Lyrics Bhaja Govindam - PRIYA , Subhiksha Rangarajan

Bhajagovindam bhajagovindam
Govindam bhajamuudhamate
Sampraapte sannihite kaale
Nahi nahi rakshati dukrijnkarane

Praise Govinda! Praise Govinda!
Govinda be Praised, O You mindless fool!
This endless repeating of grammatical rules
Will not protect thee from thy deathly coils

II

Mudha jahiihi dhanaagamatrishhnaam
Kuru sadbuddhim manasi vitrishhnaam
Yallabhase nijakarmopaattam
Vittam tena vinodaya chittam

O Mindless fool, discard thy greed for amassing lucre
And turn thy mind on the real, devoid of passion
Accept thy past karmic actions, as thy anchor
And satiate thy mind, accepting Reality, free of rancor

III

Naariistanabhara naabhiidesham
Drishhtvaa maagaamohaavesham
Etanmaamsaavasaadi vikaaram
Manasi vichintaya vaaram vaaram

Delude not, thyself, with lustful desires
For the cut of the navel or the curve of the breast
As all bodies are formed by fat and flesh, that expires
Remind thyself over and over, this fact, to attest

IV

Nnaliniidalagata jalamatitaralam
Tadvajjiivitamatishayachapalam
Viddhi vyaadhyabhimaanagrastam
Lokam shokahatam cha samastam

Life is ever changing, transitory and uncertain
As a dancing droplet on a lotus leaf
Know, this world is prey to disease and conceit
In constant sorrow and grief, so replete

V

Yaavadvittopaarjana saktah
Staavannija parivaaro raktah
Pashchaajjiivati jarjara dehe
Vaartaam koapi na prichchhati gehe

While you earn and support your family's welfare
You get their love and solicitous good wishes
But when with old age and infirmity, your body withers
Your kin do not have for you, even a word to spare

VI

Yaavatpavano nivasati dehe
Taavatprichchhati kushalam gehe
Gatavati vaayau dehaapaaye
Bhaaryaa bibhyati tasminkaaye

While one lives, and contacts abound
Solicitous kin, inquire to thy good health and well being
But, when the soul departs, and death knells sound
The sight of thy corpse, sees even your wife fleeing

VII

Baalastaavatkriidaasaktah
Tarunastaavattaruniisaktah
Vriddhastaavachchintaasaktah
Pare brahmani koapi na saktah

The child is lost in the playground of childhood
Youth is lost in the attachment of woman
The old are in their own pasts enmeshed
Alas, there are none left to be one with the Brahman

VIII

Kaate kaantaa kaste putrah
Samsaaro.ayamatiiva vichitrah
Kasya tvam kah kuta aayaatah
Tattvam chintaya tadiha bhraatah

The real mysteries of life, need answers
Who is thy wife, thy son, from whence didst thou arrive?
Delve into these questions as your salvation's anchors
Through these endless cycles of birth and death, to derive

IX
Satsangatve nissngatvam
Nissangatve nirmohatvam
Nirmohatve nishchalatattvam
Nishcalatattve jiivanmuktih

From the bonding(Sat Sangha) of good friends
Does one achieve enlightened detachment
From this detachment comes freedom from delusion
From this freedom comes self settled peace
From this peace comes Jivan Mukti, the release of the soul

X

Vayasigate kah kaamavikaarah
Shushhke niire kah kaasaarah
Kshiinevitte kah parivaarah
Gyaate tattve kah samsaarah

When youth departs, what good is lust?
What good is the lake, when water denudes?
Where are kin, when wealth disappears?
Where are Samsara's coils when the Truth appears?

