A Musical tribute to Sri RamachandrA :Hari KaambhOji Raaga Krithis: Part IV

[Guest guest]

Dear Raama BhakthAs :

 

In this posting , we will cover the remaining seven

Hari Kaambhoji krithis in this posting . These are

marked with one asterik (5-11) . Please bear with

this some what lengthy posting .There is so much

material to cover on the exemplary Raama Bhakthi of

Saint ThyagarAjaa.

 

His Eleven Hari KaambhOji Krithis

**********************************

 

**1.UnDEthi Raamudu

**2.YentharAni tanakentha pOni

**3.Yenthuku Nirdhaya yevarunnArurA ?

**4.DinamaNi Vamsa Tilaka LaavaNya

 

*5.ThSani thOdidEvE oh manasA

*6.Oka maaDa oka BhANamu oka pathni vrathutE

*7.Raama Nannu bhrOvarA

*8.vallakA tanaka SeethA vallabhaa

*9.VinathA sutha Vaahanutai

*10.RarA PaNi Sayana Ravi Jaladhija Nayana

*11.Laali Laaliyani

 

Fifth Krithi: (Th)sani thOdidEvE oh manasA

*******************************************

 

This is one of the Maanasa SambhOdhana krithi ,

where the Saint assumes Naayaki Bhaavam and

requests his mind to rush quickly to her Naayakan's

( Sri Raaman's) side and bring Him back quickly for

a happy union with Him .

 

AzhwArs like ParakAlan and ParAnkusan have experienced

this Bhaavam and have begged their minds to unite them

with the Lord , Sriman NaarAyaNan , in their divya prabhandha

Paasurams. They have also declared that the mind , body

and beauty are of no use unless they are offered in service

to the Lord . The AzhwArs have sent birds and bees as

messengers to the Lord to describe their state of desperation

and to bring Him back to them .Some times , they have asked

their minds to intervene before things go too far . The entire

decad of 4.8 of NammAzhwAr's Thirumozhi is an example

of the Naayaki's vipralambha srungAram .

 

The great AchAryan ,AlawandAr summarized the spirit of

this decad in the 57th slOkam of SthOthra Rathnam this way :

 

na dEham na prANAn na cha sukhamasEsha ahilashitham

nachAthmAnam naanyath kimapi tava sEshathva vibhavAth

bahirbhUtham Naatha KshaNamapi sahE yaathu sadathA

vinAsam tath Sathyam Madhumathana Vijn~Apanam idham

 

(meaning): Oh MadhusUdhanA ! This is the most truthful

statement .I swear that my body , prANan , desire , sukham

are for Your BhOgam , since my anAdhi sEshathvam is ubhayuktham

(subservient )to You as sarva Seshi . If these are not used

by You and if they fall outside Your desire , let them all

disintegrate. What is the use of them ? Sri AaLavandhAr

reveals a deep saasthrArtham here , which focuses on the fact

that for mumukshus , whatever that is not used for Bhagavath-

Kaimkaryam is thyAjyam ( to be abndoned ).

 

NammAzhwAr has declared in this context :

 

------------------aDalAzhi taDakkaiyaan

paNi mAnam pizhayAmE adiyEnaip paNi konDa

maNimAyan kavaraatha mada nenjaal kuRaivilamE

( thiruvaimozhi : 4.8.2) .

 

NammAzhwAr says : What is the use of this mind

of mine , which has not longed for the experience

of embracing the powerful Lord with the fiery disc

on His hand ? He reminds the mind of its uselessness ,

if it does not celebrate and enjoy the Lord .

 

NammAzhwAr is tough on his mind .Saint ThyagarAjA

is more considerate and appeals gently to

his mind and sends it on a mission to bring the Lord back ,

just as ANDAL did in NaachiyAr Thirumozhi .

 

Saint asks his mind to go quickly to the Lord's

side and bring Him back rightaway to his side

( tsanithODi dEvE Oh manasA ).Naayaki gives a word of

advise to her mind regarding how to bring the Lord

to her side .She instructs the manas to hold the Lord's

hand with karuNA and bring Him to her presence willingly

so that they can enjoy each other's company for a very ,

very long time (--chira kaalamu sukham anubhavimpa ).

