Bhaja Govindam

Bhaja Govindam (Praise Govinda/Repeat the name of Govinda), is one of the most popular hymns penned by Shankara, that is still sung and recited by millions of Hindus every day. It consists of seventeen stanzas in rhyme. The hymn is steeped in the emotion of bhakti, urging the need for devotion to the Lord as against mechanical acquisition of conventional knowledge. The legend is that Shankara spontaneously composed this hymn in Varanasi on being irritated by the sound of a student loudly trying to learn the rules of grammar by rote. Its basic refrain is that surrender yourself to Govinda, the Lord, for the rules of grammar will not profit you once the hour of death draws near.

This composition, like many others, written by Shankara, wherein he underlines the importance of devotion and surrender, and pours his heart out in obeisance to a deity in the Hindu pantheon, may surprise those who associate him only with the jnana marga or the path of knowledge to salvation. The jnana marga was, indeed, the path that Shankara believed to be the most efficacious in the search for knowledge of Brahman, and consequently of moksha. However—and this is the important point – he never forbid prayer and worship animated by the spirit of self-surrender and bhakti. The conventional modes of religious practice, if sufficiently suffused by the yearning for spiritual grace, had his sanction. Under the rubric of apara vidya, or practical knowledge Shankara endorsed such outpourings of devotion as a preparatory step to the para knowledge of Brahman.

The Bhaja Govindam invokes a strong mood of vairagya or renunciation given the transience of the reasons of human pride. We surround ourselves with coordinates of assurance—family, children, wealth, fame, youth, and considering them permanent, spend a lifetime seeking to preserve the inherently ephemeral and momentary, while shutting our eyes to the inevitability of death. It is only when death approaches do we understand the mirage we treasured, and by then, very often, it is too late to pursue the path of jnana that alone can give us lasting happiness and contentment.

For Shankara then, the learning of grammar, as an end in itself, without realising the nature of our finite lives, is a metaphor to highlight the imperative need to acquire that wisdom in the light of which alone we can achieve lasting happiness. Surrender to a personal God-in this case Govinda or Krishna is the first step in moving towards that wisdom.

---

Significance of Bhaja Govindam

Bhaja Govindam was written by Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya. Bhaja Govindam is one of the minor compositions of the spiritual giant, Adi Shankaracharya. It is classified as a prakarana grantha, a primer to the major works. Though sung as a Bhajan, it contains the essence of Vedanta and implores the man to think, Why am I here in this life ? Why am I amassing wealth, family, but have no peace ? What is the Truth ? What is the purpose of life ? The person thus awakened gets set on a path to the inner road back to the God principle.

The background of Bhaja Govindam is worth examining. During his stay in Kashi, Adi Shankaracharya noticed a very old man studying the rules of Sanskrit by Panini. Shankara was touched with pity at seeing the plight of the old man spending his years at a mere intellectual accomplishment while he would be better off praying and spending time to control his mind.

Shankara understood that the majority of the world was also engaged in mere intellectual, sense pleasures and not in the divine contemplation. Seeing this, he burst forth with the verses of Bhaja Govindam. In 31 verses, he, like no other, explains our fallacies, our wrong outlook for life, and dispels our ignorance and delusions. Thus Bhaja Govindam was originally known as Moha Mudgara, the remover or hammer of delusions.

Shankara explains, nay chides, us for spending our time in useless trivia like amassing wealth, lusting after (wo)men and requests us to discriminate and cultivate the knowledge to learn the difference between the real and the unreal. To emphasise that, he concludes that all knowledge other than the Self-Knowledge is useless, Shankara makes the person realize how foolish he/she is in the conduct and behaviour by these verses, and shows the purpose of our worldly existence, which is to seek Govinda and attain Him.

Bhaja Govindam is divided into dvadashamanjarika stotram and chaturdashamanjarika stotram. At the end of composing the first stanza, it is said that Shankara burst forth with the next 12 stanzas of Bhaja Govindam. Thus stanzas 2-13 with 1st as refrain are called dvadashmanjarika stotram. Inspired by the extempore recital by Shankara, each of his 14 disciples composed a verse and the 14 verse compendium is called chaturdashamanjarika stotram. (There are no evidences to prove the exact individual authorship of these 14 verses, we have some traditional hearsay eviences as attribution.)

Shankara added the finishing touches by adding five of his own stanzas at the last bringing the total to 31. The combined 31 are also termed as Moha Mudgara by some. The last two verses in this version is not found in all editions.

Bhaja Govindam has been set to musical tones and sung as prayer songs by children. It is divided into dvadashamanjarika and charpatapanjarika for this purpose. The former is a set of verses (verses 2-13) while the rest of the verses form charpatapanjarika . Anyone who listens to the music of Bhaja Govindam is attracted to it. However, the significance of the text goes much deeper and contains a well-defined philosophy of attaining salvation.

Shankara’s words seem to be quite piercing and seem to lack the softness and tenderness often found in his other texts, thus addressing directly. The reason is that this was an extempore recital to an old man. His words can be compared to a knife of a surgeon. The surgeon’s knife cruelly removes the tumour with much pain, but removing the tumour ultimately restores good health in the patient. So are Shankara’s words, which pierce and point out our ignorance. It is a knife into the heart of worldliness, and by removing this tumour of ignorance, we can attain everlasting bliss with the grace of Govinda.

May the acharya guide us from ignorance to truth.
OM Tat Sat.

---

Introduction to Bhaja Govindam by Sri Rajaji (C. Rajagopalachari)

Below is the original audio of this introduction.

Adi Shankaracharya wrote a number of Vedantic works for imparting knowledge of the Self and the Universal Spirit. He also composed a number of hymns to foster Bhakti in the hearts of men. One of these hymns is the famous Bhaja Govindam. The way of devotion, is not different from the way of knowledge or Jnana. When intelligence matures and lodges securely in the mind, it becomes wisdom. When wisdom is integrated with life and issues out in action, it becomes Bhakti. Knowledge, when it becomes fully mature is Bhakti. If it does not get transformed into Bhakti, such knowledge is useless tinsel. To believe that Jnana and Bhakti, knowledge and devotion are different from each other, is ignorance.

If Sri Adi Shankara himself who drank the ocean of Jnana as easily as one sip’s water from the palm of one’s hand, sang in his later years, hymns to develop devotion, it is enough to show that Jnana and Bhakti are one and the same. Sri Shankara has packed into the Bhaja Govindam song: the substance of all vedanta, and set the oneness of Jnana and Bhakti to melodious music.