Serve, seek and paise the lord

The refrain of the most beautiful Sanskrit composition is Bhaja Govindam Bhaja Govindam Govindam Bhaja Mudhamate!
Serve, seek and paise the lord

The great sage Sri Adi Sankaracharyaji may have written many texts and commented upon the three main books of Sanatana Dharma—the Bhagavad Gita, the Brahma Sutras and the Upanishads—his masterpiece message that is famous around the world, especially after the late Carnatic music maestro MS Subbulakshmi’s rendering, is Bhaja Govindam.

The refrain of the most beautiful Sanskrit composition is Bhaja Govindam Bhaja Govindam Govindam Bhaja Mudhamate! (Praise Govinda Praise Govinda Praise Govinda—O foolish mind). He chides the ignorant mind that is not aware of the light of consciousness within. It has got nothing to do with our literacy, schooling, bachelor’s, master’s or even a PhD degree.

The mind that thinks, speaks and acts in the world without awareness of this force within that shines its light on all our thoughts is called Govinda. The Sanskrit meaning for Govinda comes from two roots: go and vinda. Go means to go and go also refers to our senses. Vinda means to reach.

There is a point of awareness from which all the five sense organs of the ears, eyes, nose, tongue and skin allow the light of awareness to pass, fall on its respective objects—sound, form and light, smell, taste and touch—and report back the details gathered to the aware centre within our body. That consciousness within is called Govinda.

That source within we must seek. In many Sanskrit verses, there will be a repetition of the exact words. It is not for paucity of words or to fill space that the masters used that method of repetition. It is to highlight the importance of the thought conveyed. 

When we are told something like this, we can always end up asking, “Why should we seek the Self within?” The whole poem is a verse by verse explanation for why it is important to seek. The second line of the refrain says when the time of complete dissolution of the body comes, nothing at all will protect the mind, especially mere repetition of maxims in grammar.

The line has a deep import for our lives. We spend most part of our life learning something to earn money. So our tongue, a muscular organ, has practice only to repeat sentences and words related to some achievement in the world. When the sense organs withdraw from the world and the tongue is parched and paralysed at the time of death, none of these maxims are going to help us. It is only chanting the name of the God that can resurrect the mind to a state of fearlessness and sanity at this most crucial hour. In fact, all our living throughout a lifetime is only a practice.

brni.sharanyachaitanya@gmail.com

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