THE BHAJA GOVINDAM OF SANKARA
HUMBLE OFFERING TO GOVINDA, THE PROTECTOR OF ALL
CONTRIBUTED BY
BY
INTRODUCTION BY
C.L.RAMAKRISHNAN
The word "Bhaja" (
Bj
),
like its related word "Bhakti" (
B¢³
),
is derived from the Sanskrit root "Bhaj-Sevayam", (
Bj¯ sEvayam¯
),
meaning "in the service of". The word "Seva" (
sEva
)
means service and refers to the service of the Lord, and this service
could take many forms such as devotees may have witnessed at Tirumala.
Indeed the Bhagavata
(Skanda 7 - Adhyay 55 - Slokas 24-25)
speak of eight forms :
½vN| k£tIn| ¢vÝNaE: ÞmrN| padsEvnm¯
.
AÅcIn| vÓdn| daÞy| sÁymaÏm ¢nvEdnm¯
¡
i¢t p¤|sar¢pta ¢vÝNaE: B¢³àE°v lXNm¯¡
The word "Govindam",on
of the names of the Lord, literally means One who
protects the cow (or also the earth). An ignorant person islikened
to a cow as one that lacks the power of reason or the capacity to
discriminate between right and wrong. This work,the
Bhaja Govindam is alsoknown as the "Moha Mudgara" (
maEh m¤ér|
) which means a pestle
that pulverises ignorance, for when ignorance is destroyed, knowledge
will become self-evident.
The title suggests
dedication of the work by Sankara to his Guru Goudapada, but this is as
much a dedication to the Lord Govinda, because in ancient Indian tradition,
the Guruwas no less than the Lord Himself in human form, a view embodied
in the popular sloka:
g¤ârb#' g¤â¢vIÝN¤: g¤âdEIvaE mhEár:
.
g¤âÞsaXat¯
prb#' tÞmW ½£ g¤rvE nm: ¡
Sankara
has addressed his many works to every type of seeker, ranging from the
novice to the scholar. Bhaja Govindam has a simplicity that seems addressed
to the novice, yet it carries meaning that is profound. Each one of it's
31 verses points to the unreality of the many temptations of this transitory
existence and ends with the recurring refrain urging us to seek Govinda
as the ultimate Reality.
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