Thyagaraja Vaibhavam :New NaadhOpAsana Web site and the Selected Keerthanams of ThyAga Brahmam with English commentaries therein .

[Guest guest]

Dear Fellow abhimAnis of Carnatic Sangeetham:

 

 

I would like to brief you on a new initative to

pay our reverence to Saint ThyagarAja and other

luminasries of Carnatic Music .

 

The introduction below written for a new web site

on this topic describes in detail the nature and

scope of this initative. Please review and comment .

Thanks ,

V.Sadagopan

 

 

Introduction to NaadhOpAsanaa of Saint Thyagaraja

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Saint Thyagaraja was a Nadha Yogi. He was steeped

in NaadhOpasana of his ishta dhaivam , Lord Raamachandra.

He performed daily AarAdhanam for the Lord and practised

"Bhakthi Yogam" through Naadha KusumAnjali and Naadha

NaivEdhyam . To this great Raama BhakthA , Music was

both Yoga ( a path , upAsana) and Siddhi ( realization , end

goal) . In this introduction , we will closely follow the thesis

of late Dr.V.Raghavan of Madras University in understanding

the NadhOpAsana and Bhakthi yogam of Saint Thyagaraja ,

 

Saint Thyagaraja related to Raama as "Saptha Svara SanchArI"

( the Lord who lives and moves in the seven notes) . He saw the Lord as

"Susvaramaya bhUshaNan"-- adorned all over with beautiful

aabharaNams of auspicious svarams) . Succinctly speaking ,

Lord Raamachandran to him is of Naadha BrahmAnandha roopam

( Embodiment of the bliss of Naadham) .

 

Saint Thyagaraja was an ardent believer of VishNu ghAnam;

to him , it was a nithya karma ( daily act to be observed unfailingly).

He evaluated the songs as purposeful or pointless based on

their links to Sri Raamachandra : " It is immaterial if a song

which does not refer to Sri Raama is sung or not sung "

( AsAveri Krithi: Samayumu delisi) .

 

SwamigaL has instructed us to seat Raama , the Supreme Lord

on a rathnamaya peetam of suNaadham and Susvarams

and perform Paadha Sevanam ( worship of His sacred feet)

and archanam ( worship) Him with the fragrant flowers of

His names ( Sri Raaga Krithi: Naama Kusumamulace ) .

 

He has also warned us that music without Bhakthi would

lead us astray and away from Moksham .He has come down

strongly on the Bhaagavathaas who are deficient in the knowledge

of Raaga ( Music) and anuraaga (Devotion) .

 

Thyaga Brahmam is the saadhaka ( UpAsaka--practioner) of

the Upanishadic Udhgitha Vidhya closely linked to Saama Vedham .

Udhgita PraNava upAsanai led ThyAga Brahmam to visualize

His Lord as the beautiful parrot sitting in the cage of PraNavam

( OmkAra Pancharakeeran) . He was OmkAra Sadhanan

( One who resides inside the PraNavam) .He is the embodiment of

Naadham ( NaadhAthmakan) and its BrahmAnandha rasam .It is

in this context we have to understand the proclamation of Saint

ThyAgarAja in his Garuda Dhwani krithi , Anandha Saagara :

" Oh Raama ! One that does not float on the ocean of music ,

adored by the gods and the VedAs , which is BrahmAnandha itself,

is verily a burden to the earth ".

 

Saint Thyagaraja's intense love and reverence for Lord Raamachandran

made him dependent on the Lord as his Father , Mother , Brother and

every thing . For Saint Thyagaraja , " the intense and sublime attachment"

of the saadhakan to the Lord and His auspicious attributes is the sure

means to liberation from samsAric bonds ( Mokshamu Galadhaa?).

 

In his view , the saadhakan surrenders himself to the Lord unconditionally

and is swept away by Bhagavath Bhakthi to gain moksha saamrAjyam .

This is consistent with the teachings of great AchAryAs. For instance ,

Bhakthi yogam defined by AchArya RaamAnuja is verily " the unceasing

and loving meditation upon the Supreme Being , who is the home of all

auspicious attributes( anantha kalyANa guNams) , and who is untainted

with any imperfection whatsoever (Sarva dhOsha rahithan) . Bhakthi

yogam is verily the reflection of the infinite qualities and the glory of

the absolute Brahman , the PurushOtthaman , whose savroopa

(inherent nature) , roopa( physical form) and GuNaas( attributes)

are enjoined to be meditated upon ". To Saint Thyagaraja ,

Raamachandran was that Supreme Being and undisputed

PurushOtthaman ( noblest among all PurushAs) and SwamigaL

sang abundantly about Lord Raamachandran's Svaroopam ,

Roopam ( Mohana Raama) and divine GuNams .

 

ThyAgabrahmam served Raama from sunrise (SuprabhAdham)

to late into the night (SayanOthsavam) , sang about Him , celebrated Him

and led a simple life free from material temptations . ThyAga Brahmam

had unceasing rememberance of Lord Raamachandra with intense devotion .

Raaga and anuraaga blended together seamlessly and Thyaga Brahmam

dedicated himself " heart and soul to the eternal service " of Lord Raamachandra

as His bonded servant ( BaNDurethi kolu : HamsAnandhi krithi ) . He could not

live without His Lord even for a moment and was pulled towards his Lord

like a piece of iron that is pulled towards a powerful magnet.