 

The mind asks the Naayaki a question .How am I going to

recognize this Naayakan of yours ? The Naayaki replies:

It is not difficult to recognize Him . He is the One ,

who redeems those , who have strayed away from the path

of righteousness. He will have the tejas of hundreds of

Manmathans .He is ThyagarAja hruth sanchAri .Finally ,

He is the One , who observes PaaramArthika doctrines

strictly ( Paramaartha matha VisishtAnusArini). He

strictly executes the doctrines related to parama hitham

( saraNAgathi )as saraNAgatha vrathee . You wont have any

problem recognizing Him .He stands out with no one

equal to Him or superior to Him .

 

The charaNam words used by Saint ThyagarAjA in this

krithi to describe the Lord for the benefit of his mind

are beautiful :

 

pathithula brOchE pattadhikAruni

Paramaartha Matha VisishtAnusArini

Dhyuthi nirjitha satha SambharaariNi

dhurINa Thyagaraaja hrucchArini

 

Sixth Krithi: Oka mAta oka BhaaNamu--

*************************************

This is another Maanasa SambhOdhana krithi

with Dhaivatha Eduppu .The previous krithi had

the panchama eduppu .

 

The Parama Raama BhakthA reminds his mind here

that it should never ever forget Sri Raamabhadran .

He is a man of one word ( na dhvibhAshi), one

arrow ( never fails to reach its target ),one

wife (Eka pathni vrathan )and one mind ( abhaya-

PradhAnan , SaraNAgatha Vrathee ).The saint assures

his mind that Sri Raaman blesses His bhakthAs with

long life in this world to worship Him and thereafter

confers the boon of Moksham . He is verily

the Supreme Being in Human form .

 

Seventh Krithi: Raama nannu brOvaraa ?

**************************************

This is sva-yOgya kathanA krithi , set in

GhAndhaara Eduppu ,where he tightly questions

Sri RaamA about the reasons for abandoning

His Bahktha, ThyagarAjA .He asks :Oh RaamA !

They say that You have the reputation

to abide lovingly in all beings from a tiny ant

to the mighty thrimUrthis ( cheemalO BhramalO-

Siva KesavaadhulalO , prEmameera melaguchunDE

BIRUDHU vahinchina SitArAma nannu bhrOvarA ?).

Oh SitArAmA !How come You have not swiftly

stepped up to offer Your protection to me? Oh Jaanaki-

naathA ! You know very well that I have carefully

conducted myself by not seeking approbations from

people by not borrowing from them and becoming

indebted to them . I have not become haughty

with respect to treating others and yet You

are not moving forward to protect me .Oh my

dear One ! Please come to my rescue .Please

do n't forsake me .

 

Eigth Krithi:vallagadhanaka , SithAvallabha bhrOvu naa

*******************************************************

This is sometimes cited as being sung in SankarAbharaNam .

The original rendition is in Hari KaambhOji . This is an

Amarsha rOsha rOshOkthi krithi set in dheerga nishAda

eduppu and Roopaka TaaLam .

 

Oh Lord! Please do not declare that You will not

be able to protect me. Why did You write the history

dealing with Bhaktha RakshaNam in the days of Yore ?

In every yugam, You have gone on record as the savior

of Your BhakthAs , who sought refuge in You . This is a

matter of undisputed record .You saved PrahlAdhan

by concealing Yourself in a pillar ; You hid behind a tree

to save SugrIvan from the power of his brother Vaali ;

You rested on the lap of YasOdhA as a child to save

the GopAs and Gopis ; You approached the haughty

Muchukundhan and then withdrew and blessed him .

You have been saving multitudes of people , who

practise kumbhaka , Rechaka methods for dhyAnam .

In every Yugam , You have been saving them all .

Please do n't say that You can not protect me now .

