Naama MahimA --Part 2 : Saint ThyagarAja"s Gowlai Pancharathnam

[Guest guest]

Dear Members of the Bhakthi group :

 

Saint Thyagaraja SawmigaL was a parama VaishNavA .

He was a Rama chaithanyar par excellence .

Every living moment of his life was infused with the thought of

his Ishta daivam . From the time he woke up Sri RamA

with SuprabhAtham to the time he lulled Him to sleep

at night , our sadhguru was engaged in NadhOpAsanA .

 

During the course of this nadhOpaasanA ,

Saint ThyagarAja celebrated the glory of the Lord , saluted

His naama mahimai , His rUpa mahimai , argued

with Him about His "indifference " , blamed his own

inadequacies that stood in the way of the Lord's grace ,

expressed his visvAsam in the Lord as the saraNAgatha

rakshakan , saluted the parama bhakthAs of the Lord

such as PrahlAdhA , NaaradhA , HanUmAn and begged

the Lord to bless him with mithya kaimkarya Sri . All of these

emerged as hundreds of krithis set in beautiful rAgAs

and TaaLAs . The most distinguished among them

are the Gana Raaga Pancharathna krithis .

 

I will cover the Gowlai raaga pancha rathnam ,

which has his nirvEdam and naicchAnusandhAnam

as the sanchAri bhAvam . Nirvedam is the mood of

dejection or despondency over the thought of

not receiving the Lord's anugraham fast enough .

NaicchAnusandhAnam or aathma garhaNam

is the act of self-depreciation and recounting of one's

shortcomings that interfere with the speedy progress

of the SaadhanA to achieve the Lord's blessings .

 

Our Sadhguru chose the upAngha raagam , GowLai

known for the beauty of its unique rishabha and

nishAdha svarams to celebrate the unique soundharyam

of Sri RamachandrA . The mood of the Saint was that of

of despair over his limitations that resulted in imperfect

bhakthi . He begged the Lord in that mood to forgive him

for his aparAdhams and embrace him as His devotee

inspite of his shortcomings . This mood of nirvEdam

is experienced often by the great devotees of the Lord.

For example , AlavandhAr cries out in despair in one

of his slokams of SthOthra rathnam this way :

 

na nindhitham karma tadhasthi lOkhE

sahasrasO yann na mayA vyathAyi I

sOham vibhAkAvasarE Mukhundha

kranthAmi sampradhyagathis tavAgrE II

 

( Meaning ) : O MukhundhA ! There is not a deed

that I have left undone , which has been prohibied by

sAsthrAs and sishtAs ( righteous ones ) . I have engaged

in such deeds tens of thousands of times . Rich with

the unbearable burden of paapa raasis , I stand before

you screaming in despair and fear about them bearing

their fruits . I stand before you in that helpless state .

 

Swami Desikan has condemned himself in number of

his sthOthrams about his many trespasses . At one conversation

with the Lord , Swami described himself as the emperor of

trespasses ( AparAdha chakravarthi ) ; In another occasion ,

he described himself to Lord DevanAthA of thiruvaheendrapuram

as " Aj~nana vaaridhi " ( the ocean of aj~nanam ) ,

apAya dhurandharam ( the one , who occupies the front row of

sinners ) , agynaa vibhanjanam ( trespasser general of

the saastraic commands ) and akinchana saarvabhoumam

( the first among the meek and helpless ) .

 

In paadhukhA sahasram , in NirvEdha paddhathi ,

Swami cries out , " DheenAksharANi na sruNOshi " .

The words of mine in my state of great sorrow

are pitiable . Inspite of that , O PaadhukhE , You

do not come to my rescue . This is only because

of my great sins . In another slOkam of PaadhukhA

sahasram , Swami again condemns himself

and depreciates his unfit state and laments over it :

 

vividha vishaya chinthAsanthathAbhi: chiram maam

janitha kalushamittham Devi ! durvAsanAbhi:

 

( Meaning ) : O PaadhukhA Devi ! Engaged without let

in the enjoyment of evanescent indriya sukhams , my

thoughts are forever steeped in acts prohibited by

sAsthrAs and are thus overloaded with paapa raasis .

Thou , who are the antithesis of my state should

banish the durvAsanAs and make me fragrant

with Bhagavadh chinthanA and offer me salvation .

 

Saint ThyagarAjA engaged in such aathma garhaNa

moods and composed krithis condemning his deficiencies.

Some examples of them are :

 

" Yetula BhrOthuvO teliya , ekAntha RaamayAA "

in chakravAka raagam , where he calls with affection

Sri RaamA and wonders as to how He is going to save

him with his despicable record of sins . He recalls

that he has been wandering around doing wicked deeds

in association with wicked people .

 

In "PrArabhdha mittuNdagA " in raagam SvarAvarALi ,

Our sadhguru laments : " When my own past karmas are

like this , O merciful one , there is no purpose in blaming

others . "

 

In " Toli janmamuna " krithi in Bilahari raagam ,

Sadhguru says " I have known the sins I had committed in

my previous births . I have known also their results.

They are as clear as the fruit in the palm of my hand ."

 

In " Edula ghApAduthuvO ? " set in the raagam Ahiri ,

he asks RaamA , " How are you going to protect me , who had

got himself enmeshed deeply in samsArA , who has been going

about declaring that there is no one equal to me ----"

 

The krithi in Raagam Gowlai is the supreme example of

this mood of self-depreciation and despondency over

the thought that the Lord may fail to come to his rescue .

We will find many parallels to Swami Desikan's

moods in this krithi .

 

I shall cover the deep thoughts relevant to

SaraNAgathi and Aakinchanyam embedded in

the Gowlai pancharathnam of Sri Thyaga Brahmam

in the subsequent postings .

 

Sri Ramachandra Para BrahmaNE Nama :

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan