There is no mincing of thought or word in Adi Sankara’s Moha Mudgara which is a manual for practical living. Mudgara literally means a hammer and this hymn hits hard at the Moha or infatuation that envelops the human psyche and binds one to samsara, pointed out Sri B. Sundarkumar in a lecture.
Each verse captures the essence and purpose of human birth, even as it showcases the practical aspects of human life in all its totality. There is no hair-splitting rhetoric of philosophical discussions here, but only the sharp warning of time’s supremacy in the context of worldly existence. Day follows night and the seasons follow each other. The wise understand this inevitability as the only worthwhile phenomenon and bow down to the Lord of Time. They learn to detach themselves from the powerful effects of the ephemeral attractions and glitter of the world. They know that there is no assurance that all bestowments, collective or individual, will continue for ever. One’s life span itself is unspecified. One has to live every day of one’s life as a God-given benefit and not forego the chance to do good deeds and cultivate devotion to the Lord. When this learning is imbibed through association with the wise, one learns to view people, relationships, objects, places, etc. with a sense of detachment.
Narayana Bhattatiri echoes a similar thought in the Narayaneeyam. He surrenders at the Lord’s feet so that he is freed from the afflictions of His irreversible wheel of time. This wheel has the twelve months of the year as its spokes and 360 days for its teeth. It is always running forward and destroying the world of ‘Becoming’ at every moment of its terrific revolution.
