RAga Rathna mAlikache - bhAga sEvimpa rArE

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Dear Friends,

 

Recently updated on (http://saptharathnas.blogspot.com).This write up

is based on Brahmsri TS BAlakrishna sAstrigals upanyAsam

 

srI:

 

jai sathguru sWAmina:

jAnakI kAntha smaranam, jai jai rAma rAmA.

 

The 59th dasakam in the SrinArayaneeyam composed by the great devotee

of guruvAyoorappan,srinArAyana bhattathiri goes like this

 

rAgasthAvajyAyathey hi swabhAvAth mOkshOpaya: yatratha syAnnavAsyAth

thAsam tvEkam tadvayam labdhamAsIth bhAgyam bhAgyam pAhi mAm mArutheshA ||

 

He says that all the gOpikA sthrees went to krishna bhagavan only with

intense love and desire to be with him. They left everything else

behind. Friends, relatives, wealth ,everything behind.

This is rAgA in its highest form. Thinking bhagwan as ones bharthA

(husband)and this bhAvam is refered to as nAyakA- nAyakI bhAvam. This

kind of intense desire towards bhagawan gives jnAnam and

mOksham.(mOkshOpAya) whereas

the desire for anything else gives only bhandham (attachment) and

pApam (sin).

 

Only very few mahAthmAS have shown this kind of highest for of bhakthi

bhAva. SRi nammAzhvAr, Sri AndAL, Sri RAmAnujAchArya are some of the

mahAns in the vaishnava sampradAya who enjoyed this kind of sAThvikA

nAyaka- nAyaki bhAvam. A pathivrathA (a chaste and loyal wife) will

always think about her husband when separated even while performing

the daily chores. Just like that, these mahAns performed all the

karmAs but were always immersed in thoughts about bhagwAn.

 

Just like that sathguru has melted his ishtanAthan, sriRAmachandran

with hundreds of krithis in the nAyaki bhAvam. Not only that, he has

lived along with sreeRAman and has enjoyed him as koThanda Raman ,

kalyAna RAman, pattAbhi RAman,bAlya rAman, vEEra rAGhavan,

sharanAgatha vathsalan and so on. When he enjoyed him so and so, all

the bhAvam and the RAgam came out as beautiful krithis shining

brilliantly like the rays of the morning sun.

 

Here, in this post, we are going to enjoy one such moving and highly

enjoyable krithi in reethigowla rAgA , which i heard and learnt from

brahmsri TS bAlakrishna sAstrigals upanyAsm in tamil.

 

The krithi starts with a special gift for sreerAmachandran.

 

pallavi:

 

rAGA rathna mAlikache ranjillunata hari shatha (rAGa)

 

Sathguru says he is offering rathna mALikAS to sree rAmachandran.

Being very poor, how can he afford rathnA mAlAs? Not just one rathna

mALA, but hundreds of them. Also, there are only 9 rathnaS right?

(navarathnAs).

Stop wondering! He himself says what are those rathnAS. Shatha rAga

rathna mAlikachE i.e 100s of rAgAs. Each rAgam is a rathnamAlika to

sree rAmachandran.One doesn't need to have money to offer these

garlands but sathbakthi and sangItha jnAnam.

 

rAgam also mean intense love for bhagawAn like those of the gOpikA

sthrees. Thus, he is offering hundreds of rAGa rathna mAlikAs

representing 100s of bhAva rAgAs. Thus singing sathguru's krithis

without those bhAva rAgAs is like flowers decorating a dead corpse.

Both rAGam(musical sound) and anurAgam (desire to be with god) should

be present. rAga lakshana can be obtained by constant practise but

anurAgam can not be obtained so. anurAgam can easily be obtained

through the anugrahAs of utthamAs like sathguru thyAGabrhmam. Let is

move further in the krithi.

 

When one offers us something, we should thank him for that and we

should feel happy that he has given us something. It can even be a

very small thing. bhagAvan showed this in rAma avathARa when he tasted

the fruits offfered by old shabari and in krishna avathARa when he

partook food with vidhuran. Just like that, we should feel happy and

content when someone offers us something. Sathguru says that his

ishtanAthan will listen to his krithis with joy. (ranjillunata)

 

The anupallavi goes like this

 

bAga sEvinchi sakalabAgyamandu dAmu rArE.

