Bhaja Govindam – Verses 1-15

Introduction

Bhaja Govindam (also called Moha-Mudgāra “Hammer to Delusion”) is a short devotional‐and‐philosophical hymn composed by Adi Shankaracharya. It addresses the urgency of spiritual awakening, the foolishness of clinging to transient things, and the call to “worship Govinda” (the Supreme) before death arrives. The first 15 verses set the tone: they speak of thirst for wealth, lust, ageing, time, the unreliability of relations and possessions, and the need for right devotion. Click Here To Access more other text.

Benefits

Studying Verses 1-15 offers several key benefits:

• A powerful wake‐up call: reminding the seeker that worldly accomplishments (grammar, wealth, youth, beauty) won’t help at the time of death.
• Helps generate dispassion (vairāgya): i.e., loosen attachment to wealth, fame, sensual pleasures, roles.
• Encourages turning inward to the Supreme (Govinda) rather than outward to fleeting objects.
• Provides a concise synthesis of Vedānta and bhakti in a simple, memorable form (especially useful for daily reflection).
• Helps anchor life in that which is timeless rather than that which passes; fosters inner steadiness. Click view PDF.

Verses 1-15: Bullet-Point Summary

Below are the first 15 verses (or the core portion) with a short translation, meaning and brief explanation:

Verse 1

• • Translation: “Worship Govinda, worship Govinda, worship Govinda, O fool! At the time of death, grammar-rules will not protect you.”

  • Meaning: Intellectual accomplishments (such as grammar) won’t save you when death comes.

  • Explanation: A strong opening, emphasising urgency and priority of devotion/knowledge over mere scholastic learning.

Verse 2

• • Translation: “O fool, renounce thirst for wealth, create in your mind good wisdom, desirelessness. Use what wealth you have already acquired to pacify the mind.”

  • Meaning: Give up craving for more possessions; cultivate contentment and inner wisdom.

  • Explanation: Shift focus from accumulation to inner clarity.

Verse 3

• • Translation: “Don’t gaze at a woman’s navel or chest while lost in passion and illusion. Consider these (flesh, fat, waste) repeatedly in your mind.”

  • Meaning: Sensual craving binds; reflect on the body’s nature to dispel illusion.

  • Explanation: Confronting lust by remembering the true nature of form.

Verse 4

• • Translation: “The life of man is like water on a lotus-leaf; know that the whole world is full of disease, ego and grief.”

  • Meaning: Life is fragile, impermanent; suffering is widespread.

  • Explanation: A reminder of mortality and universal suffering.

Verse 5

• • Translation: “As long as one is able to support his family by wealth, relatives attach; after the body becomes decrepit, even a single word is not asked at home.”

  • Meaning: Relationships based on external capacity fade with ageing.

  • Explanation: Shows the unreliability of worldly support. Click view PDF.

Verse 6

• • Translation: “While life‐wind is in the body, one is asked after; when it departs, even the wife flees in fear of the corpse.”

  • Meaning: At death, all external support vanishes.

  • Explanation: Emphasises solitude in death and time.

Verse 7

• • Translation: “When a child is attached to play, when youth to women, when old age to worry—yet hardly one is attached to the Supreme.”

  • Meaning: Everyone attaches to something worldly; few attach to the Divine.

  • Explanation: Pointing to misplaced priorities.

Verse 8

• • Translation: “Whose wife are you? Whose son? This curious world of transmigration – of whom are you and where from? Contemplate the truth here, brother.”

  • Meaning: Reflect on your origin, identity, and ultimate truth.

  • Explanation: Encourages self-inquiry.

Verse 9

• • Translation: “In the company of the good comes non‐attachment; from non‐attachment comes freedom from delusion; from freedom comes steadfastness; from steadfastness comes living liberation.”

  • Meaning: Pathway: good company → detachment → no delusion → stability → liberation.

  • Explanation: A practical formula for sādhanā.

Verse 10

• • Translation: “When youth has passed, what use is lust? A pond without water—what use? When wealth is finished, where are your relations? When the truth is known, what is transmigration?”

  • Meaning: Questioning the value of lust, wealth, relations in face of impermanence and truth.

