BHAJA GOVINDAM

[sha]

BHAJA GOVINDAM

 

Adore Govinda, adore Govinda,

Adore Govinda, O fool!

Rules of grammar are of no avail

When the hour of death approaches.

 

Renounce, O fool, your tireless thirst

For amassing gold and precious gems;

Content yourself with whatever comes

Through deeds performed in past lives;

Generate righteous thoughts

Devoid of passion.

 

Seeing the seductive female form,

Be not enslaved by delusive frenzy.

Bodies are made up of flesh and fat.

Think through this again and again.

 

Precarious is human life,

Like rain-drops on a lotus leaf;

All mankind is consumed

By conceit, disease and sorrow.

 

So long as you provide support,

Your dependents will cling;

When your aging body falters,

Approaching dissolution,

None, not even the nearest kin,

Will care to comfort you.

 

So long as there is breath,

Householders seem solicitous,

But when the breath leaves the body,

Near and dear flee in fear.

 

Remember, riches invite sorrow,

Verily, no joy abides in them.

The rich man fears his son:

Such is the common plight.

 

As a boy, one is lost in sport.

As a youth, one craves female company,

As an old man, one broods anxiously,

Alas, none yearns for Brahman.

 

Who is your wife? Who is your son?

Strange indeed is the glamour of samsara.

Who are you? Whom do you own?

Whence have you come?

Brother, ponder these truths.

 

Good company fosters detachment;

Detachment gives freedom from delusion.

Exempt from delusion, one is steadfast,

Steadfastness bestows liberation in life.

 

When youth is spent, passion is pointless.

When water has gone, what lake is left?

When money is consumed, where are friends?

When the truth is known, what is samsara?

 

Boast not of youth, wealth or kindred.

Swifter than eyes can wink,

Each is stolen by Time.

Let go the illusion of this world,

Knowing Brahman, merge into It.

 

Dusk and dawn, night and day,

Winter and spring, come and go;

Time sports, life is fleeting;

Yet linger the winds of longing.

 

Doting on wife, dreaming of wealth,

Why roam like the restless wind?

Is there not the One who ordains?

In all three worlds

Good company is the only vessel

For crossing the seas of samsara.

 

Restrain the self, regulate the breath,

Sift the transient from the true,

Recite the holy name of God,

And calm the turbulent mind.

This is the universal safeguard.

Adopt it with heart and soul.

 

Cherish the lotus feet of the Guru

And free yourself without delay

From the entanglement of samsara.

Curbing the senses and the mind

Behold the Lord in your heart.

 

Adore Govinda, adore Govinda.

Adore Govinda, O fool!

 

Besides chanting the sacred names,

Nothing availeth on the ocean of life.

 

SHRI SHANKARACHARYA