NindA-stuti (Praise thro. criticism) refd. to in Sundaryalahari Digest (DPDS-15)

[Guest guest]

Namaste all.

In DPDS-15 of Soundaryalahari Digest, there was a mention about

‘nindA stuti’ , that is, a poem of praise through an apparent

criticism. There are several examples in the literature but

adi_shakthi16m produces an excellent example from the Telugu

compositions of Sri Thyagaraja of the famous music Trinity of

South India of the early nineteenth century. I reproduce below

the two posts of ‘adi_shakthi16m’ in this connection.

--\

------------------

 

 

Who has achieved happiness by asking anything of you O

primordial

Rama?

 

O sun to the dark cloud like innumerable incurable sins! Supreme

 

Monarch! Lotus eyed! Home to good attributes! Who has attained

happiness by asking anything of you O primordial Rama?

 

Sita took refuge in you thinking she was blessed with a good

life and

immediately had to leave for the forest! O slayer of Rakshasas,

Surpanakha on falling in love with you lost her nose! Who has

attained happiness by asking anything of you O primordial Rama?

 

Narada approached you asking for enlightenment and was

immediately

transformed into a woman! Durvasa eagerly expected food and lost

his

appetite! Who has achieved happiness by asking anything of you O

 

primordial Rama?

 

Devaki prayed for the joys of raising you as son, but Yashoda

experienced it instead! The chaste Gopis craving for union with

you,

had to abandon their own husbands! Who has experienced happiness

by

asking anything of you O primordial Rama?

 

Who knows if compassion will ever surge in you and whether you

will

protect or not? Your secret is now out! O resident of Ayodhya!

Object

of Tyagaraja's worship! What illusion is this? Who has

experienced

happiness by asking anything of you O primordial Rama?

 

Notes:

 

This is a classic example of nindA stuti, where the Lord is

covertly

praised but overtly reproached. In the pallavi, the saint has

questioned Rama's capability to do any good to his devotees. In

the

very next lines in the anupallavi, he reverses his stance and

praises

the Lord as one who destroys sins and is home to all the good

attributes. In the charanam he cites examples of the Lord's

(ostensibly) strange behaviour towards his devotees.

 

1. Sita, his wife, went to the forest twice. The first time with

 

Rama, where she was abducted by Ravana. This was the catalyst

for

vanquishing the great evil King and countless demons. In the

second

instance she was banished in an advanced stage of pregnancy.

This was

the catalyst for Valmiki who composed the Ramayana and also

taught it

to Rama's sons.

 

 

2. Surpanakha was inflamed with passion for Rama and had her

nose

lopped off. This was the catalyst for Ravana's destruction.

 

 

3. Narada approached the Lord with a request to be made immune

to

Maya. The story goes that Narada boasted to Brahma and others

that

since he was such an ardent devotee of Vishnu, he was immune to

Maya.

Having said this he left and was floating about when he saw a

lovely

lake on Earth. He came down and bathed in it and was immediately

 

transformed into a young maiden called Sudati who had no memory

of

having been Narada. As she wandered in the forest, King Nikunda

of

Peethikapuri (modern Pitthapuram in AP) saw her and fell in love

with

her. Narada (or rather Sudati) reciprocated and they were

married.

Sudati bore Nikunda sixty children, after whom the sixty years

of the

Hindu calendar (Prabhava, Vibhava etc are named). One day,

Nipunjaya,

the neighbouring king waged war on Peethikapuri and killed

Nikunda

and his sixty sons. Queen Sudati ran to the battlefield and wept

for

days. Then one day, she was overcome with hunger and looked

about for

food. The only edible item there was a fruit that hung high on a

 

tree. To reach it, Sudati used the skeletons of her sons to make

a

ladder. Lord Vishnu, now taking pity on her appeared and asked

her to

take a dip in a second lake nearby for her children's sake. She

did

so and was transformed back into Narada, but with a set of

bangles on

his left hand. These bangles served to bring to his memory the

happenings of the past years and helped him realise that he had

become a victim of Maya. The two lakes Narada Gundam and Mukti

Gundam

are at Sarpavaram near Pithapuram. There is also a temple to

Patala

Bhavanarayanaswamy here. Narada is said to have undertaken

penance

here and was then blessed with enlightenment and was freed of

the

bangles.This was the catalyst to his becoming a renunciate.

