[Chaturamnaya] Adi Sankara's Bhaja Govindam - 11

[S Jayanarayanan]

(Continued from previous post)
 
 
https://svbf.org/newsletters/year-2014/bhaja-govindam-4/
 
Bhaja Govindam – 4
PART 4: THE PITEOUS LIFE OF MANY
V. Ramaswami
 
The previous parts of this series examined a set of verses establishing the transient and illusory nature of many of man’s mundane pursuits and attachments. Though they may bring
some transitory joy, their net effect, however, is to bind one and to cause much hardship. Yet, do people in general recognize this truth and live in conformity with the higher
principles that will result in their eventual emancipation? In a small set of verses to be discussed here, the āchārya shows the pitiful way in which many lead their lives.
These verses form an important aid in critical introspection, a sine qua non for internalizing the wisdom (विवेक: viveka) of detachment (वैराग्य: vairāgya) which is a pre-requisite to an
unwavering desire for liberation (मुमुक्षुत्वम् mumukshutvam).
 
Verse 12:
दिनयामिन्यौ सायं प्रात: शिशिरवसन्तौ पुनरायात: ।
काल: क्रीडति गछत्यायुस्तदपि न मुञ्चत्याशावायु: ॥
dinayāminyou sāyam prāta: shishiravasantou punarāyāta:
kālakrīdati gachatyāyu: tadapi na munchatyāshāvāyu:
 
Day and night (दिनयामिन्यौ dina yāminyou), dusk and dawn (सायं प्रात: sāyam prāta:), winter and spring (शिशिरवसन्तौ shishira vasantou) come again (पुन: आयात: puna: āyāta:) . Time plays
(काल: क्रीडति kāla; krīdati), life ebbs (आयु: गछति aayu: gachati). Even then (तदपि tadapi) the gust of desire (आशा वायु: āsha vāyu; ) does not get cleansed (न मुञ्चति na munchati).
 
With the cyclical play of time marked by the rising and setting of the sun, the dawn of each day and night, and the passing of each cycle of the seasons, our limited life gets
closer to its end. Nevertheless, for many, desires do not ebb. The expression “काल: क्रीडति kāla: krīdati” (time plays) emphasizes that time which itself is eternal indeed will have
the last laugh even as its passage may get ignored.
 
In his book on Bhaja Govindam, Swami Viditatmananda quotes two highly pertinent verses of Bhartrhari from the poet’s Vairāgya Satakam, a set of one hundred verses in praise
of renunciation. The first one (Verse 43, op cit) proclaims that the world has gone insane from consuming the stupefying wine of delusion (पीत्वा मोहमयीं प्रमादमदिरामुन्मत्थभूतं जगत् 
pītvā mōhamayīm pramādādirām unmattabhūtam jagat), and being burdened by numerous exchanges of day to day life is impervious to the passage of time (व्यापारैर्बहुकार्यभारगुरुभि: कालोपि न ज्ञायते 
vyāpārairbahukāryabhāragurubhi: kālōpi na gnāyatē) so much so that no fear is invoked even by the sight of birth, death, old age, and suffering (दृष्ट्वा जन्मजराविपत्तिमरणं त्रासश्च नोत्पद्यते 
drshtvā janmajarāvipattimaranam trāsascha na utpadyatē). In an earlier part, we talked about how our possessions may indeed possess us if desires are uncontrolled. Bhartrhari says
(in verse 7 of the Satakam):
 
भोगा न भुक्ता वयमेव भुक्ता: तपो न तप्तं वयमेव तप्ता: ।
कालो न यातो वयमेव यातास्तृणा न जीर्णा वयमेव जीर्णा: ॥
bhōgaa na bhuktā vayamēva bhuktā: tapō na taptam vayamēva taptā:
kālōna yātō vayamēva yātā: trNā: na jīrnA vayamēva jīrNā:
 
Instead of worldly pleasures becoming consumed, we ourselves become consumed. Instead of austerities by fire, we ourselves become scorched. Time (ever present) does not expire
but we do. Desires do not dissipate, we ourselves do.
 
Recall the exhortation of the very first verse of Bhaja Govindam: reciting the sutras of grammar when the end is near does not help at all (सम्प्राप्ते सन्निहिते काले न हि न हि रक्षति डुकृञ्करणे 
samprāptē sannihitē kālē nahi nahi rakshati dukrunkaraNē). Unknowingly, and often knowingly, many get entrenched in the mundane to such an extent that procrastination becomes
subconscious. That deters them from recognizing the transience of their time on earth as well as of their various possessions and relationships. Yet that transience is being
reinforced time and again all around them on a daily basis.
 
The āchārya creates some poignant imagery in our minds through a couple of verses that will haunt our memories in the future as we witness some of the images (yes, sometimes
even in a mirror), that are described in the verses below.
 
 
(Continued in next post)