Bhaja Govindam
verse 1
भज गोविन्दम् भज गोविन्दम्
Bhaja govindam bhaja govindam
गोविन्दं भज मूढ़मते
Govindaṃ bhaja mūr̤hamate
संप्राप्ते सन्निहिते काले
Saṃprāpte sannihite kāle
न हि न हि रक्षति डुकृञ् करणे
Na hi na hi rakṣati ḍukṛñ karaṇe
Meaning
Worship Govinda, worship Govinda,
worship Govinda, O foolish mind.
When the appointed hour stands close at hand,
no rule of grammar, none at all, will save you.
verse 2
मूढ़ जहीहि धनागमतृष्णाम्
Mūr̤ha jahīhi dhanāgamatṛṣṇām
कुरु सद्बुद्धिमं मनसि वितृष्णाम्
Kuru sadbuddhimaṃ manasi vitṛṣṇām
यल्लभसे निजकर्मोपात्तम्
Yallabhase nijakarmopāttam
वित्तं तेन विनोदय चित्तं
Vittaṃ tena vinodaya cittaṃ
Meaning
O foolish one, give up the thirst for piling up wealth;
make your understanding right and your mind free of craving.
Whatever comes to you, earned by your own past deeds,
let your mind find its contentment in that.
verse 3
नारीस्तनभरनाभीदेशम्
Nārīstanabharanābhīdeśam
दृष्ट्वा मागा मोहावेशम्
Dṛṣṭvā māgā mohāveśam
एतन्मान्सवसादिविकारम्
Etanmānsavasādivikāram
मनसि विचिन्तय वारं वारम्
Manasi vicintaya vāraṃ vāram
Meaning
A woman's swelling breast, the curve of her navel:
seeing them, do not fall into the grip of infatuation.
This is no more than flesh and fat and their changes;
turn that over in your mind, again and again.
verse 4
नलिनीदलगतजलमतितरलम् तद्वज्जीवितमतिशयचपलम्
Nalinīdalagatajalamatitaralam tadvajjīvitamatiśayacapalam
विद्धि व्याध्यभिमानग्रस्तं
Viddhi vyādhyabhimānagrastaṃ
लोक शोकहतं च समस्तम्
Loka śokahataṃ ca samastam
Meaning
Water on a lotus leaf trembles and slips away; life is just as fleeting.
Know that the world is gripped by disease and by pride,
and that all of it is stricken with sorrow.
verse 5
यावद्वित्तोपार्जनसक्त:
Yāvadvittopārjanasakta:
तावन्निजपरिवारो रक्तः
Tāvannijaparivāro raktaḥ
पश्चाज्जीवति जर्जरदेहे
Paścājjīvati jarjaradehe
वार्तां कोऽपि न पृच्छति गेहे
Vārtāṃ ko'pi na pṛcchati gehe
Meaning
As long as you are able to earn and bring in money,
so long your own family stays fond of you.
Later, when you go on living in a worn-out body,
no one at home so much as asks how you are.
verse 6
यावत्पवनो निवसति देहे
Yāvatpavano nivasati dehe
तावत् पृच्छति कुशलं गेहे
Tāvat pṛcchati kuśalaṃ gehe
गतवति वायौ देहापाये
Gatavati vāyau dehāpāye
भार्या बिभ्यति तस्मिन्काये
Bhāryā bibhyati tasminkāye
Meaning
As long as the breath still dwells in the body,
so long they ask after your wellbeing at home.
Once the breath has gone and the body has fallen,
even the wife shrinks in fear from that body.
verse 7
बालस्तावत् क्रीडासक्तः
Bālastāvat krīḍāsaktaḥ
तरुणस्तावत् तरुणीसक्तः
Taruṇastāvat taruṇīsaktaḥ
वृद्धस्तावच्चिन्तासक्तः
Vṛddhastāvaccintāsaktaḥ
परे ब्रह्मणि कोऽपि न सक्तः
Pare brahmaṇi ko'pi na saktaḥ
Meaning
The child is absorbed in play,
the young man in a young woman,
the old man in his worries;
in the supreme Brahman, no one is absorbed at all.
verse 8
का ते कांता कस्ते पुत्रः
Kā te kāṃtā kaste putraḥ
संसारोऽयमतीव विचित्रः
Saṃsāro'yamatīva vicitraḥ
कस्य त्वं वा कुत अयातः
Kasya tvaṃ vā kuta ayātaḥ
तत्त्वं चिन्तय तदिह भ्रातः
Tattvaṃ cintaya tadiha bhrātaḥ
Meaning
Who is your wife? Who is your son?