 

4. Durvasa was sent by Duryodhana to the forest to meet the

Pandavas.

The brothers and their wife Draupadi were living off the bounty

of

the Akshaya Patra, a vessel gifted by Surya to them which would

continuously have food in it till Draupadi had her meal

everyday.

Duryodhana sent Durvasa to them, timing his arrival in the

forest so

that the food would have been exhausted. When Draupadi saw

Durvasa

she was in panic for the sage's curses were well known. She

requested

him to proceed to the river for his bath while she prepared the

meal.

Krishna in answer to her prayers arrived there and asked her to

fetch

the magic vessel. He picked up a tiny morsel that was sticking

to it

and swallowed it. At once the appetites of all living beings

were

quenched. Durvasa, his hunger gone could not face Draupadi and

left

hurriedly. This was the catalyst to Draupadi and the Pandavas

receiving the blessings of the Sage.

 

 

5. Devaki, who had begged to have the Lord as her son, was not

allowed to witness his pranks at Gokula. This was the catalyst

for

the death of Kamsa.

 

 

6. The Gopis, all chaste women, were so enamoured of the Lord,

that

they forgot their own husbands. This was the catalyst for their

salvation.

 

The saint therefore points out the greatness of the Lord while

being

sarcasticabout His achievements.

 

 

this song was composed by saint Tyagaraja, a great devotee of

lord

rama!!!

 

 

The original composition of Shri Thyagaraja is also reproduced

below with the translation.

 

 

http://www.sangeetham.com/tygkritis/aDigi_sukhamu.htm

 

the song is the following in Telugu!!

 

aDigi sukhamu

Raga: madhyamAvati

 

 

Tala: misra cApu

 

pallavi

aDigi sukhamulEvvaranubhavincirirA? AdimUlamA rAma!

 

anupallavi

saDalani pApatimirakOTisUrya! sArvabhauma ! sArasAksha ! sadguNa

!

ninnu

 

caraNam

C1: Ashrayinci varamaDigina sIta, aDavi bOnAyE !

AsharaharaNa rakkasiyishTamaDuga, apuDE mUkku pOyE ! O rAma!

ninnu

C2: vAsiga nAradamauni varamaDuga, vanitarUpuDAyE

Ashinci durvAsu laDannamaDuga, apuDE mandamAyE; O rAma ! ninnu

C3: sutuni vEDuga jUDa dEvaki yaDuga, yaShOda sUDanAyE!

satulElla ratibhikshamaDuga vArivAri patula vIDanAyE ! O rAma !

ninnu

C4: nIke dayabuTTi brOtuvo ? brOvavO ? nIgu TTu bayalAyE !

sAkEta dhAma ! srI tyAgarAjanuta ! svAmi ! eti mAyA ? O rama !

ninnu

 

 

Word by word meaning

 

Evvaru - Who

anubhavinciri - Has experienced

sukhamu - Happiness?

aDigi - (by ) Asking anything

ninnu - (of) You

AdimUlamA - O primordial

Rama

 

sUrya - Sun

saDalani - (to) irremovable

pApatimirakOTi - darkness that comes from millions of sins

sArvabhauma - Supreme monarch

sArasAksha - Lotus eyed one

sadguNa - Possessor of good attributes

 

sita - Sita

Ashrayinci - who took refuge in you

aDigina - and asked for

varamu - a good life

aDavi (ki) bOnAyE - had to go to the forest

AsharaharNa - O slayer of Rakshasas

rakkasi - (when) the Rakshasi (Surpanakha)

