| Bhaja Govindam |
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| Books By Rajaji |
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VERSE 1 |
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| Of the many
delusions of the heart, the pride of learning is one. It is common knowledge that men come
to grief going in quest of sensual pleasures and striving after wealth. Sri Sankara says
that the desire for fame as a learned man is one such delusion. He utters a warning
against wasting all life in mere learning, without tuning the mind to love and worship of
God. Of the several delusions, that of knowledge is given a place by Sri Sankara in the
very first stanza of the poem. "Dukring" is
an aphorism in the famous grammar of Paanini. " Would you recite the Paanini Sutras
when you are confronted by Death?" asks Sankara in redicule. To convey to the learned
that all the knowledge that they might acquire will be in vain without devotion to God,
Sri Sankara employed the example of the Paanini Sutra. What he said of Paanini's Sutras
applies to all knowledge devoid of devotion. Sankara was himself a master of Paanini. He
spoke about what he thoroughly knew.
'Lift the heart up to Govinda's is the refrain of each
stanza of this poem. |
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