Hari
OM
Application - that is what 'Workings-days' are
about!
The text under study is BHAJA GOVINDAM, song of despair of time-wasting, by Sri Adi Shankaraachaarya.
The
twenty first shloka of the text laments the binding of the karmic cycle…
punrip
jnn< punrip mr[<
Paunrip
jnnIjQre zynm!,
#h
s<sare bhuduStare
k&paya=pare
paih murare.21.
Punarapi
jananam punarapi maranam
Punarapi
jananiijatHare shayanam;
Iha
samsaare bahudustaare
kRpayaa-paare
paahi muraare. ||21||
Again birth, again death…
And again lying in the mother's womb;
This samsaara process is very hard to cross over.
Save me, Murari, through Thy Infinite Kindness!.
As
long as the individualised ego (jiiva), prompted by desires and habits and an
over-fertile imagination, fails to improve, it must seek ever fresh fields of
experience in which to gambol. Thus we set up for ourselves the karmic cycle.
In each lifetime, instead of exhausting the vaasanas, each one gathers to
himself even more 'debts'. We come here for purgation, but due to our ignorance
of the way and the goal, the extrovertedness in us compels us to get ourselves
attached to objects and people and situations… Maayaa at work!
Our
true purpose is to figure out life and to live it in such a way that we can
sever for good the bondage of this world. By all means, act and achieve, but
let your actions be in an attitude of dedication, with an idea to serve for the
greater good. This reduces the existing vaasanas and minimises the risk of
adding to the karmic burden. Once the state of 'zero balance' has been
obtained, when mind has been totally tamed, the jiiva will be freed and will
return to Self-Source. This state of perfection eludes the greatest majority of
us though and we remain our small selves, birthing, 'living' and dying then
coming back to do it all again. The momentum of it makes it almost impossible
to halt it all by ourselves. To free ourselves, we now require a mighty friend,
one who has already vanquished that 'foe' of the ego tyrant.
Muraari
is such a one - a.k.a. Sri Krishna! Thus the writer of the verse raises a plea
for aid. This is where, in our weakness, we can find succour in accepting and
submitting to a Higher Power. It does not have to be a physical form, but
understanding that overcoming the ego requires submission is the key to it.
Surrender
to the Grace of the Higher Self; beg guidance and relief… what is more, accept
that by placing your trust there, that relief will come to you. This, then,
requires that you also leave doubt at the lintel of surrender.
The
way a child completely and unstintingly looks to the parent for shelter and
direction is how we must be if we are to grow and begin to break our bondage to
the world. This is seen also in the teachings of Yeshu… Not only does he speak
of placing your burden upon Him but also, specifically to the theme of this
verse;
3“Truly I tell you, He said, “unless
you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of
heaven.
4Therefore, whoever humbles himself
like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.… (Matt;
18)