aDuga - expressed

iShTamu - her liking (for you)

apuDe - immediately

mUkku pOyE - lost her nose

 

nArada mauni - Sage Narada

varamaDuga - asked for

vAsiga - understanding (your creation)

vanita rupuDAyE - transformed into a woman

durvAsulu - Durvasa

Asinci - eagerly

annamaDuga - asked for rice

appuDE - immediately

mandamAyE - became stupefied

 

dEvaki - Devaki

aDuga - asked for

sutuni vEDuga jUTa - the joys of bringing up children

yashOda - Yashoda

sUDanAyE - was given them by you

sadulella - The chaste Gopis

rati bhikshamu aDuga - begged for your passion

viDanAye - (they) had to leave

vAri vAri - their respective

patula - husbands

 

ETi mAya - What illusion

sAkEtadhAma - O resident of Ayodhya

daya puTTi - when compassion is born

nIkE - to you

brOtuvO brOvavO - will you protect or maybe not

tyAgarAjanuta svAmi - O Lord of Tyagaraja's worship

nI - your

kuTTu - secret

bayalAyE - is out

 

The total meaning has already been given above.

 

 

praNAms to adi_shakthi16 for allowing me to post it here

And praNAms to all advaitins and Devotees of Mother Goddess.

profvk

 

 

 

 

 

=====

Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

You can access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and

Practice, and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Very Strangely,Very Strangely,Lord Rama who did not give Darshan to Bhakta

Ramadas,makes the piligris who go to Bhadrachalam happy.

 

I have a happy story to tell.

 

I am never a devotee of Lord Sri Rama in my life,though I am of Hanuman.

i never visited Him at Bhadrachalam previously.

 

I went to attend a marriage function of my relatives at Khammam.On my way to

Khammam I boarded a Bhadrachalam Bus. Believe me , as soon as I got into the

bus, I became sort of elated.I got down at sattupalli, I think ,and then went to

Khammam. After the marriage was over, I boarded a bus to Bhadrachalam.Two days

before ,the temperature was about 50c and people were fried to death.When I went

there,I was not really well but Lord Rama in His infinite mercy for a beggar

like me and for others also changed the weather.As soon as I went to

Bhadrachalam, it was still hot but after I got into the cottage, heavy winds

blew and it raind all through out the night. The next day,I had a happy darshan

of the the Lord.Then, I went to Parna Sala where Sitamma was abducted by Rama.

All throughout my journey,it was drizzling,drizzlin and I happily sang my way to

the place where Sitamma dried her clothes and Lord Rama sat there watching her.

 

What a Sight it is!!!

 

So big!!! .Lord Rama is a Giant in stature and Jaganmohana.I write this to you

out of first hand feeling that I had at the sight.My God ,the whole heart of a

beggar like me is sweetened with joy.Literally, I was shaking my arms in

jubilation.As I type this, my eyes have become wet and tears are falling.Of

course , I am an emotional man. So this can be dismissed as a personal problem.I

cry a lot and smile mor than I cry.

 

[Even when I went to Arunachalam for the first time, the reverse happened.When I

went there and asked for a room in the Ashram,I could not get it because I did

not write to them earlier.I did not want to use the name of my brother who is a

devotee of Sri RAmana Bhagavan and so I went out and got a room in Andhra

Ashramam. After my ablutions, I went to see the Maharshi and after the darshan,

I just strayed around and opened the small gate to the Arunachala Hill. I walked

a few steps and started crying, crying ,crying and sometimes running, gasping

for breath sometimes, and walked all the way upto Virupaksha Cave where just

below the cave I met the wandering monk of Arunachala ,who asked me to sit and

gave me the vibhuthi from Kasi. I took the vibhuthi and said I cannot wait.Until

I reached the top along with a guide,I was crying.]

 

The story is that who ever sleeps there in the night at the temple,Lord Rama,Yes

He is the King of Kings comes there and helps the devotees.He is a

Rakshasanthaka!!!

