Adi Shankara’s

Bhaj
Govindam
Moodh
Mate...
O fool!
Sing the song of the divine.
Sing the song of the divine,
Sing the song of the divine,
Because at the time of death
The memorization of
grammar will not save you.

Oh fool!
Drop the desire of
accumulating wealth,
Awaken right understanding,
Make the mind desireless,
And be contented and happy
With whatsoever you gain
through your own labour.
Do not be infatuated
By the beauty, the breasts,
the navel
And the waistline of a
woman.
These are nothing
But contortions of flesh and
fat
---contemplate this again and
again.

Life is as transient and

unstable
As a droplet on the lotus leaf.
Understand it well that the
world
is suffering from the disease
of the ego
And is wounded by sorrow.

The family takes interest in

you
Only as long as you are
capable of earning money.
As old age comes and the
body becomes decrepit,
No one in the house even
bothers about you.
Only as long as there is life in
the body
Do the people in the family
care for you.
The life gone out, the body
fallen lifeless,
even one’s own wife is afraid
of it.

A child is obsessed with

playing games,
A young man is obsessed
with n women,
The old are obsessed with
worries.
Man never turns towards the
divine.

Who is your wife? Who is

your son?
This world is very strange.
Whose are you? Who are
you?
From where have you come?
Do think over these essential
questions.

From Satsang comes

aloneness,
From aloneness comes non-
attachment,
Because of non-attachment
mind becomes stable
And because of a stable and
unwavering mind
Liberation is attained.

What is sexual desire once

old age has set in?
What is a pond once its water
is dry?
Who is the family once your
wealth is finished?
Where is the world after self-
realization?

Do not be proud of wealth,

people and youth,
Because death takes them all
away
Within a moment.
Dropping all these illusory
matters,
know the divine and enter
into it.

Day and night, evening and

morning,
Winter and spring come and
go again and again.
Thus the play of time goes on
and one’s life is over.
And yet the breeze of hope
Does not leave one alone.

Oh, you madman!

Why are you caught up in
worries
About your wife and your
wealth?
Don’t you know
That even a moment’s
company with good people
Is the only boat there is to
take you
Across the ocean of this
mundane world?

One who has long hair on his

head,
One who has pulled his hair
from the roots,
One who is wearing ochre
robes,
Or is dressed up in a variety
of ways,
That fool, in spite of having
eyes, is blind.
Just for the sake of his
stomach
He dresses up in different
ways.

All limbs have become infirm,

All hair has turned white,
There is not a single tooth in
the mouth anymore
-such an old man walks with
the help of a stick;
even then he is bound down
with the mass of hope.

Struck by the cold,

In the morning he warms
himself by keeping the fire in
front of him
Or by keeping his back
towards the sun.
At night, he sleeps with his
chin between his knees,
He takes alms in his hands
and lives under a tree;
Even then he does not drop
the bondage of hope.

He may undertake the

journey
To the Ganges or the Ocean,
He may undertake many
austerities and fasts,
He may give away in charity,
But if he does not have self-
knowledge
He will not be liberated
Even in hundred of lifetimes.

One may be residing in the

temple of God
Or under a tree, the earth
may be his only bed,
Deerskin may be his only
robe,
He may have dropped all
kinds of
Possessions and indulgences
-who would not be blissful
by such a renunciation?

He may be absorbed in
enjoyment of the senses
Or in yoga, he may be
engrossed
In somebody’s company or he
may be alone,
But if his heart dwells in the
divine,
then it is he who is blissful,
It is he who is blissful,
It is he alone who is blissful.

One who has read even a

little of the Gita,
has drunk even one drop of
Ganges water
and has worshipped God
even a little,
Yama, the god of death,
cannot destroy him.

Oh God, protect me from this

troublesome world
where one has to be born
again and again,
die again and again,
and fall into the womb of a
mother again and again,
and take me to the other
shore.

He who has made his robe

out of rags from the
roadside,
whose path is free of the
thought of sin and virtue,
who is engrossed in yoga,
such a yogi sometimes plays
like a child
and sometimes like a
madman.

Who are you? Who am I?

From where have I come?
Who is my mother? Who is
my father?
Contemplate over these
questions,
then you will find that the
world
and its worry is meaningless
and dreamlike,
and you will become free of
this bad dream.

The same divine resides in

you,
In me and everywhere else.
By becoming intolerant
towards me
You are getting angry in vain.
So, dropping this ignorance
Of discrimination in
everything,
See only yourself in all.

Do not waste your energy

over such matters,
As enemy and friend, son and
brother,
War and treaty. If you want
to attain to the
feet of the divine soon,
maintain equanimity
In everything everywhere.
Dropping sex, anger, greed
and attachment,
Meditate upon yourself: Who
am I?
Because fools without self-
realization
Suffer the anguish of deep
hell here.

Only the Gita and the

Sahastranam
-the one thousand names of
God-
are worth singing;
only the form of Vishnu
is worth meditating upon
incessantly.
One should always seek
The company of good people,
One should give money to
the poor only.

One indulges with woman for

pleasure,
But what a pity that in the
end
One only has a worn-out
body.
Although death is the only
certainty in this world,
People do not stop sinning.
Money is disaster – always
contemplate over it.
The truth is that there is
No happiness in money at all.
It has been seen everywhere
that the rich man
Is afraid even of his own
sons.

Pranayam and pratyhar,

Intelligent discrimination
between transient and
intransient,
Disciplining of samadhi with
japa-
Discipline all these with
caution,
With great caution.

Totally surrendered
To the lotus feet of the
master,
Free from the bondages of
the world,
Having disciplines the mind
along with the senses,
you will be able to see the
divine within your heart.
Oh fool,
Sing the song of the Divine!
Sing the song of the divine!
Sing the song of the divine!