भज गोविन्दं

Worship Govinda, worship Govinda, worship Govinda, O foolish mind! When the appointed time of death draws near, the rules of grammar will surely not save you.

O deluded one, abandon your thirst for the acquisition of wealth. Cultivate right understanding in a mind free from craving. With whatever wealth you obtain through your own actions, gladden your heart with that alone.

As long as one is able to earn wealth, so long is one's own family devoted and attached. But afterward, when one lives on in a frail, decrepit body, no one in the house even asks after one's welfare.

As long as the breath of life dwells within the body, so long do those in the household inquire after one's welfare. But once the breath has departed and the body has perished, even one's own wife shrinks in fear from that very corpse.

Do not take pride in wealth, in followers, or in youth, for Time carries all of these away in a single instant. Renounce this entire world, which is made of illusion, and having realized the truth, enter into the state of Brahman.

Dwelling in temples of the gods or at the foot of a tree, the earth itself as one's bed, a deerskin for clothing — thus renouncing all possessions and pleasures: to whom does such dispassion not bring happiness?

By whom the Bhagavad Gita has been studied even a little, by whom even a single drop of the Ganga's water has been sipped, by whom Murari (Vishnu, the slayer of Mura) has been worshipped even once — with him Yama, the lord of death, holds no dispute.

Birth again and again, death again and again, and again the lying within a mother's womb — in this world of transmigration, so hard to cross over, protect me, O Murāri (slayer of the demon Mura), through your boundless compassion.

The Bhagavad Gītā and the thousand names of the Lord should be sung; the form of Śrīpati (the consort of Lakṣmī, Viṣṇu) should be meditated upon ceaselessly; the mind should be led into the company of the virtuous; and wealth should be given to those who are poor and afflicted.

Reflect constantly that wealth is worthless; truly, not the slightest happiness comes from it. Those who possess wealth live in fear even of their own sons — this is the way of things everywhere.

O you who are wholly devoted to the lotus feet of the Guru, may you soon become liberated from the cycle of worldly existence. Through the disciplined restraint of the senses and the mind, in this very way you shall behold the Divine dwelling within your own heart.