 

JAI SRI RAMAJAI SRI RAMA JAI SRI RAMA

 

On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 V. Krishnamurthy wrote :

>Namaste all.

>In DPDS-15 of Soundaryalahari Digest, there was a mention about

>‘nindA stuti’ , that is, a poem of praise through an apparent

>criticism. There are several examples in the literature but

>adi_shakthi16m produces an excellent example from the Telugu

>compositions of Sri Thyagaraja of the famous music Trinity of

>South India of the early nineteenth century. I reproduce below

>the two posts of ‘adi_shakthi16m’ in this connection.

>-\

-------------------

>

>

>Who has achieved happiness by asking anything of you O

>primordial

>Rama?

>

>O sun to the dark cloud like innumerable incurable sins! Supreme

>

>Monarch! Lotus eyed! Home to good attributes! Who has attained

>happiness by asking anything of you O primordial Rama?

>

>Sita took refuge in you thinking she was blessed with a good

>life and

>immediately had to leave for the forest! O slayer of Rakshasas,

>Surpanakha on falling in love with you lost her nose! Who has

>attained happiness by asking anything of you O primordial Rama?

>

>Narada approached you asking for enlightenment and was

>immediately

>transformed into a woman! Durvasa eagerly expected food and lost

>his

>appetite! Who has achieved happiness by asking anything of you O

>

>primordial Rama?

>

>Devaki prayed for the joys of raising you as son, but Yashoda

>experienced it instead! The chaste Gopis craving for union with

>you,

>had to abandon their own husbands! Who has experienced happiness

>by

>asking anything of you O primordial Rama?

>

>Who knows if compassion will ever surge in you and whether you

>will

>protect or not? Your secret is now out! O resident of Ayodhya!

>Object

>of Tyagaraja's worship! What illusion is this? Who has

>experienced

>happiness by asking anything of you O primordial Rama?

>

>Notes:

>

>This is a classic example of nindA stuti, where the Lord is

>covertly

>praised but overtly reproached. In the pallavi, the saint has

>questioned Rama's capability to do any good to his devotees. In

>the

>very next lines in the anupallavi, he reverses his stance and

>praises

>the Lord as one who destroys sins and is home to all the good

>attributes. In the charanam he cites examples of the Lord's

>(ostensibly) strange behaviour towards his devotees.

>

>1. Sita, his wife, went to the forest twice. The first time with

>

>Rama, where she was abducted by Ravana. This was the catalyst

>for

>vanquishing the great evil King and countless demons. In the

>second

>instance she was banished in an advanced stage of pregnancy.

>This was

>the catalyst for Valmiki who composed the Ramayana and also

>taught it

>to Rama's sons.

>

>

>2. Surpanakha was inflamed with passion for Rama and had her

>nose

>lopped off. This was the catalyst for Ravana's destruction.

>

>

>3. Narada approached the Lord with a request to be made immune

>to

>Maya. The story goes that Narada boasted to Brahma and others

>that

>since he was such an ardent devotee of Vishnu, he was immune to

>Maya.

>Having said this he left and was floating about when he saw a

>lovely

>lake on Earth. He came down and bathed in it and was immediately

>

>transformed into a young maiden called Sudati who had no memory

>of

>having been Narada. As she wandered in the forest, King Nikunda

>of

>Peethikapuri (modern Pitthapuram in AP) saw her and fell in love

>with

>her. Narada (or rather Sudati) reciprocated and they were

>married.

