nI cittamu
Sahityam
Pallavi
nI cittamu nizcalamu¹
nirmalamani ninnE namminAnu
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nirmalamani ninnE namminAnu
Because Your mind is steady and pure, I have believed You alone.
Anupallavi
nA cittamu vaJcana caJcalamani
nannu viDanADakumi² zrI rAma (nI)
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nannu viDanADakumi² zrI rAma (nI)
O Lord Sri Rama! Please don’t abandon me because my mind is deceptive or crafty and capricious.
Charanam
guruvu cilla³ giJja guruvE bhramaramu⁴
guruDE bhAskaruDu guruDE bhadruDu
guruDE uttama gati guruvu nIvanukoNTi
dharanu⁵ dAsuni brOva tyAgarAja nuta (nI)
Show Word Meanings
guruDE bhAskaruDu guruDE bhadruDu
guruDE uttama gati guruvu nIvanukoNTi
dharanu⁵ dAsuni brOva tyAgarAja nuta (nI)
The preceptor is the clearing nut (to cleanse evils of disciple); the preceptor is the wasp (to transform the disciple like himself); the preceptor is the Sun (to dispel darkness of Aavidya); the preceptor is the auspicious one; the preceptor is the best refuge; I have assumed You to be preceptor; in order to protect this servant (of Yours) on the Earth, O Lord praised by this Thyagaraja! I have believed You alone, because Your mind is steady and pure.
Renditions
Variations
- 1 nizcalamu nirmalamani – nirmalamu nizcalamani
- 2 viDanADakumi – ‘viDanADakumI
References
Commentary
- 3
cilla giJja
– (Botanical name - strychnos potatorum) (tETrAkkoTTai - Tamizh) Clearing Nut (somewhere called Cleaning Nut). According to website [[http://ecoheritage.cpreec.org/04_topics/01_sacred_trees/01_sacred_trees_datas.html Sacred Trees]] (Serial 13) tETra (tamizh) tree is the Sthala Vrksham of TiruvArur.
- “The fruit is also employed by the native practitioners of Hindostan, under the name of nirmali, as an emetic and in dysentery. They do not contain strychnine. In clearing water, one of the dried nuts is rubbed hard for a short time around the inside of the earthen water pot; on settling, the water is left pure and tasteless. The seeds contain a large quantity of an albuminous principle, upon which their virtues probably depend.” [[http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/usdisp/strychnos-pota.html Clearing nut]]
- For names of plants in various languages, please also refer to website - [[http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/sarasvati/dictionary/0462TO.HTM Plant Names]]
- The great saint kabIr has sung in the same manner. The following verse in kabIr’s Dohas is relevant –
- Guru the washer man, disciple is the cloth; the name of God liken to the soap; wash the mind on foundation firm; to realize the glow of Truth.
- For complete details about Dohas of KabIr, please visit the site – [[http://www.boloji.com/kabir/dohas/kd15.htm Kabir]]
- 4
bhramaramu - bhramara-kITa-nyAya
- “The Bhramara or the wasp is said to sting the insects or the Kitas which it brings to its hive and through stinging them and poisoning them makes them feel its presence alone everywhere, at all times. The insects, so to say, meditate on the presence of the wasp, at all times, and in turn become wasps themselves thereby. This is to show that by meditating on the formula ‘Aham Brahma Asmi’ or ‘I am Brahman’ the Jiva becomes Brahman itself in the end.” [[http://www.dlshq.org/download/vedbegin.htm Bhramara Kita Nyaya]]
- The legend about wasp turning other insectst as themselves may be based on the peculiar behaviour of wasps in laying their eggs - “wasps primarily parasitize eggs of moths and butterflies” [[http://insects.tamu.edu/extension/bulletins/b-6071.html Wasp]]
- 5 dharanu dAsuni brOva – this may either be joined to the Pallavi or attached to ‘guruvu nIvanukoNTi ’. In the latter case, it will be translated as ‘in order to protect this servant on the Earth, I have assumed You to be the preceptor’.