zrI rAma rAmAzritulamu

Sahityam

Pallavi

Charanams Combined

Variations

• ⁴ oppukOkavE – jeppukOkavE : oppukOkavE - seems to be appropriate.
• ⁶ rAjAdhirAjunaku – rAjAdhi rAjunu : ‘rAjAdhirAjunaku – seem to be appropriate.

References

• ⁵ kRta-kRtya – Accomplished all duties – in this regard Srimad-Bhagavad-Gita, Chapter 15 refers –
  • “Thou, O sinless one, has this most profound teaching been imparted by Me. Knowing this one attains the highest intelligence and will have accomplished all one’s duties, O descendant of Bharata.” (Translation by Swami Swarupananda)

Commentary

• General –This Kriti is a mixture of epithets (Pallavi), exhortation to his mind – Charanas 1 to 7 – and indirect dialogue with Lord (in third person) – Charanas 8 to 15 – about his religious observances and intentions.
  • The wordings of Charanas other than 1, 7, 11 – 14 are subject to different interpretations depending how one views Sri Thyagaraja, per se.
  • The exhortations (Charanas 1 to 7) contained in the kriti are contextual and are not clearly amplified which makes a faithful rendering of the meanings very difficult. The traditional meanings as contained in the books are at variance with one another and there is no uniformity. Therefore, there may be errors in the meanings given here.
• ¹ maJcidanumI – It is a colloquial usage to say ‘maJcidi ’ to mean ‘yes’.
• ³ harini kalusukO – Though this can be translated as ‘be united with Hari’, in the present context, ‘consult Hari’ seems to be more appropriate.
• ² palu vidha karmambulu - trOvayEkamanduru – Taking the wordings of these Charanas together, it seems that the ‘path’ referred by Sri Thyagaraja refers to ‘actions performed with the intent of securing enjoyments and heaven’ as described in Srimad-Bhagavat Gita – Chapter 2 – Verses 42 – 44 (given below). That is why he says ‘find out the secrets of the actions’. Further, Sri Thyagaraja, in the Kriti ‘nI bhakti bhAgya sudhA ’ brings out this clearly – vEdOktambau karmamu vetagalgu gatAgatamau - The path of religious rites as propounded in Veda results in distressing repeated embodiments.
  • “O Partha, no set determination is found in the minds of those that are deeply attached to pleasure and power, and who discrimation is stolen away by the flowerly words of the unwise, who are full of desires and look upon heaven as their highest goal and who, taking pleasure in the panegyric words of the Vedas, declare that there nothing else. Their flowery words are exuberant with various specific rites as the means to pleasure and power and are the causes of (new) births as the result of their works (performed with desire). ” (Translation by Swami Swarupananda)
  • Please also refer to Annamayya Kriti ‘nAnATi batuku’ - rAga rEvati - ’tegadu pApamu tIradu puNyamu ’ “neither sins will be rent asunder nor merits (earned by performance of karmas) will be exhausted”.
  • It is also possible that by the word ‘mata ’, Sri Thyagaraja refers to certain other esoteric forms of worship like ‘kaula mArga ’ etc. which his compatriots - Sri Muttusvami DIkshitar and Syama Sastry - were said to be adept in.
• ⁷ kUrtu – In the books this word has been translated as ‘surrender’, ‘dedicate’. However, ‘kUrtu ’ does not seem to have any such meaning.

Renditions