>Sudati bore Nikunda sixty children, after whom the sixty years

>of the

>Hindu calendar (Prabhava, Vibhava etc are named). One day,

>Nipunjaya,

>the neighbouring king waged war on Peethikapuri and killed

>Nikunda

>and his sixty sons. Queen Sudati ran to the battlefield and wept

>for

>days. Then one day, she was overcome with hunger and looked

>about for

>food. The only edible item there was a fruit that hung high on a

>

>tree. To reach it, Sudati used the skeletons of her sons to make

>a

>ladder. Lord Vishnu, now taking pity on her appeared and asked

>her to

>take a dip in a second lake nearby for her children's sake. She

>did

>so and was transformed back into Narada, but with a set of

>bangles on

>his left hand. These bangles served to bring to his memory the

>happenings of the past years and helped him realise that he had

>become a victim of Maya. The two lakes Narada Gundam and Mukti

>Gundam

>are at Sarpavaram near Pithapuram. There is also a temple to

>Patala

>Bhavanarayanaswamy here. Narada is said to have undertaken

>penance

>here and was then blessed with enlightenment and was freed of

>the

>bangles.This was the catalyst to his becoming a renunciate.

>

>4. Durvasa was sent by Duryodhana to the forest to meet the

>Pandavas.

>The brothers and their wife Draupadi were living off the bounty

>of

>the Akshaya Patra, a vessel gifted by Surya to them which would

>continuously have food in it till Draupadi had her meal

>everyday.

>Duryodhana sent Durvasa to them, timing his arrival in the

>forest so

>that the food would have been exhausted. When Draupadi saw

>Durvasa

>she was in panic for the sage's curses were well known. She

>requested

>him to proceed to the river for his bath while she prepared the

>meal.

>Krishna in answer to her prayers arrived there and asked her to

>fetch

>the magic vessel. He picked up a tiny morsel that was sticking

>to it

>and swallowed it. At once the appetites of all living beings

>were

>quenched. Durvasa, his hunger gone could not face Draupadi and

>left

>hurriedly. This was the catalyst to Draupadi and the Pandavas

>receiving the blessings of the Sage.

>

>

>5. Devaki, who had begged to have the Lord as her son, was not

>allowed to witness his pranks at Gokula. This was the catalyst

>for

>the death of Kamsa.

>

>

>6. The Gopis, all chaste women, were so enamoured of the Lord,

>that

>they forgot their own husbands. This was the catalyst for their

>salvation.

>

>The saint therefore points out the greatness of the Lord while

>being

>sarcasticabout His achievements.

>

>

>this song was composed by saint Tyagaraja, a great devotee of

>lord

>rama!!!

>

>

>The original composition of Shri Thyagaraja is also reproduced

>below with the translation.

>

>

>http://www.sangeetham.com/tygkritis/aDigi_sukhamu.htm

>

>the song is the following in Telugu!!

>

>aDigi sukhamu

>Raga: madhyamAvati

>

>

>Tala: misra cApu

>

>pallavi

>aDigi sukhamulEvvaranubhavincirirA? AdimUlamA rAma!

>

>anupallavi

>saDalani pApatimirakOTisUrya! sArvabhauma ! sArasAksha ! sadguNa

>!

>ninnu

>

>caraNam

>C1: Ashrayinci varamaDigina sIta, aDavi bOnAyE !

>AsharaharaNa rakkasiyishTamaDuga, apuDE mUkku pOyE ! O rAma!

>ninnu

>C2: vAsiga nAradamauni varamaDuga, vanitarUpuDAyE

>Ashinci durvAsu laDannamaDuga, apuDE mandamAyE; O rAma ! ninnu

>C3: sutuni vEDuga jUDa dEvaki yaDuga, yaShOda sUDanAyE!

>satulElla ratibhikshamaDuga vArivAri patula vIDanAyE ! O rAma !

>ninnu

>C4: nIke dayabuTTi brOtuvo ? brOvavO ? nIgu TTu bayalAyE !

>sAkEta dhAma ! srI tyAgarAjanuta ! svAmi ! eti mAyA ? O rama !

>ninnu

>

>

>Word by word meaning

>

>Evvaru - Who

>anubhavinciri - Has experienced

>sukhamu - Happiness?