  • Explanation: Another pointing to the futility of worldly attachments. Click view PDF.

Verse 11

• • Translation: “Do not boast of wealth, people, youth—they are carried off in a moment by Time. Having known that all this is illusory, enter the realm of Brahman.”

  • Meaning: Time takes everything; realise the Permanent.

  • Explanation: Movement from outer to inner.

Verse 12

• • Translation: “Day and night, dusk and dawn, winter and spring repeat; Time plays and life slips away—and yet the gust of desire does not leave the body.”

  • Meaning: Cycle of time and life, yet desires persist.

  • Explanation: Contrast between transient cycle and persistent craving.

Verse 13

• • Translation: “Look at the man warming himself by fire and in sunshine behind; sleeping under a tree, eating from a bowl—yet he remains a puppet of passions.”

  • Meaning: Even with minimal comfort, one remains enslaved by desire.

  • Explanation: Highlights absurdity of bound state.

Verse 14

• • Translation: “Of the twelve manifold (Pitfalls) the grammar‐lover’s is one; the rest by the brilliant disciples of Shankara were composed.”

  • Meaning: Historical note; composition of the stotra.

  • Explanation: Meta verse about authorship/pattern.

Verse 15

• • Translation: “The one with matted-hair, the shaven one, wearing ochre or multi-coloured robes—seeing the belly’s motive he cannot see the truth though it is before him.”

  • Meaning: External renunciation without inner realisation is delusion.

  • Explanation: Critique of superficial spirituality. Click view PDF.

Why Study

• Because Bhaja Govindam is compact yet profound, summarising both Vedānta insight and devotional urgency in accessible verses.
• Because the first 15 verses are especially relevant for everyday life—they address money, youth, lust, ageing, relations—and show how spiritual insight is practical.
• Because they provoke self-reflection: “What am I clinging to? What is fleeting? What is permanent?”
• Because they prepare the seeker to shift orientation from the temporal to the eternal—a key movement in spiritual life.
• Because even though modern life is different, the fundamental human condition (change, death, unsatisfied desire) remains the same—so the teaching retains relevance. Click view PDF.

How to Study

• Śravaṇa (Reading/Listening): Read verses 1-15 slowly, preferably in Sanskrit + translation + commentary (lots of portals provide this). Focus on key terms: mudha (fool), tṛṣṇā (thirst), kaalaḥ (time), saṃsāraḥ (cycle), Govinda.

• Manana (Reflection): After each verse ask yourself:

  1. Which line speaks to me most right now?

  2. What attachment in my life corresponds to this verse (wealth, youth, lust, relations)?

  3. What shift is being invited?
     Jot down your reflections in a journal. Click view PDF.

• Nididhyāsana (Meditative Assimilation): Sit for 10–15 minutes daily focusing on one verse at a time: repeat the verse slowly, reflect on it, then sit quietly and see how it applies in your life. For example: for verse 1 meditate on the impulse to “seek Govinda” rather than external learning or fame.

• Repetition Schedule:

  1. First reading: once thoroughly.

  2. Second reading: within a week – focus on applying the ideas.

  3. Third reading: after ~1 month – notice how your orientation has changed.

  4. Then: review every few weeks until the insights become alive in your behaviour.

• Discussion/Teacher Support: Use a teacher or study‐group to unpack tricky verses (e.g., verse 3 on passion, verse 14 on authorship)—discussion helps deepen understanding.

• Daily Application:

  1. When you find yourself craving more wealth, recall verse 2.

  2. When you feel youth or beauty is everything, recall verse 11.

  3. When you disregard spiritual study because you’re busy, recall verse 1.

  4. Use the refrain (“Bhaja Govindam …”) as a reminder during your day: “Worship the Supreme rather than being lost in fleeting things.” Click view PDF.

Conclusion

Verses 1-15 of Bhaja Govindam offer a powerful foundation for spiritual life: they challenge our illusions, call us to wakefulness, point us toward devotion and knowledge, and remind us of time’s urgency. When these verses are deeply alive in your mind and heart, you begin not only to understand but to live the shift—from seeking in transient things to abiding in the Eternal. In short: “Worship Govinda, not the game of life.”