Sri Tyagaraja Kriti Series: Kriti: cakkani rAja Raga:kharaharapriya

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SrI:

SrI raghunandana parabraHmaNe namaH

 

Kriti: cakkani rAja

Raga: kharaharapriya

In the kRti ‘cakkani rAja mArgamu’ – rAga kharaharapriya, SrI tyAgarAja, exhorts his mind to follow the royal path of devotion and not to go for any short cuts.

Pallavi

cakkani rAja mArgamul(u)NDaga sandula dUran(E)la O manasA

 

Anupallavi

cikkani pAlu mIgaDa(y)uNDaga chI(y)anu gaGgA sAgaram(E)lE (cakkani)

 

Charanam

kaNTiki sundara taramagu rUpamE mukkaNTi

nOTa celagE nAmamE tyAgarAj(i)NTanE

nelakonn(A)di daivamE(y)iTu(v)aNTi

SrI sAkEta rAmuni bhakti(y)anE (cakkani)

 

Gist

O My Mind! When there are fine royal paths, why enter bylanes? When there are condensed milk and cream, why this detestable toddy? What a very beautiful form which is a feast to the eyes! What a name which shines in the mouth of Lord Siva! What an Ancient Lord firmly established in the very house of this tyAgarAja! O My Mind! when there is the fine royal path called devotion to Lord SrI rAma of ayOdhyA having these attributes, why enter bylanes?

Word-by-word Meaning

P O My Mind (manasA)! When there are (uNDaga) fine (chakkani) royal (rAja) paths (mArgamulu) (mArgamuluNDaga), why (Ela) enter (dUra) (dUranEla) bylanes (sandula)?

A When there are (uNDaga) condensed (cikkani) milk (pAlu) and cream (mIgaDa) (mIgaDayuNDaga), why (Ela) this destestable (chIyanu) (literally saying ‘fie’) toddy (gaGgA sAgaramu) (sAgaramElE)? O My Mind! When there are fine royal paths, why enter bylanes?

C What a very beautiful (sundara taramagu) form (rUpamE) which is a feast to the eyes (kaNTiki)! What a name (nAmamE) which shines (celagE) in the mouth (nOTa) of Lord Siva – the three-eyed (mukkaNTi)! and What an Ancient (Adi) Lord (daivamE) firmly established (nelakonna) (nelakonnAdi) in the very house (iNTanE) of this tyAgarAja (tyAgarAju) (tyAgarAjiNTanE)! O My Mind! when there is the fine royal path called (anE) devotion (bhakti) (bhaktiyanE) to Lord SrI rAma (rAmuni) of ayOdhyA (sAkEta) having these (iTu) attributes (aNTi) (daivamEyiTuvaNTi), why enter bylanes?

 

Notes –

P – sandulu – Though SrI tyAgarAja has not specified what these bylanes are, obviously all paths other than bhakti may be taken as bylanes.

A – gaGgA sAgaramu – In all the books, this word has been taken as ‘toddy’ – a colloquial usage as stated in the book of TKG. However, no such word is found in any dictionary. In Sanskrit ‘tAla’ and tAlagarbha’ means toddy; in Telugu, ‘ITa’, ‘kaLLu’, ‘tATikaLLu’ and ‘nIrA’ are the words meaning toddy. Though the following explanation may be far-fetched, yet it may not be out of place.

Ganga and all other rivers are considered to be wives of sAgara – varuNA. VAruNI is varuNA's female Energy (personified either as his wife or as his daughter, produced at the time of churning of the ocean and regarded as the goddess of spirituous liquor; vAruNI also means ‘a particular kind of spirit’ (prepared from hogweed mixed with the juice of the date or palm and distilled) or ‘any spirituous liquor’. Therefore, instead of using the vAruNI to mean toddy, SrI tyAgarAja might have used ‘gangA sAgara’.

The word vAruNI appears in SrImad-bhAgavaM in many places. It also appears in lalitA sahasranAmaM – ‘vAruNI mada vihvalAyai nama:’ meaning ‘Salutations to Her who is intoxicated with vAruNI (the wine of spiritual bliss)’ (333). Any suggestions ???

According to a Quote from "Tyagaraja -Life and Lyrics" -William Jackson -Oxford University Press – “The reference is to Gangasagara Bhatt of Tanjore court, a toddy tippler about whom stories were in circulation in Tyagaraja's time. Toddy came to be called Gangasagara.â€

Source http://www.rasikas.org/viewtopic.php?id=1887 Post #23

A – pAlu mIgaDa – this may mean milk and cream or cream only.