>aDigi - (by ) Asking anything

>ninnu - (of) You

>AdimUlamA - O primordial

>Rama

>

>sUrya - Sun

>saDalani - (to) irremovable

>pApatimirakOTi - darkness that comes from millions of sins

>sArvabhauma - Supreme monarch

>sArasAksha - Lotus eyed one

>sadguNa - Possessor of good attributes

>

>sita - Sita

>Ashrayinci - who took refuge in you

>aDigina - and asked for

>varamu - a good life

>aDavi (ki) bOnAyE - had to go to the forest

>AsharaharNa - O slayer of Rakshasas

>rakkasi - (when) the Rakshasi (Surpanakha)

>aDuga - expressed

>iShTamu - her liking (for you)

>apuDe - immediately

>mUkku pOyE - lost her nose

>

>nArada mauni - Sage Narada

>varamaDuga - asked for

>vAsiga - understanding (your creation)

>vanita rupuDAyE - transformed into a woman

>durvAsulu - Durvasa

>Asinci - eagerly

>annamaDuga - asked for rice

>appuDE - immediately

>mandamAyE - became stupefied

>

>dEvaki - Devaki

>aDuga - asked for

>sutuni vEDuga jUTa - the joys of bringing up children

>yashOda - Yashoda

>sUDanAyE - was given them by you

>sadulella - The chaste Gopis

>rati bhikshamu aDuga - begged for your passion

>viDanAye - (they) had to leave

>vAri vAri - their respective

>patula - husbands

>

>ETi mAya - What illusion

>sAkEtadhAma - O resident of Ayodhya

>daya puTTi - when compassion is born

>nIkE - to you

>brOtuvO brOvavO - will you protect or maybe not

>tyAgarAjanuta svAmi - O Lord of Tyagaraja's worship

>nI - your

>kuTTu - secret

>bayalAyE - is out

>

>The total meaning has already been given above.

>

>

>praNAms to adi_shakthi16 for allowing me to post it here

>And praNAms to all advaitins and Devotees of Mother Goddess.

>profvk

>

>

>

>

>

>=====

>Prof. V. Krishnamurthy

>My website on Science and Spirituality is http://www.geocities.com/profvk/

>You can access my book on Gems from the Ocean of Hindu Thought Vision and

Practice, and my father R. Visvanatha Sastri's manuscripts from the site.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>Discussion of Shankara's Advaita Vedanta Philosophy of nonseparablity of Atman

and Brahman.

>Advaitin List Archives available at: http://www.eScribe.com/culture/advaitin/

>To Post a message send an email to : advaitin

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>

>

>

>Your use of is subject to

>

>

 

_

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[Guest guest]

Namaste Bhuvaneswarji.

 

Don't worry. You have company. I also weep. When I met Ammachi

first in 1990 I broke into a deluge.

 

Even last evening, as I recited an old Malayalam poem about the

patriotic poor people of North Vietnam fighting the Americans, the

floodgates opened. I was driving and I had to struggle to keep my

tears back from the sight of my wife sitting beside me. So self-

conscious. She was already bored with my loud recitation (I am not

good at that although I like to recite aloud - be it hymns or

poetry.). I often cry during my regular prayers too.

 

Both the majesty of the milky way and the sad plight of little street

cats make me weep. I ask why? The only explanation I have is that

these are moments we realize the greatness of the One who make us

tick and our own insignificance in an uncaring universe. Although it

is mainly self-pity, there is no doubt that the compassion element in

it is cathartic. How great the great Lord gave us tears! Let us

therefore keep weeping.

 

PraNAms.

 

Madathil Nair

 

___________________

 

advaitin, "bhuvan eswar chilukuri"

<bhuvaneswarc@r...> wrote:

Lord Rama is a Giant in stature and Jaganmohana.I write this to you

out of first hand feeling that I had at the sight.My God ,the whole

heart of a beggar like me is sweetened with joy.Literally, I was

shaking my arms in jubilation.As I type this, my eyes have become wet

and tears are falling.Of course , I am an emotional man. So this can

be dismissed as a personal problem.I cry a lot and smile mor than I

cry.