Bhaj Govindam
Verse 6
Yāvatpavano nivasati dehe tāvatpr̥cchati kuśalaṁ gehe,
Gatavati vāyau dehāpāye bhāryā bibhyati tasminkāye.
The sixth verse said to me - Sruti Says🌷
Only till the life breath dwells in our body, that is till one is alive, do people check on our well-being.
The minute this breath leave, the body starts to decay, even the wife(spouse) gets scared of the same body, whom she was attached to just moments back.
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Sankaracharyaji is repeatedly trying to bring our attention to the temporary and transient nature of our existence. He tells us that not only, will the material possessions not last, but also the relations that we cherish will all pass.
At that time one feels, in this ever rapidly changing world, this body is my permanent companion. However, is it also not perishable? From the day we are born, one thing is certain that this body will go back where it came from. From dust it came and dust it will become, it is just a matter of time.
Ever changing is the body, from a baby, to a toddler and all the way from young to middle aged and then old, this body is rapidly deteriorating and nearing its end. The body too is as unreal as all the other bodily relation and possessions that we cherish.
Even those rare few people, who truly care for our well-being, even our life partner, whom we have had the most intimate of relationships with, will be in a desperate hurry to get rid of this same body, when the life force disappears.
When this life-less piece of flesh and bones starts to decompose, neither can it command any space in it’s one cherished home, nor can it take along the once guarded wealth or the once loved people.
Khali haath aaya tha,
Khali haath jaega,
Maati ka putla
Tu maati mai mil jayega.
This compels us to think,
These same questions, reverberated in the mind of that 16 year old Venkataraman.
One day in the upstairs room in his uncles house, a violent fear of death over came him. He just felt he was going to die. This shock absorbed him and all he could think of was some vital questions;
He would dramatise the event, and would hold his breath and let his imagination take him to the cremation ground. He would wonder, even when the body dies, I still feel the force of this divine energy.
Venkataraman held on to this one inquiry, Who am I? Repeatedly he asked himself, Who am I? This one true inquiry made this boy Venkataraman into whom we all know today as Bhagwan Ramana Maharishi - who realised that he was the deathless spirit.
This enquiry also arise in each one of us when we witness the death of near and dear ones, especially when we are a part of the so called, last journey. This is also known as the ‘Shamshan Vairagya’. At this point momentarily we escape the clutches of Maya, and question the futility and the fleeting nature of the material life.
Sages like Ramana...
