ଭଜ ଗୋଵିନ୍ଦମ୍

ଅର୍ଥ:Worship Govinda, worship Govinda, worship Govinda, O foolish mind! When the appointed time of death draws near, the rules of grammar (Dukrn-karane) will not save you at all.

ଅର୍ଥ:O fool, give up the thirst for amassing wealth; cultivate right thought in your mind, free of craving. With whatever you obtain through your own honest deeds, content your mind.

ଅର୍ଥ:Seeing a woman's body, do not fall prey to delusion and infatuation; reflect again and again that this is but a modification of flesh and fat.

ଅର୍ଥ:Life is as fleeting as a drop of water trembling on a lotus-leaf. Know that this whole world is consumed by disease, pride and grief.

ଅର୍ଥ:As long as you can earn wealth, so long is your family attached to you; afterwards, when the body grows frail, no one at home even asks after you.

ଅର୍ଥ:As long as breath dwells in the body, those at home ask after your welfare; once the breath departs and the body falls, even your wife dreads that very corpse.

ଅର୍ଥ:The child is absorbed in play, the youth in his beloved, the old man in worry — but no one, alas, is absorbed in the Supreme Brahman.

ଅର୍ଥ:Who is your wife? Who is your son? Utterly strange is this samsara. Whose are you? Whence have you come? O brother, ponder that truth here.

ଅର୍ଥ:From the company of the good comes non-attachment; from non-attachment, freedom from delusion; from that, the changeless Truth; and from the changeless Truth, liberation-in-life.

ଅର୍ଥ:When youth is gone, where is lust? When the water dries, where is the lake? When wealth is lost, where is the family? When the Truth is known, where is samsara?

ଅର୍ଥ:Take no pride in wealth, people or youth; Time snatches them all away in an instant. Renouncing this whole illusory world, know and enter the state of Brahman.

ଅର୍ଥ:Day and night, dusk and dawn, winter and spring come round again and again; Time sports on, life ebbs away — yet the gale of desire never lets go.

ଅର୍ଥ:Why this anxiety over wife and wealth, O frenzied one? Have you no one to guide you? In all three worlds, the company of the good alone is the boat to cross the ocean of existence.

ଅର୍ଥ:This complete teaching, told in twelve verses (the Dvadasha-Manjarika), was given to the grammarian by the venerable, knowledge-perfected feet of Bhagavan Shankara.

ଅର୍ଥ:One with matted locks, one shaven, one with plucked hair, one decked in ochre robes — the fool, though seeing, does not see; these many guises are donned merely for the belly.

ଅର୍ଥ:The body worn out, the head grey, the mouth toothless; the old man walks leaning on a staff — yet even then he does not let go the lump of desire.

ଅର୍ଥ:Fire in front, the sun at his back; at night crouched with knees to chin; alms in his palm, dwelling at the foot of a tree — yet the noose of desire does not loosen.

ଅର୍ଥ:One may journey to Gangasagar, keep vows or give in charity — yet, devoid of knowledge, by all these creeds one does not gain liberation even in a hundred births.

ଅର୍ଥ:Dwelling in a temple, the bare earth for a bed, a deerskin for clothing — renouncing all possession and enjoyment: whose dispassion does not bring happiness?

ଅର୍ଥ:Engaged in yoga or in enjoyment, in company or in solitude — he whose mind delights in Brahman, he rejoices, he rejoices, he truly rejoices.

ଅର୍ଥ:He who has studied even a little of the Bhagavad Gita, sipped a drop of Ganga's water, and worshipped Murari even once — with him Yama (death) holds no argument.

ଅର୍ଥ:Birth again, death again, again to lie in a mother's womb — this samsara is so hard to cross. O Murari, save me by your boundless grace!

ଅର୍ଥ:Clad in a quilt patched from rags of the street, walking a path beyond merit and demerit, the yogi with mind absorbed in yoga sports like a child or a madman.

ଅର୍ଥ:Who are you? Who am I? Whence have I come? Who is my mother, who my father? Thus reflect, and seeing this whole world as essenceless, like a dream, give it up.

ଅର୍ଥ:In you, in me and everywhere there is but the one Vishnu. In vain, impatient, you grow angry with me. If you would soon attain Vishnu-hood, be even-minded toward all.

ଅର୍ଥ:Make no effort to quarrel with or befriend enemy, friend, son or kinsman. Seeing the Self in all, give up everywhere the ignorance of difference.

ଅର୍ଥ:Renouncing desire, anger, greed and delusion, one sees the Self as 'I am That (So'ham).' Fools devoid of Self-knowledge are tormented, trapped in hells.

ଅର୍ଥ:The Gita and the thousand Names are to be sung; the form of the Lord is ever to be meditated upon; the mind is to be led into the company of the good; and wealth is to be given to the needy.

ଅର୍ଥ:Pleasure is enjoyed readily — but afterwards, alas, disease afflicts the body. Though death is the end of all in this world, still one does not give up sinful conduct.

ଅର୍ଥ:Reflect ever that wealth is calamitous; in truth there is not a particle of happiness in it. The wealthy dread even their own sons — such is the way of things everywhere.

ଅର୍ଥ:Breath-control, withdrawal of the senses, discrimination between the eternal and the transient, and the practice of samadhi joined with japa — perform these with great care and heedfulness.

ଅର୍ଥ:Devoted wholly to the lotus-feet of the Guru, become quickly freed from samsara. Thus, through discipline of the senses and mind, you shall behold the Deity dwelling in your own heart.

ଅର୍ଥ:A certain dull-witted grammarian, engrossed in the study of grammatical rules, was set right and his understanding purified by the disciples of the venerable Bhagavan Shankara.

ଅର୍ଥ:Worship Govinda, worship Govinda, worship Govinda, O foolish mind! For crossing the ocean of existence, we see no means other than the remembrance of the Lord's Name.