The verse and its meaning · Stotras · Stotras — Bhaja Govindam

Twelve Blossoms for a Grammarian

Bhaja Govindam 12

द्वादशमञ्जरिकाभिरशेषः कथितो वैयाकरणस्यैषः । उपदेशो भूद्विद्यानिपुणैः श्रीमच्छन्करभगवच्छरणैः

Meaning · English

In twelve verses, each one a spray of blossoms, this whole teaching was spoken to a grammarian by the revered Shankara, skilled in knowledge.

The line says three things. The teaching was given whole, with nothing held back. It came as twelve verses, each called a spray of blossoms, so the set is offered like flowers rather than argued like a treatise. And it was spoken to a grammarian, a man whose working life was the rules of words, by Shankara, described as skilled in knowledge. One line sets two skills side by side: the listener's, and the teacher's.

Picture a proofreader given a letter from an old friend. His red pen finds the missing comma and the misspelled word first, and he can finish the page without taking in what it asked of him. The twelve verses were handed to a reader with exactly that training.

अर्थ · हिन्दी

In this book

• Before: Pride in What Time Takes · Bhaja Govindam 11
• Next: The Boat of Good Company · Bhaja Govindam 13
• All of Stotras · Ask Krishna about it

Sacred Sargam

The sacred texts with their meaning, read aloud, with Ask Krishna, a Panchang and bhajans. Free, on the web and as an app. Open Sacred Sargam