This world of ours is strange beyond telling.
Whose are you? From where have you come?
Ponder that truth here and now, brother.
verse 9
सत्संगत्वे निस्संगत्वं
Satsaṃgatve nissaṃgatvaṃ
निस्संगत्वे निर्मोहत्वं
Nissaṃgatve nirmohatvaṃ
निर्मोहत्वे निश्चलतत्त्वं
Nirmohatve niścalatattvaṃ
निश्चलतत्त्वे जीवन्मुक्तिः
Niścalatattve jīvanmuktiḥ
Meaning
From keeping good company comes freedom from attachment;
from freedom from attachment comes freedom from delusion;
from freedom from delusion comes the unshakeable truth;
and in the unshakeable truth lies liberation while still alive.
verse 10
व यसि गते कः कामविकारः
Va yasi gate kaḥ kāmavikāraḥ
शुष्के नीरे कः कासारः
Śuṣke nīre kaḥ kāsāraḥ
क्षीणे वित्ते कः परिवारः
Kṣīṇe vitte kaḥ parivāraḥ
ज्ञाते तत्त्वे कः संसारः
Jñāte tattve kaḥ saṃsāraḥ
Meaning
When youth has passed, what is left of lust?
When the water has dried up, where is the lake?
When wealth has run out, where is the family?
When the truth is known, where is this round of birth and death?
verse 11
मा कुरु धनजनयौवनगर्वं
Mā kuru dhanajanayauvanagarvaṃ
हरति निमेषात्कालः सर्वं
Harati nimeṣātkālaḥ sarvaṃ
मायामयमिदमखिलम् हित्वा
Māyāmayamidamakhilam hitvā
ब्रह्मपदम् त्वं प्रविश विदित्वा
Brahmapadam tvaṃ praviśa viditvā
Meaning
Take no pride in wealth, in followers, in youth;
in a single blink, time carries it all away.
Leave behind this whole show, woven of illusion;
know Brahman, and enter into that state.
verse 12
दिनयामिन्यौ सायं प्रातः
Dinayāminyau sāyaṃ prātaḥ
शिशिरवसन्तौ पुनरायातः
Śiśiravasantau punarāyātaḥ
कालः क्रीडति गच्छत्यायुस्तदपि
Kālaḥ krīḍati gacchatyāyustadapi
न मुन्च्त्याशावायुः
Na munctyāśāvāyuḥ
Meaning
Day and night, dusk and dawn,
winter and spring, come round again and again.
Time plays its game, life drains away, and even so
the gale of craving does not loosen its hold.
verse 13
द्वादशमंजरिकाभिरशेषः
Dvādaśamaṃjarikābhiraśeṣaḥ
कथितो वैयाकरणस्यैषः
Kathito vaiyākaraṇasyaiṣaḥ
Meaning
In these twelve clustered verses, complete in themselves,
this was told to the grammarian;
verse 12अ
उपदेशोऽभूद्विद्यानिपुणैः श्रीमच्छंकरभगवच्चरणैः
Upadeśo'bhūdvidyānipuṇaiḥ śrīmacchaṃkarabhagavaccaraṇaiḥ
Meaning
the teaching was given by the venerable Shankara, master of all learning.
verse 13
काते कान्ता धन गतचिन्ता
Kāte kāntā dhana gatacintā
वातुल किं तव नास्ति नियन्ता
Vātula kiṃ tava nāsti niyantā
त्रिजगति सज्जनसं गतिरैका
Trijagati sajjanasaṃ gatiraikā
भवति भवार्णवतरणे नौका
Bhavati bhavārṇavataraṇe naukā
Meaning
Why this endless anxiety over wife and wealth?
