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| AHYMSIN NEWSLETTER, ISSUE - November 2020 | ||||||||
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Bhaja Govindamby Akash ChauhanSome self-reflections and contemplations of a practitioner based on the study of the text [Editor’s note: Akash Chauhan attended the Bhaja Govindam online study with Rabindra Sahu. A translation of the 12 verses is to be found in the Editor’s note at the end of this article.] Verse 1: There is a desire to flaunt my knowledge and skills, in fact at times I read books so that I can show how cool I am instead of taking action on the information gained from them. I shall refrain from that. I will learn things but will not give others many suggestions on what to do and what not as I myself have much to work upon. Meditation will be my anchor practice and will take precedence over any other activity. I must however figure out a way to be more consistent with the practice without getting disheartened. Along with this I will start doing my work as the service, reflecting the same through my language. Verse 2: I look upon myself at times through the eyes of society, through beliefs that I learned over years. As per them the more I have to show for the better off I am. However, one is possessed by what one possesses. I don’t have much to give except kind words, prayers and whatever I possess at a given time. I will be generous with all of them. While being aware that nothing was mine to give at first place, so not getting entangled in the business of judging the receiver and his/her merits, “I received something so it's better to pass it”, if I can, moreover I will be grateful to the “receiver” for giving me a chance to do so, a chance be of some use, “true incarnation”. Verse 3: There are too many distractions on the journey dressed as multiple things. It is too easy to get lost in the noise and lose sight of space and horizon. Senses affect the mind and vice versa. If senses can cloud the mind, they can also be used to uncloud it. Having awareness of my senses at all times is hard for me at present so I will be aware of my eyes while walking, my jaws and tongue while eating and my forehead while bathing. Verse 4: There is a restlessness of mind borne out of constant breaking of trust that I have put in my own words, mostly by doing that which was not healthy for me. Be it indulging in negative thoughts, negative language or negative actions. I resolve to follow “absolute positive refusal” and absolutely refuse to indulge in that which I have identified is harmful to me. Starting from excessive use of screens. Verse 5: There are two parts to this one is our dependence on others and other selfish nature of our relationships, evaluating what I can get. Either we operate from a superior place or from an inferior place. Both stem from a lack of trust in oneself and lack of self-reliance. An empty pot can’t quench anyone’s thirst. To develop self-reliance and fearlessness I will face that which scares or gives me pain instead of escaping it by occupying myself with gossip or anything else. Instead of allowing second thoughts I shall face the situations head on so that I can move past them instead of staying in a loop. I shall try not to be dependent on others but never hesitate in asking for help. If someone asks for my help, I shall be grateful to that person that I have been offered a chance to be of some use, knowing that the other person can and this world can do without my help but I might not get the same chance again. Verse 6: I often say the phrase “my life” however the fact is I am of the life. I am lucky to have been granted this chance, to be born on this earth, this tiny blue dot, the way I have been born, (a being that can transform its own nature), and soon it all shall end, as I know it now, I don’t know what shall follow but I know it will not be what is in present. I am grateful for this and I will remind myself of this every day at least once. I must do things and learn my lessons as fast as I can and move to the next level instead of going in the loop, thinking over the same thing again and again. I will do what is to be done now and move on. Verse 7: Everyone is entangled in their circumstances, at times out of need, at times out of habit and mostly because the effort to stay entangled is lesser than the effort not to do so and be with the Self. I am a creature of my own story, bound by it while creating it without knowing its start and end. I am a young man with multiple desires and thoughts which are the result of my past and are shaping my future. I want to fulfill my commitments and also want to acquire few things. Some of them might be actually essential from a material or even spiritual standpoint but most are merely mental creations resulting from hasty conclusions based on faulty beliefs borne out of false perception. One question that has helped me along with its companion questions is “what is my enough?” It helps me eliminate unnecessary noise so that I have space to glance at the Absolute essential. I will continue to reflect on it. Verse 8: Define your terms and we shall talk, said a wise man once. I do not know the meaning of simple words of everyday use let alone the meaning of the bigger concepts and relationships/boundations that we put ourselves in. The multiple identities we assume without having any awareness about them. It is the interplay of these identities that gives rise to so many thoughts and emotions perhaps, which leave me helpless and confused. I shall journal my dominant thoughts and emotions of the day and ask what identity is behind them. Who is it? If possible, I will do it before meditation as during meditation I can empty myself. Verse 9: I am the sum of people in my life, so I better be conscious of whom I make a part of myself and my life. The conscious use of “hum” (we) instead of “I” during conversation is a reminder of this fact. Not just choosing the right company externally but also to be willing to learn from them by taking action on whatever knowledge is received in the process of observing them, otherwise they will stop teaching as I no longer will remain worthy and will not be able to retain the knowledge gathered, leaving me more disillusioned perhaps. Verses 10-12: Everything is impermanent yet I am entangled in it and will remain, so long as my desire to know the truth does not trump my desire for the world. But how will it trump when I know that I along with so many others in my life have nurtured my desire for the world slowly and steadily for so many years. A lot of consistent effort has gone into tending this tree, so it will bear fruits and I can’t escape it. However, I can stop tending it from now on, systematically and start on strengthening my desire to know the Truth. Once the desire to know the truth is strong enough it will probably itself pull me the same way as the worldly desire is pulling me presently. Thus Sadhana becomes crucial. Editor’s note:The Bhaja Govindam is a composition in Sanskrit composed by Adi Shankara. The Wikipedia article about it can be read by clicking here. The links in the footnotes can take you to the actual text. One translation into English (found at Shankaracharya.org): 1. Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda. Oh fool! Rules of Grammar will not save you at the time of your death. 2. Oh fool! Give up your thirst to amass wealth, devote your mind to thoughts to the Real. Be content with what comes through actions already performed in the past. 3. Do not get drowned in delusion by going wild with passions and lust by seeing a woman's navel and chest. These are nothing but a modification of flesh. Do not fail to remember this again and again in your mind. 4. The life of a man is as uncertain as rain drops trembling on a lotus leaf. Know that the whole world remains a prey to disease, ego and grief. 5. So long as a man is fit and able to support his family, see the affection all those around him show. But no one at home cares to even have a word with him when his body totters due to old age. 6. When one is alive, his family members enquire kindly about his welfare. But when the soul departs from the body, even his wife runs away in fear of the corpse. 7. The childhood is lost by attachment to playfulness. Youth is lost byattachment to woman. Old age passes away by thinking over many past things. But there is hardly anyone who wants to be lost in parabrahmam. 8. Who is your wife? Who is your son? Strange is this samsara. Of whom are you? From where have you come? Brother, ponder over these truths here. 9. From Satsangh comes non-attachment, from non-attachment comes freedom from delusion, which leads to self-settledness. From self-settledness comes Jeevan Mukti. 10. What good is lust when youth has fled? What use is a lake which has no water? Where are the relatives when wealth is gone? Where is samsara when the Truth is known? 11. Do not boast of wealth, friends, and youth. Each one of these are destroyed within a minute. Free yourself from the illusion of the world of Maya and attain the timeless Truth. 12. Daylight and darkness, dusk and dawn, winter and springtime come and go. Time plays and life ebbs away. But the storm of desire never leaves. 12a. This bouquet of twelve verses was imparted to a grammarian by the all-knowing Shankara, adored as the bhagavadpada.
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