Bhaja Govindam Verse 14

जटिलो मुण्डी लुञ्चितकेशः काषायाम्बरबहुकृतवेषः।
पश्यन्नपि च न पश्यति मूढः उदरनिमित्तं बहुकृतवेषः॥
jaṭilo muṇḍī luñcitakeśaḥ kāṣāyāmbara-bahukṛtaveṣaḥ |
paśyannapi ca na paśyati mūḍhaḥ udaranimittaṃ bahukṛtaveṣaḥ ||

  • jaṭilaḥ: (one with) matted hair; muṇḍī: (one with a) shaven head; luñcitakeśaḥ: (one with) hair plucked out; kāṣāya-ambara-bahukṛta-veṣaḥ: one disguised in various ways wearing saffron clothes; paśyan api: even while seeing; ca: and
  • na paśyati: does not see (the truth); mūḍhaḥ: the fool; hi: indeed; udaranimittaṃ: for the sake of the belly (livelihood); bahukṛtaveṣaḥ: are the various disguises taken

Summary: The Futility of Outward Appearances
An ignorant person may adopt various religious disguises, such as sporting matted hair, a completely shaven head, plucked hair, or saffron robes, merely for the sake of filling their belly.
Even though this fool looks at the genuine sages and the world around them, they fail to truly perceive the ultimate truth.
Thus, adopting the mere external signs of a renunciate without inner realization is a deceptive exercise driven only by the desire for worldly survival.

  • The Author and His Contributions: This verse was composed by toṭakācārya, another great disciple of ādiśaṅkarācārya. He earned his name by composing the famous toṭakāṣṭakam in the toṭaka meter. He also wrote a profound analytical work called śruti-sāra-samuddharaṇam, which beautifully extracts the essence of the veda and deeply analyzes the mahāvākya tattvamasi.
  • The Difficulty of Shifting Priorities: toṭakācārya points out that deliberately shifting our life’s priorities from artha and kāma (wealth and sense pleasures) to dharma and mokṣa is an extremely difficult task. This is because our deep-rooted valuation of money begins in early childhood, when we first observe that money can buy us anything we desire, from toys to chocolates.
  • The Illusion That Time is Money: The world constantly reinforces the idea that wealth is paramount, often promoting the slogan that “time is money.” Consequently, a person obsessed with this material pursuit will refuse to spend an hour listening to a gītā discourse, calculating instead how much wealth could have been earned during that time.
  • External vs. Internal Transformation: Over decades, our addiction to money and sense pleasures becomes heavily nourished. While making an external transformation—such as changing one’s residence from the city to an āśrama or formally entering the saṃnyāsa āśrama—is relatively easy, bringing about a corresponding internal transformation of the mind is incredibly tough.
  • The Symbolism of True Renunciation: Internal change is far more important than any external show. toṭakācārya pities those who take up saṃnyāsa but continue to internally fantasize about artha and kāma. He criticizes the fake monks represented by the words jaṭilaḥ (those who grow long, matted hair) and muṇḍī (those with shaven heads). The act of shaving the head is meant to be symbolic of completely renouncing our countless worldly obsessions, which are as numerous as the hairs on our head. A true saṃnyāsī gives up everything and relies on only three supports: guru, śāstra, and īśvara, which are sometimes symbolized by carrying a tri-daṇḍī (a staff of three rods).
  • Extreme Forms of Austerity: The verse mentions luñcitakeśaḥ, referring to certain monks (such as in Jainism, which has its own saṃnyāsa āśrama) who painfully pluck out their hair. This is practiced as an extreme form of tapas (śarīra-pīḍanaṃ tapaḥ), under the belief that enduring such physical pain purifies the individual.
  • The Delusion of False Robes and Insignia: The phrase kāṣāyāmbara-bahukṛtaveṣaḥ refers to the many varieties of robes worn by monks, whether it is the ochre robe, the white dress, or even no clothes at all like the digambara monks. toṭakācārya points out that changing one’s dress means nothing if one has not genuinely renounced their inner obsessions.
  • Seeing but Failing to Learn: The verse calls such a person mūḍhaḥ—a deluded individual who, despite experiencing the constant unreliability of the world, fails to learn from it (paśyan na paśyati). While an ordinary person failing to learn is understandable, these supposedly renounced individuals simply transfer their material attachments from a worldly suitcase to a monk’s kamaṇḍalu.
  • The Ultimate Warning: Ultimately, udaranimittaṃ bahukṛtaveṣaḥ reveals that all these external insignia and robes often become a mere theatrical show to gain respect or receive bhikṣā (alms) from society. toṭakācārya warns that while one might successfully cheat society with a fake external appearance, one can never cheat bhagavan, who perfectly knows our true internal state.