Sri Tyagaraja Kriti Series: Kriti:bAgAyenayya nI Raga:candrajyOti

[Guest guest]



 

 

SrI:

SrI raghunandana parabraHmaNe namaH

Song bAgAyenayya nI

raaga candrajyOti

In the kRti ‘bAgAyenayya nI’ – rAga candrajyOti, SrI tyAgarAja says that the teachings of Lord kRSNa are (apparently) unintelligible and confusing that even Lord brahmA would not be able to comprehend them.

 

Pallavi:

bAg(A)yen(a)yya nI mAyal(e)ntO

brahmak(ai)na koniyADa taramA

Anupallavi:

I gAruDamunu(y)onarincucunu

nE kAd(a)nucu palkuTayu (bAgAye)

 

CharaNam:

ala nAdu kauravulan(a)Naca(m)ana

alari dOsam(a)nu naruni jUci pApa

phalamu nIku tanaku lEd(a)ni cakkaga

pAlanamu sEya lEdA tyAgarAja nuta (bAgAye)

 

Gist

O Lord! O Lord praised by this tyAgarAja!

How grand is Your delusion! Is it possible even for brahmA to fully comprehend and extol You? While declaring this magic formula, You also say ‘I am not the one’ who speaks. That day when You commanded to subdue the kauravas, looking at arjuna who said that war is a sin, did You not protect him well by explaining that ‘the results of sins do not accrue either to you or to Me’?

 

Word-by-word Meaning

P O Lord (ayya)! How (entO) grand (bAgAyenu) (bAgAyenayya) is Your (nI) delusion (mAyalu) (mAyalentO)! Is it possible (taramA) even (aina) for brahmA (brahmakaina) to fully comprehend and extol (koniyADa) You?

A While declaring (onarincucunu) (literally compose) this (I) magic formula (gAruDamunu) (gAruDamunuyonariJcucunu), You also say (palkuTayu) ‘I (nE) am not (kAdu) (kAdanucu) the one’ who speaks. O Lord! How grand is Your delusion! Is it possible even for brahmA to extol You?

C That (ala) day (nAdu) when You commanded (ana) to subdue (aNaca) the kauravas (kauravulunu) (kauravulanaNacamana), looking at (jUci) arjuna (naruni) (literally man) who said (anu) that war (alari) is a sin (dOsamu) (dOsamanu), did You not (lEdA) protect (pAlanamu sEya) him well (cakkaga) by explaining that (ani) (literally saying) ‘the results (phalamu) of sins (pApa) do not accrue (lEdu) (lEdani) either to you (nIku) or to Me (tanaku)’? O Lord praised (nuta) by this tyAgarAja! O Lord! How grand is Your delusion! Is it possible even for brahmA to extol You?

 

Notes:

 

A – gAruDamu - a spell to remove poison, delusion etc. To know more about Garuda Mantra, please visit -

http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/apr97/0033.html

 

A – gAruDamunu – The words Lord kRSNa as brought in caraNa are referred here. Therefore, the caraNa should be read first and then the anupallavi – that is the sequence in this kRti.

 

C – alari – this is how it is given in all the books. The meaning of the word is ‘unprotected’, ‘destitute’, anAtha’ – none of these words fit in the context. Therefore, the word seems to be doubtful. In the book of CR, this has been translated as ‘trembled’; in the book of TSV/AKG, as ‘hesitated’. But, the word ‘alaru’ does not have any such meaning. Purely from rhyme point of view, word beginning with ‘ala’ seems to be correct.

‘alaru’ in Telugu means ‘blossom’, ‘please’, ‘gratify’. The word ‘adaru’ in Telugu means ‘frighten’ etc. However, the Tamil word ‘alaru’ means ‘frighten’.

The nearest telugu word ‘allari’ means ‘quarrel’, ‘affray’ etc. It is not clear whether this word has been used in the meaning of ‘war’.

 

Has SrI tyAgarAja used a Tamil word ‘alari’ here or is the word ‘adari’ or ‘allari’? In any case, it has been translated as ‘war’ by me. This needs to be checked. Any suggestions ???

 

C – alari dOsamu - The following verses of srImad bhagavad gItA are relevant –

arjuna said –

 

dRSTvEmaM svajanaM kRSNa yuyutsuM samupasthitaM |

sIdanti mama gAtrANi mukhaM ca parizuSyati ||

ahO bata mahat pApaM kartuM vyavasitA vayaM |

yadrAjya sukha lObhEna hantuM svajanamudyatA: || I. 28, 45 ||

 

“Seeing, O kRSNa, these my kinsmen gathered here eager for fight, my limbs fail me and my mouth is parched. Alas! We are involved in a great sin, in that we are prepared to slay our kinsmen, out of greed for the pleasures for a kingdom.â€

 

C – naruni jUci – The word ‘nara’ used for arjuna is not to be taken in literal sense as ‘man’. arjuna – kRSNa are known as ‘nara nArAyaNa’; the gItA propounded by SrI kRSNa is known as ‘kRSNa – arjuna samvAda’ and also ‘nara nArAyaNa samvAda’. Please refer to website for more details –

http://www.dlshq.org/religions/gita_krishna.htm

 

