktii (liberation from the birth death cycle while still

in the body).

 

What is the use of desire for lust when youth has fled? What the use

of a lake which has no water? Where are the relatives when wealth is

gone? Where is samsaara, when the Truth is known?

 

Do not boast of wealth, friends, and youth. Each one of these is

destroyed within a minute by time. Free yourself from the illusion of

the world of Maya and attain the timeless Truth.

 

Daylight and darkness; dusk and dawn; winter and springtime come and

go. Time plays and life ebbs away. But the storm of desire never

leaves (unless you get the real knowledge).

 

Oh mad man! Why this engrossment in thoughts of wealth? Is there no

one to guide you? There is only one thing in the three worlds that

can save you from the ocean of samsaara, get into the boat of

satsanga, quickly.

 

One may go to Gangasagar, observe fasts, and give away riches in

charity! Yet, devoid of jnana, nothing can give mukthi even at the

end of a hundred births.

 

Take your residence in a temple or below a tree, wear the deer skin

for the dress, and sleep on mother earth as your bed. Give up all

attachments and renounce all comforts. Blessed with such vairagya,

could any fail to be content?

 

 

One may take delight in yoga or bhoga, may have attachment or

detachment. But only he whose mind steadily delights in Brahman

enjoys bliss, no one else.

 

Let a man read but a little from geetaa, drink just a drop of water

from the Ganges, worship Murari at least once. He then will have no

altercation with Yama.

 

Birth again, death again, again birth to stay in the mother's womb! It is indeed

hard to cross this boundless ocean of samsaara. Oh Murari! Redeem me through Thy

mercy.

 

There is no shortage of clothing for a monk so long as there are rags

cast off the road. Freed from vices and virtues, onward he wanders.

One who lives in communion with god enjoys bliss, pure and

uncontaminated, like a child and as an intoxicated.

 

Who are you? Who am I? From where do I come? Who is my mother, who is

my father? Ponder thus, look at everything as essence-less and give

up the world as an idle dream.

 

In me, in you and in everything, none but the same Vishnu dwells.

Your anger and impatience is meaningless. If you wish to attain the

status of Vishnu, have equanimity, always.

 

Waste not your efforts to win the love of or to fight against friend

and foe, children and relatives. See yourself in everyone and give up

all feelings of duality completely.

 

Give up lust, anger, infatuation, and greed. Ponder over your real

nature. Fools are they who are blind to the Self. Cast into hell,

they suffer there endlessly.

 

Regularly recite from the Geeta, meditate on Vishnu in your heart,

and chant His thousand glories. Take delight to be with the noble and

the holy. Distribute your wealth in charity to the poor and the

needy.

 

He who yields to lust for pleasure leaves his body a prey to disease.

Though death brings an end to everything, man does not give-up the

sinful path.

 

Wealth is not welfare! Truly there is no joy in it. Reflect thus at

all times. A rich man fears even his own son. This is the way of

wealth everywhere.

 

Regulate the life forces; remain unaffected by external influences;

discriminate between the real and the Maya. Chant the holy name of

God and silence the turbulent mind. Perform them with care, with

extreme care. Oh devotee May thou be soon free from Samsara.

 

Through disciplined senses and controlled mind, thou shall come to

experience the indwelling Lord of your heart!

 

Other than chanting the Lord's names, there is no other way to cross

the life's ocean.

 

R Vaidyanadhan