Hari bhajana vina kaal: Part 2

 

हरिभजनाविण काळ घालवू नको रे ॥१॥

Life in the human body is a privilege and rarity. And also finite. Within this limited and precious time, there are many distractions that pose a real threat to squander away our attention from what is most important. 

Depending on the stage in life, education, physical and emotional growth, family and civic relationships and responsibilities, making a living, and such things are important. But running parallel to all of these and surpassing them all is the fundamental duty to understand and know the life principle underlying our existence. Some of us may know it as God or as a specific deity or name depending on the faith or religion we follow. Some many not have theistic beliefs but recognize a force of Nature or simply as the Universe or refer by another term or name. Here Sohiroba refers to it as Hari ! 

Hari bhajanavina kaal ghalavu nako re!

Do not squander away time without the remembrance of God! 

Bhajan is remembrance. Prayer.

Kaal is time. 

ViNa means without.

Ghaalavu refers to spend or lose. Waste. 

Nako means don’t

Bring the awareness of God into your day to day activities. 

Perhaps there is no religious text or saint who has not reiterated this single most basic message.

The Bhagwad Gita goes into details of how to remember God with every activity and also explains the benefits of this practice. Offering every activity and its results to God relieves one from the fault of doership and the arrogance that comes with it. It purifies the mind and prepares it for spiritual awakening.

From prayers upon waking up( karagre vasate…. Karamoole tu Govindah) through bathing( Gange cha Yamune chaiva) to meals( vadani kaval gheta naam ghyaa Shri Hariche) there are easy means handed to us by our seers for remembrance of the divine principle.

Dalitaa kaanditaa vaahataa kaavadi 

Keertanaat godi Vitthalaachyaa 

A simple maid, Janaabai, described her day carrying out household chores like grinding grains or fetching water while constantly keeping her mind on God.

Bolaavaa Vitthal Pahaavaa Vitthal

Karaavaa Vitthal Jeeva Bhaava

Said the saint Tukaram.

When you speak, speak of Vitthal

May your eyes see Vitthal everywhere 

Make Vitthal an integral part of you.

Sant Chokhamela urged similarly.

Sukhaache he naam aawadine ghyaave 

Vaache aaLavaave ViThobaasi

Take pleasure in chanting the name of Vithoba which bestows happiness upon all. Let your tongue get used to this exercise to call upon Vithoba continually.

Hari mukhe mhanNaa, Hari mukhe mhaNaa

PuNyaachi gaNanaa koNa kari…

Chant the name of Hari again and again

The merits you accrue from this would be countless!

Hari uchchaaraNi anant paap raashi 

Jaatil layaasi kshaNa maatre 

Infinite heaps of sins will be destroyed in a single moment if you utter the name of Hari (with true devotion and surrender).

These are words of assurance from Saint Dnyaaneshwar. 

There is a legend about how a dacoit by the name of Valya Koli was saying reverse of Raa-Ma (Ma-Raa) repeatedly. The continuous sound added up to RaaMa inadvertently and earned him so much merit that he transformed with time and eventually became a revered seer by the name of Valmiki and authored the epic Ramayana. 

Saints have thus sung the glory of the Lord’s name. They testify that God and His name are one entity. They are inseparable. If you chant the name you have Him near you.

Chanting doesn’t require you to travel, doesn’t require any special skills , preparation, tools or qualifications,and can be done wherever you are. It can’t get easier than this. Yet we miss the chance! 

Sant Namdev lamented, O Lord Keshavaa, your name is sweeter than nectar. Even so why does my mind not take it all the time ?  

Amrutaa huni goda naam tuze devaa

Mana maaze Keshavaa kaa baa na ghe 

It is a legitimate question. Despite believing that it is in our best interest to chant the name of God why do we forget about it? There is always a distraction, a different priority that pulls us away. Always something to do or obtain. The senses are ever engaged in chasing their respective objects. Eyes yearn for their favorite places or people, ears for their favorite music or words of praise, nose for its favorite aroma, tongue for its favorite food and hands for their favorite toys. They drag the mind with it while the intellect is as good as asleep. At some point we need to take a pause from this intoxicated running around and ask ourselves, what is the outcome of the madness? What is going to last with us after this pursuit? Where are we going to end up after the senseless chase for things outside of us? Is this all what life’s about? Live, indulge in enjoyments and die? Is there any truth in the words of the saints to search inside rather than outside? What motive could possibly the saints have to urge us to pull the mind out of the world of objects and turn it to chanting the name of God? 

There is always a duality in our mind. One that knows better and one that is foolish. One inevitably overpowers another. Question is who you feed more fuel, more nutrition to get stronger? That one will ultimately rule. 

At my job I frequently see people who smoke cigarettes. Some are young and fairly new to the habit. Others are veterans of the habit. Whether smoking is a new habit or not, they all know somewhere within themselves that smoking is bad for health. I am the same person counseling them to quit the habit. I even offer them medication to help them quit the cigarettes. Some align with my words and pull a plug on the part of themselves that wants the cigarettes. Their wisdom prevails and they give up the cigarettes forever. There are others who are enslaved by the habit. Even the existing insight within them is too weak to overthrow the mind that wants the cigarettes. 

Our excess attachments to people and objects in our lives is similar to the example of smokers and cigarettes. The saints are the counselors who are simply shining a light on what we often know within ourselves but have not allowed it to be voiced aloud. We have to make the choice whether to take their support and defeat the wrong side of us and make the good side win. Or continue the old habits. 

Unless the mind is cured of its addictions it will be difficult to apply it for a better cause. Going back to the example of cigarette smoking, the strategy we use to help people quit cigarettes is by giving them alternative nicotine in the form of patches or gum or lozenges and gradually wean them off the harmful ingredient. The principle is similar in chanting the name of God. You are slowly training the mind to preoccupy with something less harmful( and more useful) to replace its current obsessions. Something that is lasting and priceless instead of short lived and futile.

Today is the day to start making the change! 

To be continued in part 3. 

Saree is a chanderi silk cotton with geometric patterns in monochrome using Dabu print technique from Rajasthan.