भज गोविन्दं भज गोविन्दं भज गोविन्दं मूढ़मते ।
संप्राप्ते सन्निहित काले नहि नहि रक्षति दुकृञ करणे' ॥
Worship Govinda, worship Govinda,
Worship Govinda, O' foolish one!
Rules of grammar profit nothing
Once the hour of death draws nigh.
मूढ़ जहीहि धनागम तृष्णां कुरु सद्बुद्धिं मनसि वितृष्णाम् ।
यल्लभसे निजकर्मोपात्तं वित्तं तेन विनोदय चित्तम् ॥ १
Remember, O' fool, your ceaseless thirst
For hoarding gold and precious gems;
Content yourself with what may come
Through deeds performed in earlier lives;
Devote your mind to righteousness
And let dispassion be your law. (1)
नारी-स्तनभर-नाभीदेशं दृष्ट्वा मा गा मोहावेशम् ।
एतन्मांस-वसादि-विकारं मनसि विचिन्तय वारं वारम् ॥ २
Lust at the sight of a woman's body
Springs from ignorance, springs from errors;
Inwardly reason, over and over,
Bodies are flesh and blood and fat. (2)
नलिनी-दल-गत-जल-मतितरलं तद्वज्जीवित-मतिशयचपलम् ।
विद्धि व्याध्यभिमानग्रस्तं लोकं शोकहतं च समस्तम् ॥ ३
Uncertain is the life of man
As rain-drops on a lotus leaf;
The whole of humankind is prey
To grief and ego and disease. (3)
यावद्वित्तोपार्जनसक्त- स्तावन्निज-परिवारो रक्तः
पश्चाज्जीवति जर्जरदेहे वार्ता कोऽपि न पृच्छति गेहे ॥ ४
While a man supports his family,
See what loving care they show!
But when his aging body falters,
Nearing the time of dissolution,
None not even his nearest kin,
Will think to ask him how he fares. (4)
यावत्पवनो निवसति देहे तावत् पृच्छति कुशलं गेहे ।
गतवति वायौ देहापाये भार्या बिभ्यति तस्मिन् काये ॥ ५
While man's soul remains in his body,
Fondly his family wish him well;
But when the life-breath leaves its dwelling,
Even his wife will flee in fear. (5)
अर्थ-मनर्थं भावय नित्यं नास्ति ततः सुखलेशः सत्यम् ।
पुत्रादपि धनभाजां भीतिः सर्वत्रैषा विहिता रीतिः ॥ ६
Remember, riches bring in grief:
Truly, no joy abides in them.
A rich man even fears his son:
This is the position everywhere. (6)
बालस्तावत् क्रीडासक्त स्तरुणस्तावत् तरुणीसक्तः ।
वृद्धस्ताव-च्चिन्ता-सक्तः परे ब्रह्मणि कोऽपि न सक्तः ॥ ७
Lost in play is the carefree stripling
Lost in his sweetheart's charms, the youth;
The old man broods upon his sorrows;
None there is, alas whose spirit
Yearns to be lost in the Parabrahman. (7)
का ते कान्ता कस्ते पुत्रः संसारोऽयमतीव विचित्रः ।
कस्य त्वं वा कुत आयात- स्तत्त्वं चिन्तय तदिह भ्रातः ॥ ८
Who is your wife? And who your child?
Strange, indeed is this mortal world!
Who are you? And who is your own?
Where is the region whence you come?
Brother, ponder on these things. (8)
सत्संगत्वे निस्संगत्वं निस्संगत्वे निर्मोहत्वम् ।
निर्मोहत्वे निश्चलतत्त्वं निश्चलतत्तवे जीवनमुक्तिः ॥ ९
Good association breeds detachment;
Detachment leads to freedom from delusion;
Un-deluded, one contacts changeless Reality;
Contact with Reality bestows Liberation-while-alive. (9)
वयसि गते कः कामविकारः शुष्के नीरे कः कासारः ।
क्षीणे वित्ते कः परिवारो ज्ञते तत्त्वे कः संसारः ॥ १०
Youth being fled, what good is passion?
Water gone, what use a lake?
Where to be found our friends and kins-men
Once the money's all exhausted?
Where is the world, when Truth is known? (10)
मा कुरु धन-जन-यौवन-गर्वं हरति निमेषात् कालः सर्वम् ।
मायामयमिद-मखिलं हित्वा ब्रह्मपदं त्वं प्रविश विदित्वा ॥ ११
Boast not of youth or friends or wealth;
Swifter than eyes can wink, by Time
Each one of these is stolen away.
Abjure the illusion of the world
And join yourself to timeless Truth. (11)
दिनयामिन्यौ सायं प्रातः शिशिरवसन्तौ पुनरायातः ।
कालः क्रीडति गच्छत्यायु- स्तदपि न मुंचत्याशावायुः ॥ १२
Sunrise and sunset, daylight and darkness
Winter and springtime, come and go;
Even the course of time is playful;
Life itself soon ebbs away;
But man's vain hope, alas! goes onward,
Tirelessly onward even-more. (12)
द्वादशमंजरिकाभिरशेषः कथितो वैयाकरणस्यैषः ।
उपदेशोऽभूद्विद्यानिपुणैः श्रीमच्छंकरभगवच्चरणैः ॥ १३
Through this bouquet of a dozen verses
Was imparted succinctly to a grammarian
Instruction supreme by the all-knowing
Sankara, adored as the Bhagvadpada. (13)
॥ इति श्रीशंकराचार्योपदिष्ट-द्वादशमं
Bharat Ratna M. S. Subbulakshmi
16 September 1916 – 11 December 2004) (Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi)One of her most popular rendition is Bhaja Govindam
Listen to Bhaja Govindam in M.S.Subbulakshmi's voice:
http://youtu.be/D8slUawzmPc
