Bhaja Govindam -learnings /Sloka1

भज गोविन्दं भज गोविन्दं, 

गोविन्दं भज मूढ़मते। 

संप्राप्ते सन्निहिते काले, 

न हि न हि रक्षति डुकृञ् करणे॥१॥ 

Vairagya is an essential and the most needed quality for a Mumukshu ( seeker).   A good Acharya will tend to inculcate this quality which is quintessential to pursuit of Vedanta. Vairagya is being detached from the phenomenal world staying rooted in the self while being a mute witness in the transitory world. 

The word “Bhaja” has many meanings namely to Know, search, think, seek, worship, be in love with god etc. The Sanskrit root means “ To Serve”. However in the context of performing a pooja or bhakti it means to pray with love. This word also is a verb indicating action. The word “Govinda” means the one who is known through the vedas or as extolled in it. It also means the one who is a Sarvagnya, one who knows all Jivas . 

The words भज गोविन्दं - are repeated thrice. In the vedas repetition is indication of emphasis and attaches a greater degree of attention. Like Om shanti, shanti, shantihi. The need for peace is emphasised, internal first and external second.

The vedas says that Sorrow and suffering (duhkha, tāpa) are inevitable part of life. Knowledge regarding their origin, causes and even categorization helps one to minimize their effect, if not eradicate them. The scriptures usually call them ‘tāpatraya,’ (‘the three miseries.’) and categorize them into ādhyātmika, ādhidaivika and adhibhautika. 

1. Adhibhautika literally means pertaining to the bhuta or living beings. 

2. Adhidaivika literally means pertaining to the daiva or fate, unseen forces and gods. 

3. Ādhyātmika literally means pertaining to the ātma or the body (and the mind). 

The Jiva acts through Manas (Mind), Vak (Speech)and Kayam (Work). These when performed “Nishkamya” helps us to be at peace as the doer-ship is disowned. 

संप्राप्ते सन्निहिते काले – When Kala (Yama) or the time to depart comes near, one must not do things which will take away our attention from the lord as it said that whatever we think at the last moments decides the next course of the atma. During that phase of life, one must devote and align to remembering and chanting god’s name continuously. 

न हि न हि रक्षति डुकृञ् करणे - Acharya while he was at Kashi and was writing the Bashya for the Brahma sutras at the Manikarnika ghat, noticed a man of very old age trying to memorise the sutras of grammar. Yes, one needs to know grammar in order to understand the sastras in depth but there is a age and period in life, not at the twilight of life. He also cautions that learning grammar and showing one’s prowess also can be an addiction like anyother. There is a need to be objective to do the right things at the right time. Will study and memorising grammar help us cross the ocean of Samsara? Not directly. But by doing Bhakti, by chanting the lords name one will surely be able to and this assurance comes in the Gita. In Kaliyuga nama sankirtana is the best way “Kalow nama Sahasram”. 

A deeper meaning from the jnana perspective is that by performing karma one does not get Mukti. Karma’s important outcome is Chitta shuddi with other peripheral benefits while being in the transitory universe. So the acharya with the greatest degree of concern addresses not any individual, but the mind of every soul as मूढ़मते , the mind which is deluded and living in an illusion, thinking the transitory world as real. He chooses to do this because the nature of the mind is the same irrespective of the body it resides. He very strongly emphasis that brute knowledge is useless without bhakti, Hence भज गोविन्दं In the second line he mentions गोविन्दं भज and not भज गोविन्दं. In the first line he is asking us to pray to the lord as an Aaradya devata while in the second, taking the meaning of the word “Govinda” the knower of all souls, he asks us to pray with love, devotion and surrender.