Bhaja Govindam Is A Hammer ..by.. K S Ram

Adi Shankaracharya’s Bhaja Govindam was inspired by the sight of a young Brahmin in Kashi exerting himself to learn by rote certain rules of Sanskrit grammar. This, Shankara felt, was an example of mistaken values, so vigorously pursued by so many in this world.
The poem, composed impromptu, presents the essence of Vedantic thought: the integrated practice of jnana, karma and bhakti, the three recognised paths to liberation in life. The poem is popularly known as Moha Mudgara, or A Hammer on Delusion. And this, in fact, is what the poem is.
Swami Chinmayananda says: “These 31 stanzas have a crack-whip style and effect about them. There is no softness, no delicate consideration in the approach to correct erring man”.
The Erring Man! That indeed can be a very contentious term. What error? “Even though, in (this) world, death is the end, nevertheless, (men) do not give up, sinful conduct — Yadyapi loke maranam sharanam, tadapi, na munchati, papacharanam.
An agnostic carpe diem or ‘catch the day’ practitioner might wonder: Even though! — why, precisely because death is the end of life, aren’t the sinful ways, meaning here a life of sense-indulgence, justifiable? Where then does the poem stand?
Even in today’ s context, life at the level of senses is not complete. It represents a particular (low) level of existence. At this level man continually oscillates between joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, and the entire host of the ‘pairs of opposites’. There is no end to misery here. A strong force, the force of maya, holds man bound to this level of existence.
Through yoga, however, man can master his senses. That the aim is not to suppress them, because senses are Important; rather, the aim is to master them so as to be able to steer them at will, from or towards their objects. With the senses thus controlled, mind honed, man transcends the ‘pairs of opposites’ to achieve equanimity of mind. In this state, he ceases to be unduly elated when joys come or shattered when sorrows strike. This represents a state of liberation-in-life, marking a substantial cessation of worldly miseries. However, this state again is not an end in life. The end is moksha, when the ego is completely annihilated, the small self wholly and finally merged into the Cosmic Self, Brahmn, through the grace of God.
A scholarship in grammar — or, for that matter, any such academic ‘specialisation’ — by itself has no relevance to progress towards the above end in life. Unless man strives to find this end, unless he gains equanimity of mind, his life is under-lived; futile, and there can be no end to misery.
In the light of Vedanta, the verse mentioned earlier would become: Fool, don’t stay satisfied with the deluding joys of the senses. These will only mislead you from misery to greater misery. Use well the opportunity life offers. Refine the mind and senses so you can steer them at will, from and towards their objects. Through jnana and bhakti, see into maya and achieve the state of liberation-in-life.
What’s more, as the last stanza states, moving in the above direction, one soon begins to discover, more and more clearly, a guide within, infallible, who, one recognises in due course, to be the Self, the Lord-God that one had earlier thought to be outside of oneself.