Please refer to srImad-bhAgavataM, Book 12, Chapter 8 about sages nara, nArAyaNa - http://vedabase.net/sb/12/8/en1

“They that were Nara and Narayana in days of yore are now Arjuna and Kesava.†– mahAbhArata –Book 5, Chapter 96 –

http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m05/m05096.htm

 

C – pApa phalamu nIku tanaku lEdu – The following verses from srImadbhagavad gItA are relevant -

Lord kRSNa said –

ya EnaM vEtti hantAraM yazcainaM manyatE hataM |

ubhau tau na vijAnItO nAyaM hanti na hanyatE || II. 19 ||

“He who takes this Self to be the slayer, and he who takes It to be the slain, neither of these knows. It does not slay, not is it slain.â€

 

A – nE kAdanucu – the following verse from srImad-bhagavad-gItA is also relevant

 

Lord kRSNa said -

vRSNInAM vAsudEvO(a)smi pANDavAnAM dhananjaya: |

munInApyaham vyAsa: kavInAmuzanA kavi: || X.37 ||

“Of the vRSNis I am vAsudEva; of the pANDavas, dhananjaya; and also of the munis I am vyAsa; of the sages, ushanas the sage.â€

(All translations by Swami Swarupananda)

vRSNi is the lineage of kRSNa. The implication is that ‘though apparently, I am kRSNa of the lineage of vRSNi, I am also You, therefore I am not I.’

Additional Comments By SrI V Sadagopan:

This kriti is in chandra jyOti raagam and dESAdhi tALam. This is one of the two kritis in Chandra jyOti raagam created by Saint ThyAgarAja. The second kriti is “Sasivadhana bhakta-janAvana Sankara!â€.

There is a question that needs attention: Is Chandra jyOti raagam a janya Raagam of the 40th mEla rAgam, Navaneetam (Pratimadhyama mELam) ?

In the “BhAgayanayya nee maaya lento, Brahmakaina koniyAda tarama?â€, Saint ThyagarAja asks whether it is possible even for the Chathurmukha BrahmA to comprehend and praise the unfathomable MaayA of the Lord. ThyAgarAja is baffled and humbled by the profound mystery of the Lord’s MaayA and finds it to be utterly incomprehensible .

The kriti links closely to the 10th adhyAya of Bhagvath GitA, where Lord touches on His limitless glories and Iswaryam. In the 7th slOkam of this adhyAyam, GeethAchAryan reveals that who knows truly His VibhUti and yoga will be blessed with enduring bhkati towards Him, follow Bhakti yOga and attain the Parama PurushArtham of Moksham. In the next slOkam, our Lord says that He is the origin of all chEtanams (sentients) and achEtanams (insentients) and from Him proceeds everything (aham sarvasya prabhavo mattah saravm pravartate). Those who understand this doctrine are the wise ones and they worship Him says the Lord. GeethAchAryan identifies Himself as lOka-mahEswaran (the Lord of all dEvAs such as BrahmA). His MaayA baffles all including Brahma dEvan. ThyAga Brahmam comments in this context: “Brahmakaina KoniyAda tarama?â€

Saint ThyAgarAja held on to the Lord’s assurance housed in the 10th slOkam, where He says: “For those who crave for eternal union with Me and meditate on Me, I grant lovingly (preeti poorvakam) that clear vision of Me, by which they come to Meâ€.

In the charaNam of this Kriti, Saint ThyAgaraja refers to another instance of the maayA of the Lord that Arjuna experienced during his samvAdham with the Lord in the second chapter of Srimad Bhagavath Geethaa. Arjuna trembled with fear to carry out the Lord’s command to destroy the adharmic KauravAs believing that it was a sin to kill his relatives and AchAryAs. He dropped his weapons in great sorrow and refused to fight. At that time, our Lord taught Arjuna the effect of sin could not touch him (pApa phalamu neeku dhanaku lEdhani chakkaga pAlanamu sEya lEdhA?) as long as he fought this righteous war befitting his svadharmam as a Kshatriyan. Lord taught the knowledge of the real nature of the Self to Arjuna in this context and instructed him: “Oh Arjuna! Holding pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat as alike, grid yourself up for the battle. Thus, you shall not incur sin.†(Geethaa: 2.38).

“How grand is Your MaayA ! (BhAgAyanayya nee mAya lento?)†exclaimed the Saint in preeti poorvaka vijn~Apanam in this Chandra JyOti rAga krti.

DhAsan, Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

 

NOTE: Those who prefer to have a PDF or WORD document copy of this write-up can download either of the format from the following links:

 

WORD doc:

http://www.ibiblio.org/sadagopan/tyagaraja_kritis_project/word_docs/bAgAyenayya.doc

 

PDF:

http://www.ibiblio.org/sadagopan/tyagaraja_kritis_project/pdf/bAgAyenayya.pdf

 

AUDIO by Smt MLVhttp://www.ibiblio.org/sadagopan/tyagaraja_kritis_project/audio/bAgAyanayya_MLV.mp3