XI

Maa kuru dhana jana yauvana garvam
Harati nimeshhaatkaalah sarvam
MaayaamayamidamakhilaM hitvaa
BrahmapadaM tvaM pravisha viditvaa

Boast not of wealth, of youthful vigor or exalted friendship
These could all come to nought, in an instant
Cut the illusionary bonds, that you in Maya, enmesh
And attain that timeless truth, which remains constant

XII

Dinayaaminyau saayam praatah
Shishiravasantau punaraayaatah
Kaalah kriidati gachchhatyaayuh
Tadapi na mujncatyaashaavaayuh

The time of day, darkness, into dawn, succeeds
The change of seasons, winter into spring, proceeds
They come and go, even as time and life, ebb away
The welling of desire always holds sway, never leaves

XIII

Kaate kaantaa dhana gatachintaa
Vaatula kim tava naasti niyantaa
Trijagati sajjanasam gatiraikaa
Bhavati bhavaarnavatarane naukaa

O, Foolish one, why this constant grasping for wealth?
Is there none to guide thee and show the way?
In these three worlds,
Only one thing can save thee, from Samsara's greed
Climb on to the boat of Satsangha(good company), with deliberate speed

XIV

Jatilo mundii lujnchhitakeshah
Kaashhaayaambarabahukritaveshhah
Pashyannapi cana pashyati muudhah
Udaranimittam bahukritaveshhah

False signs of piety, matted locks, shaven heads or plucked hairs
Or ochre robes and others in variegated holy colors
Are so affected, just to earn an earthly living
And Fools so blinded, are oblivious of the truth revealing

XV

Angam galitam palitam mundam
Dashanavihiinam jatam tundam
Vriddho yaati grihiitvaa dandam
Tadapi na mujncatyaashaapindam

With age's onset, bald heads, toothless gums and crutches spawn
Despite these wearing signs of time
The old man's hopes, remain eternally strong
Desperately clinging to a fruitless and ever hopeful dawn

XVI

Agre vahnih prishhthebhaanuh
Raatrau chubukasamarpitajaanuh
Karatalabhikshastarutalavaasah
Tadapi na mujncatyaashaapaashah

Hark! there lies a man warmed by a fire in front and by the sun behind
At night he curls up warmly to avoid the cold
Eats his beggar's food from the his bowl of his hand
And sleeps beneath the spreading tree
Yet, he remains a wretched puppet of his consuming passions

XVII

Kurute gangaasaagaragamanam
Vrataparipaalanamathavaa daanam
Gyaanavihinah sarvamatena
Muktim na bhajati janmashatena

One may cleanse one's sins immersing in Ganga's waters
One can fast and donate riches to the needy
But devoid of Gyana or knowledge of the truth
None else can give the soul it's liberation
Despite the repetition of a hundred births

XVIII

Sura mandira taru muula nivaasah
Shayyaa bhuutala majinam vaasah
Sarva parigraha bhoga tyaagah
Kasya sukham na karoti viraagah

Give up life of ease and reside in temples, or under trees
Wear deerskin and bed down with mother earth, in peace
Give up attachments, and with life's comforts, denied
With this detachment(Vairagya), who would not be satisfied?

XIX

Yogarato vaabhogaratovaa
Sangarato vaa sangaviihinah
Yasya brahmani ramate chittam
Nandati nandati nandatyeva

One can delight in Yoga, the pacific union of body and mind
Or, in Bhoga, in the search for hedonism, great pleasure find
Or hanker after attachment or to detachment, surrender
But, be aware, that eternal bliss, can only be realized
In the joyous meditation, of the Brahman, devised

XX

Bhagavad giitaa kijnchidadhiitaa
Gangaa jalalava kanikaapiitaa
Sakridapi yena muraari samarchaa
Kriyate tasya yamena na charchaa

If one, reads but a little, from the sacred Gita
Drinks but a drop from the holy Ganga
Worships but once the Lord(Murari) he then
Will need no confrontation, with deathly Yama

XXI

Punarapi jananaM punarapi maraNaM
Punarapi jananii jaThare shayanam.h
Iha saMsaare bahudustaare
KR^ipayaa.apaare paahi muraare