O crazed one, have you no one to guide you?
In the three worlds, the company of the good alone
becomes the boat for crossing the ocean of birth and death.
verse 14
जटिलो मुण्डी लुञ्छितकेशः काषायाम्बरबहुकृतवेषः
Jaṭilo muṇḍī luñchitakeśaḥ kāṣāyāmbarabahukṛtaveṣaḥ
पश्यन्नपि च न पश्यति मूढः
Paśyannapi ca na paśyati mūḍhaḥ
उदरनिमित्तं बहुकृतवेषः
Udaranimittaṃ bahukṛtaveṣaḥ
Meaning
One wears matted locks, one a shaven head, one has his hair plucked out, one dresses in ochre robes: so many costumes are put on.
The fool looks and still does not see
that all this dressing up is done for the sake of the belly.
verse 15
अङ्गं गलितं पलितं मुण्डं
Aṅgaṃ galitaṃ palitaṃ muṇḍaṃ
दशनविहीनं जतं तुण्डम्
Daśanavihīnaṃ jataṃ tuṇḍam
वृद्धो याति गृहीत्वा दण्डं
Vṛddho yāti gṛhītvā daṇḍaṃ
तदपि न मुञ्चत्याशापिण्डम्
Tadapi na muñcatyāśāpiṇḍam
Meaning
The limbs have withered, the head has turned grey,
the mouth has been left without teeth,
the old man walks leaning on a stick;
even then he will not let go of his bundle of hopes.
verse 16
अग्रे वह्निः पृष्ठेभानुः
Agre vahniḥ pṛṣṭhebhānuḥ
रात्रौ चुबुकसमर्पितजानुः
Rātrau cubukasamarpitajānuḥ
करतलभिक्षस्तरुतलवासः
Karatalabhikṣastarutalavāsaḥ
तदपि न मुञ्चत्याशापाशः
Tadapi na muñcatyāśāpāśaḥ
Meaning
A fire in front of him, the sun on his back,
at night his knees drawn up to his chin,
alms held in his palm, a tree for his shelter:
even so, the noose of craving does not release him.
verse 17
कुरुते गङ्गासागरगमनं
Kurute gaṅgāsāgaragamanaṃ
व्रतपरिपालनमथवा दानम्
Vrataparipālanamathavā dānam
ज्ञानविहिनः सर्वमतेन
Jñānavihinaḥ sarvamatena
मुक्तिं न भजति जन्मशतेन
Muktiṃ na bhajati janmaśatena
Meaning
One may make the pilgrimage to Gangasagar,
keep every vow, or give freely in charity,
yet without knowledge, by the reckoning of every school,
he does not reach liberation even in a hundred births.
verse 18
सुर मंदिर तरु मूल निवासः
Sura maṃdira taru mūla nivāsaḥ
शय्या भूतल मजिनं वासः
Śayyā bhūtala majinaṃ vāsaḥ
सर्व परिग्रह भोग त्यागः
Sarva parigraha bhoga tyāgaḥ
कस्य सुखं न करोति विरागः
Kasya sukhaṃ na karoti virāgaḥ
Meaning
A temple or the root of a tree for a dwelling,
the bare earth for a bed, a deerskin for clothing,
all possessions and pleasures given up:
whom does such dispassion fail to make happy?
verse 19
योगरतो वाभोगरतोवा
Yogarato vābhogaratovā
सङ्गरतो वा सङ्गवीहिनः
Saṅgarato vā saṅgavīhinaḥ
यस्य ब्रह्मणि रमते चित्तं
Yasya brahmaṇi ramate cittaṃ
नन्दति नन्दति नन्दत्येव
Nandati nandati nandatyeva
Meaning
Whether given to yoga or given to pleasure,
whether keeping company or living apart,
the one whose mind delights in Brahman
rejoices, rejoices, truly rejoices.
