Adi Shankara - Bhaja Govindam | short biography of Adi Shankaracharya

Image result for Adi Shankara - Bhaja Govindam bhrigupanditAdi Shankara - Bhaja Govindam | short biography of Adi Shankaracharya

"Bhaja Govindam" is a popular poem composed by the scholar-saint Adi Shankara, one of the foremost advocates of the Advaita Vedanta School of philosophy. Govinda means Bhagwan shree krishna.
The story goes like that Shankara and his disciples were walking on the streets of Varanasi when they came across an old teacher teaching the students in his class with grammar rules. Shankara was moved by this scene. He told the teacher that one should focus on God at his stage in life and not waste time teaching the grammar rules. This incident inspired Shankara to compose "Bhaja Govindam".
 Shankara says that there is no end to desires. Even when humans are in terrible health and in distress, they still don't give up their desires. Shankara reminds us that the joy that wealth can bring is only temporary.

Shankara persuades us to constantly think about our place in the world - Who is my spouse? Who is my child? Where did I come from? Who are my parents? What is the true nature of this world? Then he says that it's useless making friends or enemies; if your aim is to attain the highest, learn to treat everyone the same way.
A topic connected with relationships is sex. Shankara reminds us not to overindulge in sex. He rebukes the lecherous ones, who are lost in staring at a woman's breasts or navel. He tells them to remember that they are merely a modification of the flesh.  Later on in the poem, he says that it is easy to fall prey to sexual enjoyment but before you know it, you are plagued by disease, and ultimately death.  

Perhaps the most beautiful verse from "Bhaja Govindam" is one which reminds us that the ultimate purpose of life is ananda, or bliss. Whatever one does in his/her life, if he/she can be genuinely happy, then that's pretty much the secret of life:
then you are truly happy!"
Bhaja Govindaṁ was written by Jagadguru Adi Shankaracharya and is one of of his greatest composition.
Shankaracharya is widely known for his teachings on Vedanta. He was born in the village of Kaladi, in South India, about 2500 years ago to his Brahmin parents, Sivaguru and Aryamba. He traveled throughout India during his life, preaching and establishing four important maths, or centers, and accepted numerous disciples. He had also composed a number of verses and hymns of his knowledge and insight. However, the Bhaja Govindam is perhaps his greatest. He is still today one of the greatest influences in the present-day understanding of Vedic philosophy, with numerous schools of thought throughout India still expounding his teachings.
He primarily taught the non-dual, or advaita, form of understanding, teaching that everything is ultimately one. Many of the commentaries on the Vedic texts, such as the Brahma-samhita, the Upanishads, and others, are written with commentaries by those who follow his advaitic principles. Thus, many such texts have the impersonalistic sway to them, leaving out the idea that everything comes from a personal or Supreme Creator. However, before he left this world, he composed the Bhaja Govindam prayers that evokes the mood of devotion to Lord Govinda, Krishna.
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It is in this prayer that he emphasizes above all else the importance for developing devotion for Govinda/ Krishna, which is the principle means for attaining the Grace of the Supreme, and the freedom from further rounds of reincarnating in material existence. It is this prayer that leaves us no doubt that his final instruction was to give up our egotistical differences and surrender to Lord Krishna. It also encapsulates the sum and substance of all Vedantic thought in whatever other works that he had written.
 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 govindaṁ
In the verses of Bhaja Govindaṁ, Shankara, like no other, explains our fallacies, our wrong outlook for life, and dispells our ignorance and delusions. Thus bhaja govindaṁ was originally known as moha mudgāra, the remover of delusions.
 Shankara's words may seem to be quite piercing and direct in this hymn, missing the softness and tenderness often found in his other texts. The reason is that this was an extempore recital to an old man, wasting his time. His words can be compared to a knife of a doctor. The doctor's knife cruely removes the tumor with much pain, but removing the tumor ultimately restores good health in the patient. So is Shankara's direct words, which pierce and point out our ignorance. It is a knife into the heart of worldiness, and by removing this tumor of ignorance, we can attain everlasting bliss by taking shelter of Govinda.
Bhaja govindaṁ has been set to musical tones and sung as prayer songs by children. It is divided into dvādashapaJNjarikā and charpaTapaJNjarikā for this purpose. The former is a set of verses (verses 1-12) while the rest of the verses form charpaTapaJNjarikā.
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 of Selfrealisation.
Anyone who listens to the music of Bhaja govindaṁ is attracted to it . However, the significance of the text goes much deeper and contains a well defined philosophy of attaining salvation (Moksha) by taking shelter of Govinda / Krishna.
May the achārayā guide us from ignorance to truth . OM tat sat.

Srila Prabhupada: "The Sankara's Bhaja Govinda verse is as follows: bhaja govindam bhaja govindam .........  This is Sankara's last instruction to his followers, and the purport is that the mayavadi philosophers are very much accustomed to draw favorable meanings from unwanted interpretations by grammatical jugglery. In Sanskrit the grammatical jugglery is a great puzzle, there are many words which can be changed into different meanings by grammatical root derivations and affixing and prefixing pratyayas.So Sankara advised that do not try to exact favorable conclusions by beating the Sastras, but be submissive to Lord Govinda and worship Him. Otherwise, this grammatical jugglery of words will not help you at the time of death. At that time only if you can someway or other remember the Lotus Feet of Govinda, Krishna, that will save you, O' the fool number-one. Don't waste your time in misinterpreting the sastras."
(SP. Letter January 21, 1970 / Los Angeles )
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