 

ThyagarAja's intense love for the Lord found expression in various forms

of Krithis as a part of his nithya Araadhanam . The nine types of Bhakthi

to the Lord identified by PrahlAdha ( SravaNam, Keerthanam , SmaraNam,

Paadha sEvanam , archanam, vandhanam , dhAsyam , sakhyam and

Aathma nivEdhanam) became the guide posts as well as props

for Thyagaraja SwamigaL . When his Bhakthi yogam ripened ,

the Lord became the sole reason for his existence . In his HarikAmbhOji

krithi , " DinamaNi Vamsa Tilaka LaavaNya " and Kaapi Raaga Krithi ,

" Paahi KalyANa Raama , Paavana guNa Raama" SwamigaL declares

with utter faith that Raama is " my youth , my love , my beauty and its

display , my joy , my strength and He is the very foundation of my being

( jeevAdhharamu) , the source of my auspiciousness, the bliss of

my mind , my Supreme Brahman" . Raama becomes thus ThyAgarAja's

Sarvasvam ( Every thing) .

Out of this intense bhakthi flowed the tidal waves of bhakthi-laden

krithis of Saint Thyagaraja untill the last moments of his blessed life

devoted to uninterrupted service to the Lord . Thyaga Brahmam became

Naadha Brahmam; latter was the title taken by him ,when he entered

into sanyAsa asramam towards the very end of his life .

 

This is to inform Carnatic Sangeetha rasikAs that a group of us here

have created a new web site on the Raama Bhakthi of Thyaga Brahmam

entitled "NaadhOpAsana " ; here , we will present selected krithis of

his and add brief commentaries on them in English to illustrate

how his multifaceted devotion to Lord Raamachandran intertwined with

his practise of Naadha yogam . He was indeed a supreme Saadhaka ,

who practised the Saadhana Sapthaka described by AchArya RaamAnuja

in his SrI BhAshya : VivEka ( discrimination ), VimOka( freedom from

the cycle of desire and anger) , abhyAsa ( unceasing rememberance of

the Lord ) , Kriyaa ( Vedic recitation , Yaaga-Yajnams , benevolence and

penance ) , KalyANa ( Practise of virtues ) , anvashtaa ( Freedom from

weakness) , anuddharsha ( freedom from excessive merriment) .

Viveka was followed by nirvEdha ( sorrow over lost time spent on

fruitless pursuits) , virakthi( detatchment from worldly things)

and samsAra bheethi ( fear about being locked into the unending

cycles of births and deaths) .

 

We have selected illustrative krithis of Saint ThyagaraAja

sung by Masteros like MaharAjapuram Viswanatha Iyer ,

VeeNai DhanammAL , ThiruvAduthurai Raajarathnam PiLLai ,

Ariyakkudi , Semmangudi , Chembai , Madhurai MaNi Iyer,

GNB , T.V.SankaranArAyaNan , BalamuraLi KrishNa ,

KVN , T.N. Seshagopalan ,D.K.Jayaraman , S,Ramanathan

and many others from public concerts .I would be adding

the Commentaries in English for those songs to gain

a better appreciation of the Saahithyams and the Bhakthi bhAvam

enshrined in them by the Saint-Savant of ThiruvayyARu. This is

a minimal effort to kindle deeper studies on these immortal

Krithis .

 

We are a group of Sangeetha rasikas based overseas and would like

to extend this approach to selected Krithis of other great Sankeerthana

AchAryAs like Dikshithar ( SrI RaamAshtakam to start with ) ,

Purandara Daasa ( krithis on :Lord VenkatEsa) and AnnamAchArya

( Krithis on Lord Narasimha and Ahobila dhivya dEsam ).

 

We plan to spend net proceeds from any income from these initatives

to support the cause of the advancement of Carnatic Music in India

and abroad thru our own modest efforts :(1) Awards to recognize

budding talent (2) encouragement of research in areas that need

attention to protect and preserve rare krithis and PaadAntharams ,

(3) Women composers and (4) the creation of krithis in 72 Mela Raagams .

It is a long journey that I hope that number of you would join

to succeed in these efforts .

 

The songs chosen for these "Lec-Dem " will be from public concerts

of Sangeetha VidhvAns for Educational purposes . We will scrupulously

avoid inclusion of songs from commercial CDs and recordings .

 

From time to time , we will seek the help of the Members of this

illustrious group for identification of rare krithis and their sung

versions by Sangeetha VidhvAns for content development .

 

We thank you in advance for your encouragement and support of

our modest efforts to serve the noble art of Carnatic Sangeetham .

 

Please write to me about your views and comments about

the relevance and directions of this proposed initative . It will

be very valuable to hear from as many of You as possible

at this commencement stage of this initative.

 

Thank you all in advance for your inputs ,

Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan

Scarborough , New York

 

P.S : Some sixteen years ago , with the blessings of Sangeetha

Kalanidhis Semmangudi and KVN , a major effort was completed

to have an appreciation of the Bhaava Thrayam of Saint ThyagarAjA's

Ghana Raaga Pamcha Ratnams in the from of a book in Tamil .

Detailed notations , meanings as well as the rendered versions of

Pancha Ratna Krithis were included. That book is out of print now .

Hence an e-book version of this printed book was released

last year with the help of a friend from Bangalore .It is a 300 plus

page book . You can access it at :

 

http://www.sadagopan.org/nk/nkmain.htm

 

"NK" here stands for Naadha KusumAnjali .

It is in the spirit of this e-book , the new initative

to cover other Krithis of Saint ThyagarAja ,

Dikshithar , Daasar , NaarAyaNa Theerthar,Annamayyaa

is initated . We approach this gigantic effort in the spirit of

the proverb : " A Journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step".

I feel that many of You will join in and multiply this effort .