 

He invites us all to his little house in thiruvaiyARu to enjoy the

darshanam of sreerAmachandran adorning the rathna mAlikAs. More

importantly and rightly, he asks us to listen, sing and enjoy those

krithis, which adorn his rAGhavan. He asks us to enjoy those krithis,

which gave joy to him and to sreeRAman. Somebody might ask, sir. why

should i do that? Let us see what our sathguru says.

 

sakalabAgyamandu dAmu rARE. He says that one will be blessed with

everything. (sakala bhAgyamandu ). Another person is asking already,

athu eppadi avar appadi sollalAm , appadi enna thAn irukku andha

krithigalil ( what is there after all in his krithis so that one can

be blessed with everything). Brahmasri TS BAlakrishna sAstrigal says

in his upanyAsam that some of his gurus had the perception that

"thyAGaiyer krithis la appadi enna irukku. rAma enna kaapAthu, avana

kApathiniyey, athey madhiri ennaiyum kApAthu, deekkshithavAL thaan

neraiya sollirkAr ( what is there in his krithis, RAma,please save me,

you saved gajEndrA on that day, just like that save me too.Only

deekshithar has told us lot of things). Let us see sathgurus answer in

the charnam, which goes like

 

naigama sath-SAshthra purAna sahithamada

 

He gives a foreword on his krithis , "vEdam,shat-Sastram, purAnam,

Aagamam " everything is present in his krithis. He doesn't have to

tell us. It is there but we are not digging those things. We are

digging only " neravals, swarams, rAgAlApanA,tAnam pallavis et al". We

quickly sing the keerthanam and rush to the swaram part so that we can

display our manOdhArmic skills and our proficiency in music, which we

got only through bhagawath and bhAgawatha katAkshams not just because

we did hours of sAdhakam. We seldom realize that the saptha swarAs

emerge from pranava nAdham . By getting closer to the pranava

nAdham,we also gain mastery over the saptha swarAS. More importantly,

we get sathbhakthi and are directed in sanmArgA. Thus, the main

ingredients of sathgurus krithis are the sArAms of those veDAs and

upanishads and the rAGAs are just spices that add flavour to the

truths that are bitter to an average samsArin. Just like a mother who

feeds her child with healthy but bitter food by mixing it along with

something that the child likes and by uttering sweet words, our

sathguru feeds us those krithis rich in the true values of life, which

are bitter to an average samsArin by giving it rAGam and anurAGam. Let

us continue with the charnam

 

yOgivarulu Anadhamu nondhE sanmArgamata

 

We are all bOGis. He says that ,yOgis, who have sacrificed everything

will forget themselves and enjoy these krithis.

 

bhAGavathOthamulu koodi pAdE keerthanmulata

 

These krithis are sung in chorus by sathbhAgawathAs just like the

group rendition of pancharathnams. When such a group renders his

krithis, the joy we get knows no bound right?

 

thyAgarAju kadathEra thARakamani chEsina

 

Why did he sing those krithis? to please us or his contemporaries? or

to impress his contemporaries and to get name and fame? Not at all. He

himself says, "ThyAgarAju kadathEra thARakamani chEsina" . For getting

his ishtanAthans krupai to get closer to him and to attain vaikunthA(

kadaithEra).

 

What a beautiful krithi? One has to enjoy the taste of his krithis

word by word. Not just stick to the notes and do sAthakam to attain

musical harmony,melody and perfection.

 

This article is 90% based on Brahmasri TS BAlakrishna sAstrigals

upanyASam and I have added my own comments occasionally. If there are

mistakes in this write- up, it is only beacause of my ignorance and

all credits go to Sathguru and Brahmasri.

I have attempted to render the krithi, based on what i heard from the

upanyAsam. I am recording and sharing the audo just to share my

anubhavams. If you don't like it, sreerAman will listen to it anyway.

You may download it here.

 

Having known the greatness of sathgurus krithis from himself , i will

most likely start posting on the pancharathnams one by one from the

next post.

 

with sathguru dhivya kamala pAdha smaranams,

adiyEn

thyAgayya and rAmAnuja dAsan.

sarvam seethArAmachandrARpanamasthu.