Sri Tyagaraja Kriti Series: Kriti:buddhi rAdu Raga:saMkarAbharaNam

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SrI:

SrI raghunandana parabraHmaNe namaH

Song buddhi rAdu

raaga saMkarAbharaNam

In the kRti ‘buddhi rAdu’ – rAga saMkarAbharaNaM, srI tyAgarAja extols the essentiality of the company of bhAgavatas in order to attain real wisdom.

Pallavi:

buddhi rAdu buddhi rAdu

peddala suddulu vinaka

Anupallavi:

buddhi rAdu buddhi rAdu

bhUri vidyala nErcina (bu)

CaraNam 1:

dhAnya dhanamula cEta

dharmam(e)ntayu jEsina

n(A)nya citta bhaktula

vA(g)amRta pAnamu sEyaka (bu)

CaraNam 2:

mAnaka bhAgavat(A)di

rAmAyaNamula cadivina

mAnuS(A)vatAra carita

marmajnula jata kUDaka (bu)

CaraNam 3:

yOgamul(a)bhyasiJcina

bhOgamul(e)ntO kaligina

tyAgarAja nutuDau rAma

dAsula celimi sEyaka (bu)

Gist

Wisdom will not dawn without listening to the advice of great devotees. Even if one attains abundant knowledge, wisdom will not dawn without listening to the words of great devotees. Even if one undertakes any amount of charity of food articles and wealth, wisdom will not dawn without drinking the nectar of words of the devotees whose minds delve exclusively in devotion to Lord. Even if one recites or reads unfailingly the epics bhAgavata, rAmAyaNa etc, wisdom will not dawn without joining the company of those who know the secrets of the story of the Lord’s incarnation as a human being. Even if one practices yOga or one attains much enjoyments, wisdom will not dawn without befriending the servants of Lord srI rAma – one praised by this tyAgarAja.

Word-by-word Meaning

P Wisdom (buddhi) will not dawn (rAdu) (literally come); wisdom (buddhi) will not dawn (rAdu) without listening (vinaka) to the advice (suddulu) (literally news) of great devotees (peddala) (literally elders).

A Wisdom (buddhi) will not dawn (rAdu); even if one attains (nErcina) (literally learn) abundant (bhUri) knowledge (vidyala) (literally arts), wisdom (buddhi) will not dawn (rAdu) without listening to the words of great devotees.

C1 Even if one undertakes (jEsina) any amount of (entayu) charity (dharmamu) (dharmamentayu) of (cEta) food articles (dhAnya) and wealth (dhanamula), wisdom will not dawn without drinking (pAnamu sEyaka) the nectar (amRta) of words (vAk) (vAgamRta) of the devotees (bhaktula) whose minds (citta) delve exclusively (na anya) (nAnya) (literally nothing else) in devotion to Lord.

C2 Even if one recites or reads (cadivina) unfailingly (mAnaka) the epics bhAgavata, rAmAyaNa (rAmAyaNamulu) etc (Adi) (bhAgavatAdi), wisdom will not dawn without joining (kUDaka) the company (jata) (literally troupe) of those who know the secrets (marmajnulu) of the story (carita) of the Lord’s incarnation (avatAra) as a human being (mAnuSa) (mAnuSAvatAra).

C3: Even if one practices (abhyasincina) yOga (yOgamulu) (yOgamulabhyasincina) or one attains (kaligina) much (entO) enjoyments (bhOgamulu) (bhOgamulentO), wisdom will not dawn without befriending (celimi sEyaka) the servants (dAsula) of Lord srI rAma – one praised (nutuDau) by this tyAgarAja.

Notes –

P – suddulu – this is how it is given in the books of TKG and TSV/AKG. However, in the book of CR, this is given as ‘zuddhulu’. In all the books, the meaning derived is ‘advice’. In my humble opinion, ‘suddulu’ may be appropriate word. This needs to be checked. Any suggestions???

