Health and Happiness -Dr Dwarakanath
By repeating
the words "bhaja govindam" thrice in the very first two lines of the
first sloka itself, Sankara is trying to bring home the point that human being
has no other escape except immersing oneself in the thoughts of lord, and
praying with utmost sincerity, reciting the divine namas of the lord rather
than getting engrossed in anxieties to possess wealth or acquire social status
or achievements. Here the rules of grammar mean all secular knowledge and
earthly acquisitions or possessions. the one who runs after materialistic gains
is mad. The purport of these words is that any amount of knowledge cannot save
the soul when death knocks at the door of this limited body. at that time, one
has to leave behind one's material benefits and social status. These acquisitions
will not help one gain the knowledge of the soul, which is permanent, when the
impermanent body withers, it turns out to be a dead-wood. It does not mean that one should shun
away the pursuit of living for knowledge, but, at the same time, one should
understand its limited capacity, and one should seriously try to acquire that
knowledge which alone can save a person from the slavery of imperfections.
We should remember the truth that it
is a manifested world and it is impermanent. other than god or soul, everything
else is temporary. Death will snatch away the existence of the body and the
manifested world. What is the use of all the acquisitions and secular knowledge
then? So, while living in this secular world, or materialistic world, one
should endeavour to understand and master the secret of purposeful life. One should
identify oneself with the lord, who can only give solace to the parched
materialistic lives. One should progress spiritually after each death, instead
of getting deeper and deeper into mundane pleasures. it is rather sad that
quite a few of us are of the opinion that spirituality is for those who retired
from employment or aged people. The intellect, which has not been trained to
remember god till one attains sixty years, will never resort to spirituality
after that. even if it does, for argument sake, what is guarantee that the
cruel hands of death will not embrace one before that. so, one should
understand the fallacy of this argument and train the mind from the childhood
itself to start practicing recitation of the lord's name with every breath that
one inhales and exhales, otherwise it is just impossible to remember god's name
at the time of death. it is, therefore, imperative that one should keep
repeating the divine namas of lord at every possible moment. Bhaja does not
mean monotonous and routine ritual with mechanical chanting of some selected
namas or mantras.
It is rather much deeper than
that. The true bhajan of lord is to offer true seva or service to lord with
love and devotion and in that sense, every human being is a lord. He does not
get enamoured or attracted by the pomp and show of the devotee. he looks deep
into the heart of the devotee to see how much sincere one is while worshiping
him or serving the needy, treating them as (the) god himself (i.e., manava
sevahi madhava seva).there are nine types of service to be offered at the feet
of lord. a devotee canadopt any one, according to one's choice and temperament.
they are (1) sravanam(listening to the stories or glory of lord), (2) keertanam
(singing the glory of the lord), (3) smaranam (constantly thinking about the
nature and beauty, divine qualities and characteristics of the lord, (4)
paadasevaram (adorning the sacred feet of lord in a spirit of
self-obliteration), (5) archanam (worshiping the lord with rituals, mantras and
with self-less love), (6) vandanam (salute or to pay obeisance to the lord),
(7) dassyam (serving the lord), (8) sakhyam (invoking an affectionate
friendship with lord, and (9) aatmanivedanam (to offer oneself with complete
dedication or total surrender to the lord as a humble gift at his altar).
Every
devotee has the liberty to choose a path that is convenient and appealing to
one to realise the god. In all the above modes of worship, the
spirit of bhaja is visible. With this bhava, the devotee has to worship the
god, who is the knower of each atom of this universe. He is the very essence of
all animate and inanimate beings in this universe. So, god is the atman, god is
the brahman, god is the highest reality and the very essence of this universe. Each
devotee should seek one's identity with that spirit, force, reality, truth and
supreme brahman or god, instead of wasting one's time in materialistic pursuits
of secular knowledge for worldly possessions, name and fame.
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