[Chaturamnaya] Adi Sankara's Bhaja Govindam - 13

[S Jayanarayanan]

(Continued from previous post)
 
 
Verse 14 
जटिलो मुण्डी लुञ्छितकेश: काशायाम्बरबहुकृतवेष: ।
पश्यन्नपि च न पश्यति मूढःउदरनिमित्तं बहुकृतवेष: ॥
jatilō mundī lunjitakēsha: kāshāyāmbara bahukrutavēsha:
pashyannapi cha na pashyati mūda: udaranimittam bahukrutavEsha:
 
One is with matted hair (जटिल: jatila: ) , another with a shaven head (मुण्डी mundee), yet another with hair pulled out (लुञ्छितकेश: lunjitakēsha: ). One is with a saffron attire
(काषाय अम्बर वेष: kāshāya ambara vēsha: ). Each is a fool (मूढ: mooda: ) for he sees and yet doesn’t see (पश्यन्नपि च न पश्यति pashyannapi cha na pashyati). [They donn] diverse disguises
(बहुकृतवेष: bahukrutavēsha: ) but only for the sake of [feeding] their belly (उदरनिमित्तं हि udaranimittam hi).
 
Orange is the color of fire into which oblations are offered to the deities and which is considered a great purifier. It is signifying this fact that monks wear orange
and saffron. Similarly, an ascetic shaves his head since hair plays an important role in enhancing one’s appearance, and concern over hair is a demonstration of one’s
attachment to one’s body.Indeed, a part of the ritual marking the entry into sanyāsa involves the plucking of some hairs off one’s head. In short, these are all but
symbols of an inner commitment to purity and renunciation in the pursuit of Brahman alone. The ones who adopt such symbols without seeing their true purpose are indeed
deluded (मूढ: mooda: ). Their adoption of such appearances then ends up as an act of self-aggrandizement only or as a base subterfuge for finding food and mundane necessities.
 
Verse 17
कुरुते गंगासागरगमनं व्रतपरिपालनमथवा दानम् ।
ज्ञानविहीन: सर्वमतेन भजति न मुक्तिं जन्मशतेन ॥
kurutē gangāsāgara gamanam vrataparipālanamathavaādānam
jnaanavihīna: sarvamatēna bhajati na muktim janmashatēna
 
One undertakes (कुरुते kurutē) pilgrimages to the Ganges and the ocean [and such] (गंगासागरगमनम् gangāsāgara gamanam), performs various austerities taking vows (व्रतपरिपालनम् vrataparipālanam)
or else (अथवा athavā) charity (दानम् dānam). Even in a hundred life times (जन्मशतेन janmashatēna) the ignorant (ज्ञानविहीन: jnānavihīna: ) does not attain (न भजति na bhajati) salvation
(मुक्तिम् muktim) through all those undertakings (सर्वमतेन sarvamatēna).
 
Pilgrimages to holy rivers like the Ganga and holy sites are prescribed austerities for the religious as are the observances of various vows (व्रतपरिपालनम् vrataparipālanam).
The arduous nature of some of these practices is to strengthen one’s inner resolve and develop a greater level of forbearance and equanimity in the presence of difficulties.
Just doing them for its own sake is of no value. Similarly, it is important to do charity, but such charity should be done without expecting anything in return including even a
simple thing as a public recognition of one’s good deed. Swami Omkaarananda discusses the example of one who donates a large lamp to a temple but only after having one’s name
engraved thereon and asks whether that lamp has indeed given the enlightenment it symbolizes. One has to donate with a true attitude that this is indeed not mine
(इदं न मम idam na mama) and should expect nothing in return. Otherwise nothing has been donated. Swāmiji further says that even taking pride in or boasting of great deeds,
even if it be that of building a grand temple should be completely eschewed. All the good acts described here are only some preliminary steps in one’s spiritual journey whose
culmination in liberation (मोक्ष: mōksha) depends on shedding one’s ego and attaining true knowledge about the eternal Brahman (ज्ञान: jnāna). Those without such knowledge
(ज्ञानविहीन: jnānavihīna: ) unfortunately cannot cross the ocean of life, death and misery in a hundred lives even if such lives were to be filled with numerous pilgrimages and
austerities. Once again, it is important to recognize that the intent of this verse is not to denigrate pilgrimages, performances of charity, or observances of vows, but to
be ever mindful of the reasons for observing them and to go beyond them. The role of various rituals and austerities and their importance in purifying one and getting one
ready for the quest for knowledge has been stressed in many places in the Vedas as well as in Sri Sankara’s own writings.
 
We end this part with a beautiful prayer.
 
Verse 21
पुनरपि जननं पुनरपि मरणं पुनरपि जननी जठरे शयनम् ।
इह संसारे बहुदुस्तारे कृपया पारे पाहि मुरारे ॥
punarapi jananam punarapi maraNam punarapi jananI jadarE shayanam
Iha samsārE bahudustārE krupaya māhE paahi muraarE
 
Once again birth (पुन: अपि जननम् puna: api jananam), once again death (पुन: अपि मरणम् puna: api maranam), once again (पुन: अपि puna: api) repose in a mother’s womb (जननी जठरे शयनम् 
jananī jatarē shayanam). In this world (इह संसारे iha samsārē) that is hard to cross (बहुदुस्तारे bahu dustārē), with compassion (कृपया krpayā) save me (पाहि पारे pāhi pārē,
Oh destroyer of the demon Mura (मुरारे murārē).
 
We believe that rebirth is a consequence of unfulfilled desires and the result of one’s actions in this and prior lives that generate karmaphala (कर्मफल)that need to be
enjoyed or suffered in a later birth. Confinement in the limited space of a womb is the first pain a living being (जीवात्मा jīvātma) suffers, but like many other pains,
it too gets forgotten or goes unregistered as one begets more opportunities to undergo that pain again. This type of lunacy is illustrated in an imaginary tale in
Yogavasishta where a man trying to escape a tiger jumps into a well but grabs a protruding root of a tree by his nails only to be bewildered by a pair of rats gnawing
at those very roots portending his fall into a well of snakes. Even in these dire circumstances the man is unable to resist stretching out to grab some drops of honey
dripping from a honeycomb above. In many ways, at varying degree human life resembles this tale. The prayer to the slayer of demons is to slay the demon of desire
through knowledge. In a later part, we will examine the prescriptions for a life that avoids the common pitfalls and enable the acquisition of the frame of mind and
knowledge that leads to one’s emancipation.
 
 || ॐ तत्सत् ||
 
 
(Continued in next post)