C3 – yOga – this refers aSTAGga yOga consisting of yama, niyama, Asana, prANAyAma, pratyAhAra, dhAraNa, dhyAnaM, samAdhi – Please go through ‘Patanjali Yoga Sutras’ (book under reference). ‘Practical lessons in Yoga’ by Swami Sivananda – a free e-book may be downloaded from the site –

http://sivanandaonline.org/graphics/ebooks/swami_sivanandaji/downnload/pr

actical_lessons_yoga.pdf

Additional Comments By SrI V Sadagopan swami:

ThyAga Brahamam was a garbha BhAgavata like PrahlAdhA, He had already the taste for the ruchi of Raama Naama from his birth and taste for BhAgavatha janams as he grew up. As time went by, his intense desire to be with the Lord’s dear ones (BhagavatAs) only increased. He was an ardent reader of Srimad BhAgavatam, which stresses the need for companionship with BhaagavatAs for our ujjevanam (redemption). Sage Naradha, the AchAryan of ThyAga Brahmam, identifies BhAgavata Sat-sangam as one of the key saadhanAs for success in the practice of Bhakti yOgam in His bhakti SootrAs. The opposite of Sat-sangam is Dhu:sangam (Companionship with people of Aasuric nature). In Uddhava GitA, the Lord instructs Uddava (11th canto of Srimad BhAgavatam) on the importance of santa: / sAdhava:/BhAgavatAs to destroy our sins and pave the way for one’s liberation from the cycles of births and deaths. This is called BhAgavata Nishtai, one of the four kinds of Prapatti. Saint ThyagarAja salutes the BhAgavatAs as MahAnubhAvAs in the Ghana Raaga Pancharatnam in SrI Raagam, “YentarO MahAnubhAvuluâ€. In one of the charaNams of this kriti, SwamigaL extends his salutations to these noble souls wo conduct their lives with the conviction, “VaasudEva: Sarvamitiâ€. GeethAchAryan describes to us that such a person is very rare (VaasudEva sarvamiti sa mahatmaa dhurlabha:) and is His AatmA.

In that auspicious Sri Raaga Kriti, SwamigaL says: “All those noble souls, who have offered the lotuses of their hearts at the sacred feet of the Lord; who have necklaces shining with the gem of the Lord’s qualities, who, with knowledge, friendship and grace, bless the world with their ambrosial looks; who in proper form and with knowledge of svara, laya and raga, sing sublime songs on the supreme Lord who is the redeemer of the fallen; who have the direct vision of the majestic gait of the Lord and get enthralled and immersed in the ocean of blissâ€. Additional information on BhAgavata MahAtmyam is covered in my book on Ghana Raaga Pancharatnams in genral and the coverage of the SrI Raaga Kriti, “YentarO MahAnubhAvulu†(http://www.sadagopan.org). The link is on the left side of the home page under the subtitle of “anjali with Naama Kusumamsâ€.

In this BuddhirAdhu kriti, SwamigaL points out that the mastery of all kinds of learning will not result in true Jn~Anam unless one imbibes them through the association with the Lord’s BhagavthAs. SwamigaL states that the BhagavathALs comprehend very well the avatAra rahasyam of their Lord and association with those noble souls is the only way to gain true Jn~Anam. Sat sangam with Raama BhaktAs alone according to ThyAga Brahamam yields true knowledge and vivEkam. The redemptive power of these true BhAgavatAs even over heinous sinners has been pointed out by Saint ThAgarAja in many of his kritis. For instance, in a Punnaga-varaLi kriti, SwamigaL states that it is a Mahaa BhAgyam for the hopeless ones to gain the sat-sangam of the Raama bhaktAs and be saved from damnation. This type of Sat-sanga prasamsaa is seen in many kritis of Saint ThyagarAja.

Raama DhAsan, Oppiliappan Koil Varadachari Sadagopan

 

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