verse 20
भगवद् गीता किञ्चिदधीता
Bhagavad gītā kiñcidadhītā
गङ्गा जललव कणिकापीता
Gaṅgā jalalava kaṇikāpītā
सकृदपि येन मुरारि समर्चा
Sakṛdapi yena murāri samarcā
क्रियते तस्य यमेन न चर्चा
Kriyate tasya yamena na carcā
Meaning
If the Bhagavad Gita has been studied even a little,
if a single drop of Ganga water has been drunk,
if Murari has been worshipped even once,
then Yama has no case to argue over that person.
verse 21
पुनरपि जननं पुनरपि मरणं
Punarapi jananaṃ punarapi maraṇaṃ
पुनरपि जननी जठरे शयनम्
Punarapi jananī jaṭhare śayanam
इह संसारे बहुदुस्तारे
Iha saṃsāre bahudustāre
कृपयाऽपारे पाहि मुरारे
Kṛpayā'pāre pāhi murāre
Meaning
Birth again, and death again,
again the lying in a mother's womb.
In this world, so hard to cross over,
protect me by Your boundless mercy, O Murari.
verse 22
रथ्या चर्पट विरचित कन्थः
Rathyā carpaṭa viracita kanthaḥ
पुण्यापुण्य विवर्जित पन्थः
Puṇyāpuṇya vivarjita panthaḥ
योगी योगनियोजित चित्तो
Yogī yoganiyojita citto
रमते बालोन्मत्तवदेव
Ramate bālonmattavadeva
Meaning
A patchwork cloak stitched from rags found on the road,
a path that has left both merit and demerit behind,
the yogi whose mind is settled in union
moves through the world like a child, like one gone mad with joy.
verse 23
कस्त्वं कोऽहं कुत आयातः
Kastvaṃ ko'haṃ kuta āyātaḥ
का मे जननी को मे तातः
Kā me jananī ko me tātaḥ
इति परिभावय सर्वमसारम्
Iti paribhāvaya sarvamasāram
विश्वं त्यक्त्वा स्वप्न विचारम्
Viśvaṃ tyaktvā svapna vicāram
Meaning
Who are you? Who am I? From where have I come?
Who is my mother? Who is my father?
Reflect like this: none of it has substance.
Give up the world, seeing it as the stuff of a dream.
verse 24
त्वयि मयि चान्यत्रैको विष्णुः
Tvayi mayi cānyatraiko viṣṇuḥ
व्यर्थं कुप्यसि मय्यसहिष्णुः
Vyarthaṃ kupyasi mayyasahiṣṇuḥ
भव समचित्तः सर्वत्र त्वं
Bhava samacittaḥ sarvatra tvaṃ
वाञ्छस्यचिराद्यदि विष्णुत्वम्
Vāñchasyacirādyadi viṣṇutvam
Meaning
In you, in me, and everywhere else, there is one and the same Vishnu;
your impatience and anger toward me are pointless.
Be even-minded, in every place and toward everyone,
if you would soon attain the state of Vishnu Himself.
verse 25
शत्रौ मित्रे पुत्रे बन्धौ
Śatrau mitre putre bandhau
मा कुरु यत्नं विग्रहसन्धौ
Mā kuru yatnaṃ vigrahasandhau
सर्वस्मिन्नपि पश्यात्मानं
Sarvasminnapi paśyātmānaṃ
सर्वत्रोत्सृज भेदाज्ञानम्
Sarvatrotsṛja bhedājñānam
Meaning
Toward enemy or friend, son or kinsman,
spend no effort on quarrelling or on making peace.
See the same Self in every one of them,
and everywhere throw off the ignorance that makes them different.
verse 26
कामं क्रोधं लोभं मोहं
Kāmaṃ krodhaṃ lobhaṃ mohaṃ
त्यक्त्वाऽत्मानं भावय कोऽहम्
Tyaktvā'tmānaṃ bhāvaya ko'ham
आत्मज्ञान विहीना मूढाः
Ātmajñāna vihīnā mūḍhāḥ
ते पच्यन्ते नरकनिगूढाः
Te pacyante narakanigūḍhāḥ
Meaning
Desire, anger, greed, delusion:
let them go, and ask yourself who you are.
