BHAJA GOVINDAM - 13. Swami Adi Sri Sankaracharya.

Kedarnath : Image before inaguration : Swami Sri Adi Sankaracharta

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Tuesday, January 24, 2023. 06:00. 

Slokam - 13: Surrendering Our Worries

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Inaguration :

Slokam-13

1 kaa te kaantaa dhanagata chintaa = Why worry about wife, wealth, etc.?

2 vaatula kim tava naasti niyantaa; = O distracted one! Is there not for you the One 

who ordains (rules or commands)?

3 trijagati sajjana sangatir- ekaa = In the three worlds it is the association with 

good people alone

4 bhavati bhava-arnava tarane naukaa. = that can serve as a boat to cross the sea of change (birth and death).

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Bhashyam (Vyakyanam) :

Man’s Universal Need For Support  :

1 Sri Shankaracharya now addresses the deap-seated need felt in the human psyche 

for some form of support. Usually man looks for this support in the outer world, in wife or is 

wealth. These are targeted in Pada 1. But are our worries over them really going to help us?

2 There is a higher Power that is taking care of everything in creation. We should just 

surrender all our concerns to Him. The Divine Source of all creation would make the best 

support that will meet all our need. So, we can afford to let go of wife and wealth, and look 

to the Lord Himself for all support. Since He is so vastly more empowered than one’s family 

or one’s property, His support would not fail us. Besides He knows our need more than we 

do. He will provide for us even without our asking.

Here is an example that proves this:

Look at the birth of a child. How is it prepared for birth? Who took care of it before 

birth? Thank God, it wasn’t mummy! Imagine the extra worry on mummy’s head if she had 

to direct all the instructions to supply the necessary food items to the foetus in her womb. 

She must be the most relieved person to know that all that is being taken care of by a higher 

Power.

We just have to do our duty and relax. The One above will see to the rest. In that 

spirit we will relieve ourselves of bearing unnecessary burdens on our head. We do not have 

to start panicking for any reason. Who is there to stop us from taking His Name even while 

we do our actions? We should never feel that we are alone in handling our burdens.

One lady who successfully brought up 12 children, summed it up in these words: “I 

just do my duty, and He does the worrying.”

The common concept held by people is that time is created when we give up a work. 

In fact, time is created for us only when we give up worry, not the work.

We should bury our worries before the worry buries us.

Good Company Ensures a Safe Journey :

3-4 The second line of this verse provides a practical alternative to “wife and wealth” 

as a support for one’s life. It is the company of good people, saintly people, fellowship with 

spiritually-minded persons. Why is this such a powerful alternative?

The former tends to be a selfish association and one’s boat is always in a state of 

permanent anchorage to the rock of worldly life. However, good, saintly company can be 

very uplifting. The unconditional love that one experiences from a spiritually evolved person 

is a balm that heals us of our worldliness. Such company is completely free of all attachment 

and so the “boat” of our life can move across to the other shore of Liberation without being 

held back by any anchor or worldly mooring.

The boat analogy, on being explored a bit further, reveals how insightful the choice of such a simile is to good company. 

i) Evil company will make us sink further into dangers, whereas good company lifts us 

safely over the waters of life.

ii) When crossing whirlpools, evil company will allow us to spin in any direction 

according to the current. Good company, on the other hand, sticks to the Godward direction 

in spite of any whirlpool. The single-pointedness we develop due to good company steers us 

safely to freedom.

iii) Evil company is rudderless; good company has the strong rudder of sound values 

to guide our course.

iv) Heavy winds or storms can easily tip our boat if it is not controlled well by good 

company.

In this way, we can see how thoughfully chosen is Shankaracharya’s symbol of a boat 

to represent good company.

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Next
Chaturdasha Manjarika Stotram
PART III – Slokas : 14-27
“Where Is Happiness?”
Slokam - 14 : The Abuse of Outward Symbols
To be continued

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