Lyrics My Foolish Heart/Bhaja Govinda - Krishna Das

My Foolish Heart/Bhaja Govinda

My foolish heart
Why do you weep?
You throw yourself away again
Now you cry yourself to sleep
Cry yourself to sleep…
My foolish heart
When will you learn?
You are the eyes of the world
And there’s nowhere else to turn
Nowhere else to turn…
Bhaja Govindam, bhaja Govindam
My foolish heart
Govindam Govindam Govindam
My foolish heart
My foolish heart
My foolish heart…
Raadhe Raadhe Govinda Govinda
Raadhe Raadhe Govinda Govinda
Govinda Bhaja Govinda
Govinda Bhaja Govinda
The words «Bhaja Govindam» are an exhortation to adore and love God.
In the 8th century, the great saint, Adi Shankaracharya, wrote a beautiful
hymn called «Bhaja Govindam.»
It is a unique prayer as it unifies the path of
Wisdom (Jnana Marg) and the path of Devotion (Bhakti Marg).
Shankaracharya
praises Devotion as a spiritual path that leads to liberation.
The legend is
that he was walking with his disciples when he saw an old scholar teaching his
young students the rules of Sanskrit grammar.
Shankaracharya told the old man
that now that he was so old he should turn his mind toward God and stop wasting
time.
In every verse he described the ways that life is passing by and with it
our opportunity to find freedom from suffering.
Each verse was addressed to «my
foolish mind/heart,» mudhamate in Sanskrit.
I wrote a couple of verses in
English with the same feeling