Fools who are without knowledge of the Self
are caught fast in hell and burn there.
verse 27
गेयं गीता नाम सहस्रं
Geyaṃ gītā nāma sahasraṃ
ध्येयं श्रीपति रूपमजस्रम्
Dhyeyaṃ śrīpati rūpamajasram
नेयं सज्जन सङ्गे चित्तं
Neyaṃ sajjana saṅge cittaṃ
देयं दीनजनाय च वित्तम्
Deyaṃ dīnajanāya ca vittam
Meaning
Sing the Gita and the thousand names;
meditate without pause on the form of Shripati, Lakshmi's Lord;
lead your mind into the company of the good;
and give your wealth away to those in need.
verse 28
सुखतः क्रियते रामाभोगः
Sukhataḥ kriyate rāmābhogaḥ
पश्चाद्धन्त शरीरे रोगः
Paścāddhanta śarīre rogaḥ
यद्यपि लोके मरणं शरणं
Yadyapi loke maraṇaṃ śaraṇaṃ
तदपि न मुञ्चति पापाचरणम्
Tadapi na muñcati pāpācaraṇam
Meaning
Pleasure is taken in the enjoyment of women;
afterwards, alas, disease settles in the body.
Though in this world death is where everything ends,
even then a person will not give up wrongdoing.
verse 29
अर्थंमनर्थम् भावय नित्यं
Arthaṃmanartham bhāvaya nityaṃ
नास्ति ततः सुखलेशः सत्यम्
Nāsti tataḥ sukhaleśaḥ satyam
पुत्रादपि धनभजाम् भीतिः
Putrādapi dhanabhajām bhītiḥ
सर्वत्रैषा विहिता रीतिः
Sarvatraiṣā vihitā rītiḥ
Meaning
Reflect always that wealth is a source of trouble;
truly, not a shred of happiness comes from it.
Those who hold riches fear even their own son:
this is the rule everywhere.
verse 30
प्राणायामं प्रत्याहारं
Prāṇāyāmaṃ pratyāhāraṃ
नित्यानित्य विवेकविचारम्
Nityānitya vivekavicāram
जाप्यसमेत समाधिविधानं
Jāpyasameta samādhividhānaṃ
कुर्ववधानं महदवधानम्
Kurvavadhānaṃ mahadavadhānam
Meaning
Control of the breath, withdrawal of the senses,
discernment between what is eternal and what passes,
the practice of samadhi joined with repetition of the Name:
do these with care, with the greatest care.
verse 31
गुरुचरणाम्बुज निर्भर भक्तः संसारादचिराद्भव मुक्तः
Gurucaraṇāmbuja nirbhara bhaktaḥ saṃsārādacirādbhava muktaḥ
सेन्द्रियमानस नियमादेवं
Sendriyamānasa niyamādevaṃ
द्रक्ष्यसि निज हृदयस्थं देवम्
Drakṣyasi nija hṛdayasthaṃ devam
Meaning
Take wholehearted refuge at the lotus feet of the guru, and be freed from this round of birth and death without delay.
By restraining the senses and the mind in this way,
you will see the Lord who dwells in your own heart.
verse 32
मूढः कश्चन वैयाकरणो
Mūḍhaḥ kaścana vaiyākaraṇo
डुकृञ्करणाध्ययन धुरिणः
Ḍukṛñkaraṇādhyayana dhuriṇaḥ
श्रीमच्छम्कर भगवच्छिष्यै
Śrīmacchamkara bhagavacchiṣyai
बोधित आसिच्छोधितकरणः
Bodhita āsicchodhitakaraṇaḥ
Meaning
A certain foolish grammarian,
buried in the study of his grammatical formulas,
was taught by the disciples of the venerable Shankara,
and so his faculties were made clean.
verse 33
भजगोविन्दं भजगोविन्दं
Bhajagovindaṃ bhajagovindaṃ
गोविन्दं भजमूढमते
Govindaṃ bhajamūḍhamate
नामस्मरणादन्यमुपायं
Nāmasmaraṇādanyamupāyaṃ
नहि पश्यामो भवतरणे
Nahi paśyāmo bhavataraṇe
Meaning
Worship Govinda, worship Govinda,
worship Govinda, O foolish mind.
Apart from remembering the Name, we see no other way
of crossing over this ocean of existence.
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