Sri Tyagaraja Kriti Series-bhaja re kriti-kannaDa raaga

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SrI:

 

 

 

SrI raghunandana parabraHmaNe namaH

Song bhajarE bhaja

raaga kannaDa

In the kRti ‘bhajarE bhaja mAnasa’ – rAga kannaDa, srI tyAgarAja urges his mind to chant the name of srI rAma who is effulgent in his own heart.

Pallavi:

bhajarE bhaja mAnasa rAmaM

Anupallavi:

aja mukha suka vinutaM subha caritaM (bhaja)

CaraNam 1:

nirmita lOkaM nirjita sOkaM

pAlita muni janam-adhunA nRpa pAkaM (bhaja)

CaraNam 2:

sankara mitraM syAmaLa gAtraM

kinkara jana gaNa tApa traya tam(O)mitraM (bhaja)

CaraNam 3:

bhU sama sAntaM bhUjA kAntaM

vAram-akhiladaM tyAgarAja hRd-bhAntaM (bhaja)

Gist

O My Mind! Do chant the names of SrI rAma - (a) the Lord praised by Gods beginning with brahmA and sage suka; (b) the Lord with auspicious story or conduct to hear; © who established this Universe; (d) who has conquered sorrows; (e) who protected the hordes of sages; (f) who is now a prince; (g) the friend of Lord Siva; (h) whose body is of dark blue hue; (j) the enemy of darkness called the triad of miseries in respect of hordes of his servants and citizens; (k) who is tranquil like the Mother Earth; (l) the spouse of sItA; (m) who always bestows everything; (n) effulgent in the heart of this tyAgarAja.

 

Word-by-word Meaning

P O My Mind (mAnasa)! Do chant (bhajarE bhaja) the names of SrI rAma (rAmaM).

A O my mind! do chant the names of srI rAma - the Lord praised (vinutaM) by Gods beginning with (mukha) brahmA (aja) and sage suka; the Lord with auspicious (subha) story or conduct (caritaM) to hear.

C 1: O my mind! do chant the names of srI rAma - who established (nirmita) this Universe (lOkaM); who has conquered (nirjita) sorrows (sOkaM); who protected (pAlita) the hordes (janaM) of sages (muni); who is now (adhunA) (janamadhunA) a prince – child (pAkaM) of a King (nRpa).

C 2: O my mind! do chant the names of srI rAma - the friend (mitraM) of Lord siva (saGkara);whose body (gAtraM) is of dark blue hue (syAmaLa); the enemy (amitraM) of darkness (tama:) (tamOmitraM) called the triad (traya) of miseries (tApa) in respect of hordes (gaNa) of his servants (kiGkara) and citizens (jana).

 

C 3: O my mind! do chant the names of srI rAma - who is tranquil (sAntaM) like (sama) (literally equal) the Mother Earth (bhU); the spouse (kAntaM) of sItA – Earth born (bhUjA); who always (vAraM) (literally at the appointed time) bestows (daM) everything (akhila) (akhiladaM); effulgent (bhAntaM) in the heart (hRt) (hRd-bhAntaM) of this tyAgarAja.

Notes -

C2 – tApa traya - AdhyAtmika, Adhidaivika, Adhibhautika.

C2 – tamOmitraM - As 'mitra' means 'Sun', it could be possible to interpret as 'Sun who dispels the darkness (tama). However, it is not clear whether sandhi rules permit such a bifurcation.

Additional Comments By SrI V Sadagopan :

This is a maanasa sambhOdhana kriti, where Saint tyAgarAja exhorts his mind to chant the names of SrI raama nAmam. In this kriti Saint tyAgarAja refers to the exquisite auspicious guNams of the Lord to help his mind focus on the chanting of the parama pavitra nAmams of the Lord.

In the anupallavi, the Saint will instruct his mind about the loftiness of the raama naama japam by referring to who else are chanting the tAraka nAmam of the Lord. He will point out that the great ones like Siva and brahma engage in such japam and delight themselves by tasting the nectar of raama nAmam. Saint tyagarAja has cited Siva as a sakshi for the glory of raama nAma japam in many of his kritis:

(1) kApi kriti: nitya rUpa (kailAsapati ni nAmamu balkadaa),

(2) pantuvarali kriti: saaramE gAni, where the bard refers to both Siva and His consort pArvati chanting raama nAma unceasingly,

(3) varALi kriti: kana kana ruchiraa, where he cites Siva as the witness to the efficacy of japam of raama Naama (kailAsa sadanuDu sAkshi),

(4) pantuvarALi kriti: vaadEra where Saint tyagarAja describes how Lord Siva helps the dull witted people of the world to cross the ocean of samsAram thru the upadEsam of raama taaraka mantram,

(5) kaapi Kriti: raama raghukula jalanidhi soma, where sadhguru swAmy points out that it is Lord Sankara who utters in the ears of the dying men at vaaranASi, the taaraka mantram of Lord raamachandra for their emancipation.

In the charaNa vAkyams, sadhguru swaamigaL reminds his mind about the divya mangaLa vigraham (auspicious and beautiful body of the Lord) and His ananta kalyANa guNams (Limitless auspicious attributes) so that his mind can enjoy the chanting of raama nAmam even more. The caraNa vaakyams are delightful bouquet of fragrant nAma kusumams (Flowers).

The kriti is set in kannaDa rAgam and triputa tALam. kannaDa rAgam is a janyam of the meLa raagam dheera SankarAbharaNam with the arOhNa-avarOhaNams of

SR2 G3 M1 P M1 D2 N3 S

SN3 S D2 P M1 G3 M1 R2 S

Two other kannaDa rAga kritis by Saint tyAgarAja is "ninnADa nEla neerajAkshA!" and "saakEtanikEtana".

raama dAsan,

Oppiliappan Koil VaraAchAri 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/bhajare.doc

 

PDF:

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

 

AUDIO

Sangeeta Kalanidhi Dr.Nedunuri Krishna Murthy:

http://www.ibiblio.org/sadagopan/tyagaraja_kritis_project/audio/bhajare_nedunuri.mp3

Sangeetha thilakam palakkad SrI K.V.Krishnan:

http://www.ibiblio.org/sadagopan/tyagaraja_kritis_project/audio/bhajare_kvk.mp3