 

Ninth Krithi: VinathA Sutha Vaahanudai-- Kaanchi Varadhudu

***********************************************************

This is a krithi composed by the Saint during his

pilgrimage to Kaanchipuram . There he had the Bhaagyam

of darsanam of Kanchi Varadhan during His VaikAsi

Garuda Sevai , when he comes out of His western gOpuram .

 

This krithi has the Veda nishAdha eduppu . Garudan

is Veda svarUpi as eulogized by Swami Desikan in

Garuda PanchAsath and Garuda daNDakam . This krithi

is in celebration of Garudan as the Veda Moorthy

and His Lord appearing out of the western door of

His temple surrounded by Bhramman, DevAs and Sages like

SanakA to bless the entire world and ThyagarAjA

during His VaikAsi BhramOthsavam .The bard describes

the appearance of Sri VaradarAjan was like hundreds

of Suns rising at the same time .

 

To fully comprehend Saint ThyagarAjA's reference

to Lord VaradarAjan uplifting the world thru His

Garuda Sevai , one has to connect to Swami Desikan's

VaradarAja Panchaasath passages.Swami Desikan points

out that He is " mOhAndhakAra Vinivarthana JaagarUkan "

or One who banishes the darkness of Ajn~Anam like

the "Sahasra Bhanu " or the thousand rayed Sun rising

in the East . This Lord of the Sooryan rises in the West

however for a special reason .The other Sun can only

banish the external darkness .This Lord of the Sun

can remove both external and the internal darkness .

When compared to the Lord's Tejas , the brilliance

of the ordinary Sun is like a mass of darkness

( santhamasa parva iva ) according to Swami Desikan .

 

Tenth Krithi: Raa raa paNisayana Ravi Jaladhija nayana

*******************************************************

This krithi set in panchama eduppu and Roopaka TaaLam

is a prayer to the Lord to appear before ThyagarAja

accompanied by SitA PirAtti , His brothers , HanUmAn

and other BhakthAs . This krithis is a beautiful

NaamArchani for Sri Raamachandran . Let me refer to

some of these ThirunAmams that the Sadhguru uses

to perform his archanai to invoke RaamA's appearance :

 

PaNi SayaNA = the Lord resting in Milky Ocean on Adhi Seshan

Ravi Jaladhija nayanA = One having the Sun & the Moon as His eyes

RaagA sasivadhanaa=One with the face resembling the full Moon

RamaNIyA =the One of incomparable /delectable beauty

Apaghana= the One , who destroys all sins

Abhja SucharaNa=one with the lotus soft feet

asama soora = The Raghuveeran of unmatched valor

 

Eleventh Krithi:DhOlOthsava Krithi

***********************************

Here , Sadhguru SweamigaL places Sri RaamA

and His Devi in a swing ( DhOlai ) and gently

moves it forward and backward to enjoy the beauty

of the divya dampathis . This krithi has four

charaNams and was used by the sadhguru to offer

the DhOlai upachAram during the nithyArAdhanam .

Another famous DhOlai krithi is UyyAlalUkavayyA

in the soothing NeelAmBhari raagam .

 

As he rocks the Lord , the saint eulogizes Him

in the most affectionate and tender manner :

" Oh vanamAli ! I look at You with great prEmai

as I rock You in the (golden ) swing and address

You as the Lord of Lords ( DevadEvan ), the King of Kings.

( raajarAjan )As I gently move the swing back and forth,

I deeply implant Your savarUpam in my heart ,I passionately

serve You , I sing Your praise and prostrate before

You with the knowledge that Bhajana alone

is the path to reach You befititng Your description

that You are sthuthi Priyan ".

 

In the next few postings preceding Sri Raama navami ,

We will enjoy the Hari KaambhOji Janya Raaga krithis.

There are so many references to AzhwAr's and AchAryAL's

divya sookthis that come to my mind as echos as I write these

articles . Due to the need keep these postings to limited size ,

I am resisting the temptation to analyze the deeper meanings

of the Krithis of a parama VaishNavar like Saint ThyagarAjA .

 

Sri Raamachandra ParabrahmaNE nama:

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan