mOkSamu galadA

mOkSamu¹ galadA bhuvilO jIvan-
muktulu kAni vAraluku
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In this World, is emancipation attainable for those who have not become living-liberated?
sAkSAtkAra² nI sad³-bhakti
saGgIta-jJAna-vihInulaku (mOkSamu)
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O Ever Evident One (as witness of perceptions)! In this World, is emancipation attainable for those who are bereft of knowledge of music combined with true devotion towards you?
prANAnala sam-yOgamu valla
praNava⁴ nAdamu sapta svaramulai paraga
vINA vAdana lOludau ziva⁵ manO-
vidhamerugaru tyAgarAja vinuta (mOkSa)
Show Word Meanings
While OM-kara Nada manifests as seven svara by the fusion of vital force and energy, people do not understand the blissful state of Lord Siva - the great connoisseur of music played on Veena; O Lord praised by this Tyagaraja!
  • 1 mOkSa - Sri Tyagaraja uses the words ‘mOkSa ’ and ‘jIvan mukta ’ simultaneously. Both words apparently mean the same thing. However, according to the verse of TirumUlar given below, ‘jIvan mukta ’ is the first of the five stages of Mukti.
    • According to ‘Muktika Upanishad’, there are only two kinds of Mukti – ‘Jivan-mukti’ and Videha mukti’ aka ‘Kaivalya’. The same Upanishad also mentions ‘sAlOkya’, ‘sArUpya’, ‘sAmIpya’ ‘sAyujya ’ to be four kinds (stages?) of Mukti. (It is presumed that ‘sAyujya ’ to be same as ‘jIvan-mukti ’) Source – [[http://www.geocities.com/advaitavedant/muktika.htm Muktika Upanishad]]
    • There is one more variation of mukti defined as ‘sadyO mukti’ - ‘krama mukti ’ - [[http://www.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/1999-September/032497.html Sadyo - Krama Mukti]]
    • The following are the statements of Sri Tyagaraja in various Kritis -
    • (1) nAdOMkAra is the state of the Parabrahman (sadAziva mayamagu nAdOMkAra) – kRti ‘rAga sudhA rasa ’;
    • (2) ‘knowing the nAda emanating from mUlAdhara is, indeed the blissfull emancipation; recognising the locations (in the body) of seven svaras is indeed emancipation (mUlAdhAraja nAdameruguTE mudamagu mOkSamurA; kOlAhala sapta svara gRhamula gurutE mOkSamurA O manasA) - kRti ‘svara rAga sudhA ’;
    • (3) sapta-svara are the elaboration of praNava nAda (praNava nAdamu sapta svaramulai paraga) – kRti ‘sIta vara ’.
    • (4) those well-versed in the sapta svara are the living-liberated (nAdOMkAra svara vidulu jIvan mukutulu) – kRti ‘rAga sudhA rasa’ .
    • (5) in order to become jIvan mukta , the knowledge of Sangita should been ordained (jIvan-muktuDaguTaku saGgIta jnAnamu dhAta vrAyavalE) – kRti ‘sItA vara’ .
    • (6) In the current Kriti, in Pallavi, he asks ‘is it possible to attain mOkSa if one is not a ‘jIvan mukta ’;
    • (7) In the current kRti, in Anupallavi, he asks ‘is it possible to attain mOkSa for those who do not have knowledge of music combined with true devotion?’
    • To summarise (according to Sri Tyagaraja)– to be living-liberated (jIvan mukta ) one should have (a) understanding about the origins of nAda (OMkAra and mUlAdhAra ), its manifestation as sapta svara; and (b) also true devotion. Conversely, those who do not have this understanding - not being jIvan mukta – cannot attain mOkSa . Here ‘mOkSa ’ seems to refer to ‘vidEha mukti ’ or ‘kaivalya ’.
    • Sri Tyagaraja is concerned only with the nAdOpAsana - nAda yOga – attainment of mOkSa through the route of Sangita. The other methods, for attainment of jIvan mukti and thence mOkSa, – karma, jnAna, bhakti -rAja yOga – are not discussed by Sri Tyagaraja.
    • Five-stage progression towards Mukti is defined in the Tamizh treatise of Tirumoolar – ‘Tirumandiram’ as under –