The repeated cries of birth and death again, and yet again
And the constant vigils in the mother's womb
Chart, the thorny voyages across Samsara's endless ocean
O merciful Lord(Murari) save me, from this cycle of creation and doom

XXII

Rathyaa charpaTa virachita kanthaH
PuNyaapuNya vivarjita panthaH
Yogii yoganiyojita chitto
Ramate baalonmattavadev

Rags are a'plenty for a monk on the roadside, to find
To use as clothing, free from vice and virtue, that path he treads
Surrounded by divine bliss, pure and unpolluted, in his mind
As a child or one besotted, his simple happiness spreads

XXIII

KastvaM ko.ahaM kuta aayaataH
Kaa me jananii ko me taataH
Iti paribhaavaya sarvamasaaram.h
VishvaM tyaktvaa svapna vichaaram.h
Who art thou, where do I come from?
Who is my mother and my father?
Ponder these mysteries, seeing all without form
Giving up this world, as an idle and essenceless dream

XXIV

Tvayi mayi chaanyatraiko vishhnuh
Vyartham kupyasi mayyasahishhnuh
Bhava samachittah sarvatra tvam
Vaajnchhasyachiraadyadi vishhnutvam

The Godhead, Vishnu, in you, in me, and in everything, he dwells
Your impatience and anger are without meaning
The yearning to merge with Vishnu, in great measure impels
Acceptance of equanimity, Sama Bhaava, in logic compels

XXV

Shatrau mitre putre bandhau
Maa kuru yatnam vigrahasandhau
Sarvasminnapi pashyaatmaanam
Sarvatrotsrija bhedaagyaanam

Fighting a foe or loving a friend, a child or kin
And expecting love or hate in return
Are emotions that are wasted by you, in turn
See yourself in everyone and everyone in you
Deny all feelings of duality, which are untrue

XXVI

Kaamam krodham lobham moham
Tyaktvaa atmaanam bhaavaya ko aham
Aatmagyaana vihiinaa muudhaah
Te pachyante narakaniguudhaah

Lust, anger, greed and obsession are emotions to be cast out
Thy real nature should be calmly pondered
Fools are those who on their true self are blinded
Consigned to hell they will suffer, their days sans end

XXVII

Geyam giitaa naama sahasram
Dhyeyam shriipati ruupamajasram
Neyam sajjana sange chittam
Deyam diinajanaaya cha vittam

Consistently recite from the Gita, so blessed
And meditate on the Lord(Vishnu), from your inner core
Extoll and praise his thousand glories, so expressed
And join in fellowhip with the noble and the righteous, to adore
Spreading your wealth on the poor, the destitute and the oppressed

XXVIII

Sukhatah kriyate raamaabhogah
Pashchaaddhanta shariire rogah
Yadyapi loke maranam sharanam
Tadapi na mujnchati paapaacharanam

Yielding to lust for its sheer pleasure
Makes the body a prey to disease
Though the path leads to his ultimate end
Man does not abandon his sinful descent

XXIX

Arthamanartham bhaavaya nityam
Naastitatah sukhaleshah satyam
Putraadapi dhana bhaajaam bhiitih
Sarvatraishhaa vihiaa riitih

Wealth never promotes the common weal nor does it bring joy
Ever reflect this, as the truth that is universal
A Rich man fears his own son's greed
This the truth about wealth, for everyone, to heed

XXX

Praanaayaamam pratyaahaaram
Nityaanitya vivekavichaaram
Jaapyasameta samaadhividhaanam
Kurvavadhaanam mahadavadhaanam

Regulate the life's energies(Pranas), unaffected by external causes
Understanding the difference between the real and the fleeting
Chanting the Lord's name to pacify the mind's stresses
Performing these tasks with extreme care and heeding

XXXI

Gurucharanaambuja nirbhara bhakatah
Samsaaraadachiraadbhava muktah
Sendriyamaanasa niyamaadevam
Drakshyasi nija hridayastham devam

O Devotee, lying at the lotus feet of