Guru of Saint ThyAgarAjA

[Guest guest]

NamaskAram.

 

May I request the revered members of the Bhakti list to point out

who the guru (AchAryan) of Saint ThyAgarAjA was?

 

Thanks in advance

Lakshmi Narasimhan

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Lakshmi Narasimhan :

 

Saint ThyagarAjA had three gurus :

 

1.Raama Thaaraka manthram was

received from Guru , Sri Ramakrishnanadhar .

Thyaga Brahmam recited 15,000 Raama Naamms

per day and by the age 38 completed 96 crores of

Sri Raama naama Japam and had the Darsanam

of Sri raamA and Sri LakshmaNA in the Yaaga-

SamrakshaNa pose in front of his door .He sang the

AtANA raaga Krithi " Yela nee dhaya raadhu " at

that time .ManthrOpadEsa guru was Sri RaamakrishNAnandhar.

 

2.His musical guru was Sri Sonti VenkataramaNayyA ,

son of Sri Venkata Subbaiaah ;both were MahA vidvAns

were members of the Tanjore king's Court .As a boy ,

Thyagaraja used to stop on his way to collect flowers

for the archanai of his father in front of Sonti

Venaktaramanaiaah and listen to the advanced music

lessons given by Sri Venakataramanaiaah to his students .

One day , when the students failed to respond to

the Guru's questions on the just completed instructio ,

the boy listening outside blurted out the correct answer

quickly . The Guru came out to see who was giving the correct

answer , which was beyond the grasp of his best students.

He saw this 6 year old boy with KotthavarangAi pinnal

and PuNDram as well as a flower basket slung on his shoulder .

The Mastero was amazed .He invited the young boy in

and taught him all the intricacies of Carnatic Music

as he had learnt from his father , who in turn was a disciple of

naarAyana TheerthA of KrishNa LeelA TarangiNi fame .

ThyagaraajA picked up very fast all the NuNukkams ( intricacies

of Raagam , ThALam and AalApanam ). One day , the grateful

Guru invited the Young ThyagarAjA to sing before an

assembly of connoseiurs of Music. There , ThyagarAjA sang

the mighty Bilahari krithi , "DoragUnA yeDuvamDi" to

offer his guru Vandhanam and delighted every one with

his musical mastery .The joyous Guru blessed his dear

sishyan with the statement " DoragUnA iDuvaMDi sishyudu ".

The sangItha guru in human form was SoNTi VenkataramaNa gAru .

 

(3) The last of the AchAryAs for the Sage Vaalmiki avathArar

was Naaradha Maharishi .Sage NaaradhA was also the AchArya

for PrahlAdhA and VaalmIki . On a PourNami day ,the great VishNu

bahkthA , NaaradhA appeared before Thyagaraja and

gave him a book (SvarArNavam ) to hold until he

returned from his anushtAnam at the Cauveri river bank .

The sage waited and waited .The visitor never returned .

At chandhrOdhayam, he saw the form of Sage NaradhA with

his mahathi VeeNai in hand climbing into the sky . Then

our Sadhguru realized , who it was that blessed him with

the subha darsanam that day . He broke out in the Bhairavi

raaga song " Sri Naaradha Muni GururAya ! "

 

Throught his song , he offered his salutation

to the BhakthA of Sriman NaarAyaNa na,a PaarAyaNar ,

Sri NaaradhA : " Oh Guru SrEshtA! I am blessed with

your darsanam today , probably because of my tapas

in earlier births . I have sought you with all my heart .

Today I have had the blessed fortune of feasting my eyes

on you an dhearing your divine music . I am rid of

the bondage of SamsAra with your param paavana darsanam.

With VeeNA shining in your hand , You are the sadh guru ,

who has saved ThyagarAjA !

 

Thyagaraja swamigal dedicated Krithis in RaagAs

KaanadA ( Sri Naaradha ! Naadha sarasIryha Brubga !

Subhaanga!) , DharbhAr ( Naaradha Guruswami ),

Vijaya Sri ( Vara Naaradha ! NaarAyaNa smaraNAanandha

anubhAvamugala ).Each one of them are testaments

to his Guru Bhakthi to Sage NaaradhA and his gratefulness

for blessing him with the SvarArnavam , a great treatise

on Musical intricacies .

NaarAyaNa , NaarAyaNa , NaarAyaNa ,

V.Sadagopan

 

At 11:10 AM 4/6/99 -0700, you wrote:

>NamaskAram.

>

>May I request the revered members of the Bhakti list to point out

>who the guru (AchAryan) of Saint ThyAgarAjA was?

>

>Thanks in advance

>Lakshmi Narasimhan

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

lakshmi.srinivasan <lakshmi.srinivasan

wrote:

>May I request the revered members of the Bhakti list to point out

>who the guru (AchAryan) of Saint ThyAgarAjA was?

 

 

Please consult the book:

 

Tyagaraja, Life and Lyrics, William J. Jackson, Oxford Univ. Press,

Price: Rs 245.

 

It has a wealth of detail about Tyagaraja and information from his

biographies.

 

Rama