kuzhal isai

[Guest guest]

Dear Srivaishnava perunthagaiyeer,

 

All these days, I was wondering how nadhopaasana (naadha means sound,

upaasana means service or worship) is the worship of god when so much is

talked very highly about the bhakthi yogam and the prapaththi maargam of

srivaishnavas in the list.

 

In naadhOpaasana, the "mental thinking faculty" functions so concentrated

that the body becomes quiet. When the thinking is on God, the upaasana or

worship increases thereby the yoga saadhana (attainment) of bhakthi becomes

easier. Knowledge on different topics is easily obtained through this

concentration very easily and then the flow from such persons becomes

enjoyable. That is why all saahithya karthaas whose songs have become

immortal are called naadhOpaasakas. They also easily attain mukthi, the

liberation.

 

May be, at times, I felt this is also one of the methods of worship, but not

absolutely and fully convinced, till I came across a wonderful krithi from

Sri Ooththukkadu Venkatasubbu Iyer the staunch krishna bhaktha.

 

Now the krithi in the raaga vaachaspathi

Pallavi:

Ennaththaich chonnaalum kannan sirupiLLaiththanam

Insuvai migavaaguthE maRRa ninaivellaam

EngEyO Odip pOguthE

 

Anupallavi:

AnnamE idhu evarum ariyaadha maayam en

Iyan koNdathu enRum azhiyaatha nEyam

VaNNak kuzhal oothiduvaan

kuzhal aagi

Kuzhal isai vadivaagi

Isaip poruL aagi

(poruL) payan aagip

payan nugarvu aagi

(nugarvu) uNarvu aagi

en eNNaththodu kalantha ezhilaan

kaNNaik kavar surunda kuzhalaan

aanaal veNNaik kudam aLaintha viralaan thannaiyE (Ennaththai)

 

CharaNam:

niththam oru ezhil, nimisham oru vaNNam

aththanaiyum kaaNa pathinaayiram kaNgaL vENum

muththanna nagaiyaadum mugaththazhagaik kaNdu

piththam pidiththalaiyum en chiththamum kooda naaNum

vidhdhaigaL charaNaagum vENugaanaththaik kEttuththan

vEgam adangi nirkum yamunai nadhi thaanum

eththisaiyum pORRum kaaLinga nadam idhai

eththanaik kaN kondaalum aththanaiyum

vaNNak kaNNan paRRi (Ennaththai)

 

See the "music" from his flute transforms - lines from anupallavi-

KaNNan vaNNak kuzhal oothiduvaan- Krishna blows the beautifully decorated

coloured flute

kuzhal aagi- he himself will become the flute- - KaNNan vaNNak kuzhal

oothiduvaan- he transforms himself as the flute and he himself will blow the

flute.

Kuzhal isai vadivaagi- the flute (kuzhal) becomes the form of or object for

the music (isai vadivu aagi)

Isaip poruL aagi (that flute form of) the music become the subject - the

subject for meditation?- poruL aagi

(poruL) payan aagip- that subject (that meditation itself) also becomes the

fruit or result- payan

payan nugarvu aagi- the fruit / result then transforms itself into the

consumption object- nugarvu aagi

(nugarvu) uNarvu aagi en- this consumption becomes the feelings of me

eNNaththodu kalantha ezhilaan- those feelings got mixed (became?) my

thoughts and mixes into - into what? - mixes into myself through himself -

become unison- ezhilan- lives there in the form of beauty of that krishnan.

 

Thus he changes from one into other and thus leading back to himself - HE to

flute- to music - to thoughts on him- finally himself- I is totally lost in

HIM.

 

Oh what a great composition. Enjoy how, he, Krishna transforms himself from

his transient omnipotent form into that small flute and then gives out his

own self in that form called music. Is any more description needed to

convince the greatness of naadhOpaasanai.

 

Daasan Vasudevan M.G.

 

PS: There are 2 requests:

[1. May be my translation is poor and does not do justice to the feelings

vibrations, reverberations, these lines create, while you hear the song by a

very good artiste, but in the light of the meaning conveyed, please roll it

in the mind and then you will feel the impact these lines].

 

[2. Please don't pickup threads for a possible discussion of advaitic points

of view, background of the composer etc. It is not my intention to give food

for such lines of thoughts/ discussion. My point is to highlight the

greatness of Kannan's music and thoughts on kannan and the lyrical beauty of

this song].

[Guest guest]

Dear Bhagawathas,

>Thus he changes from one into other and thus leading back to himself - HE

to

>flute- to music - to thoughts on him- finally himself- I is totally lost in

HIM.

 

Many thanks to Sri Vasudevan for sharing his anubhavam of Sri UtthukkADu

(UVS)

and what it means to be a nAdhOpAsaka. Dear Sri Vasudevan, your translations

and way of

expounding the inner meanings of krithi vAkhyams have been always enjoyable.

 

For those of you who are not familiar with this composer: Sri UVS lived

before the trinity

composers believed to have lived between 1700 - 1765 AD in Thanjavur

district of Tamilnadu.

He is the composer of the legendary krithi "alaipAyudhE kaNNA" in kAnaDA

(wrongly sometimes

attributed to Sri Papanasam Sivan) where he pours out his heart as a lover

of Sri Krishna.

 

In this regard, I have a beautiful incident in Sri UVS's life to share

with bhAgawathAs.

Sri UVS usually would go to a rudra bhUmi (graveyard) seeking solitude and

there he would sit

day long singing on his ishTa dEvathA to his heart's content. Wasn't it the

Lord who said,

 

viviktha dhESa sEvithvam arathir janasamsadhi (B.G. 13.?)

 

meaning: the man seeking higher knowledge seeks solitude and shows no

attachments with the society

 

Indeed Sri UVS lived exactly upto the Lord's saying. It was during one of

his solitary

raptures that this beautiful event took place.

He was singing with eyes closed and heart full with thoughts of the Lord,

in that

serene atmosphere of the maSAnam... After a long time, when he came back to

the physical

world, he opened his eyes... To his surprise he found muddy dust on his lap.

He looked around

and there... What a sight! A blue-hued chubby child got down from his lap

and walked away from

him! All along the Lord was sitting on his lap listening to the song!

 

Such is the greatness of Sri UVS's Krishna bhakthi. His kula deivam was

the kALinga

nardhana perumAL in UththukkADu which is a village some 20km from

kumbhakONam, Thanjavur. When

I went on a pilgrimage to Tanjore temples, I had the bhAgyam of having

dharSan of the

beautiful nardhana perumAL. It was one of those rare occasions that the

temple doors was kept

open... We incidentally were on our way through that route. Just adjacent to

the temple is a

serene pond covered with moss. Here is where it's believed that the Lord

re-enacted the

kALinga nardhana prabhAvam for Sri UVS's enjoyment. The temple itself is

small and some

renovation work was being done. In the prakAram there is a tuLasi mADam near

to which Sri UVS

used to sit and sing on the Lord when he came to the temple.

 

adiyEn,

chandrasekaran.