A – chI – this is a colloquial usage when one encounters something detestable.

C – nelakonnAdi daivamE – this is how it is given in the books of TKG. However, in the books of CR and TSV/AKG, it is given as ‘nelakonnadi daivamE’ – which does not seem to be correct. This needs to be checked. Any suggestions ???

Additional Comments by Sri V.Sadagopan:

This Kriti is to celebrate the Bhakti MahAtmyam of a true devotee of the Lord and the Bhkatan’s steadfast faith in the Lord (asanchala bhakti). This is a mAnasa- sambhOdhana kriti in the form of an upadEsam to one’s mind. Saint ThyagarAja gives two examples to instruct his mind about the folly of improper ways of channeling one’s bhakti. The two examples cited are:

(1) Oh my Mind! While an auspicious royal road (Raaja mArgam) is available for You to travel to Moksham, why would you choose rutted, labyrinthine and therefore dangerous bylanes for annihilating the cycles of repeated births and deaths in this karma bhUmi?

(2) Oh my Mind! When copious and nourishing milk is available for enjoyment, Why would you go after defiling and ruinous toddy for your enjoyment?

SwamigaL says that the royal highway to Moksham is performing SaraNAgathy at the sacred feet of Lord Raamachandra of AyOdhya. He says further that the Lord has taken the house/heart of ThyAgarAja as His abode; Lord’s soundharyam defeats that of kOti kOti ManmatAs. His kalyANa guNAs are sung by Lord Siva. While this royal road of bhakti to Lord Raamachandra is readily available to You as means and goal, why would You choose to travel along the unsafe and unreliable bylanes of anya dEvatA worship? SaguNa dhyAna, upAsana, AarAdhana mahimai are highlighted here.

The famous Bhagavad geethaa slOkam (IX.34) has to be reflected in the context of the royal road of Bhakti mArgam as revealed by GeethAchAryan :

mannmanA bhava madhbhaktO madhyAji mAmm namaskuru

maamEvaishyasi yuktvaivam-AatmAnam matparAyaNa:

The cardinal features of (svarUpam of) Bhakti yOgam are revealed here as per comentators. These are (1) unceasing meditation of the Lord (Manana), (2) worship of the Lord in all possible ways (Yajana) and (3) divine kaimkaryam (namana) to Him without expecting anything in return.

The three features of Bhakti yoga referred to by the Lord are expanded in Srimad BhAgavatam to nine modes as stated by Bhakta PrahlAdha (SravaNam to Aatma nivEdhanam). Observance of intense bhakti is different from the practice of the ardous bhakti yOgam. ThyAgarAja SwamigaL adopted Bhakti as a goal in itself (PurushArtham) for rendering divine service solely for the pleasure (preeti) of the Lord. Adoption of the bhakti mArgam is to promote bhakti in the devotee to enable him to undertake the prescribed anushtAnam (performance) of SaraNAgathi for Moksha anugraham.

In VaishNava theology, there are two kinds of Bhakti: (1) Saadhana Bhakti /UpAya Bhakti and (2) Phala/Phala roopa Bhakti. When Bhakti is adopted as sAdhana for gaining MOksham, it becomes Saadhana Bhakti or UpAya bhakti. When bhakti is observed for rendering divine kaimkaryams, purely for pleasing the Lord as in the state of Moksham, that type of bhakti is recognized as Phala or Phala roopa bhakti.

Saint ThyagrAja was a garbha bhAgavatha and he performed SaraNAgathy at the sacred feet of Lord Raama Chandra in many of his kritis. Therefore, he can be considered as a Prapanna, who completed Prapatti but adopted bhakti to Lord Raamachandra as a way of life (dEha yAtraa). The many mystical experiences of agony during separation (VislEsham) from the Lord and joy during union with Him (SamslEsham) are to be understood as the manifestations of his way of life of a prapannan experiencing stages of bhakti during his dEha yAtraa.

Please enjoy the rendering of the Chakkani Raaja kriti by both Sangitha KalAnidhis Chembhai VaidhyanAtha BhAgavatar and Ariyakkudi RaamAnuja IyengAr.

NamO SrI Raamachandraya,

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/chakkaniraja.doc

 

PDF:

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

 

AUDIO

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

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