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A Musical tribute to Sri RamachandrA :Hari KaambhOji Raaga Krithis: Part IV

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sadagopan • March 20, 1999 


Dear Raama BhakthAs :

In this posting , we will cover the remaining seven 
Hari Kaambhoji krithis in this posting . These are 
marked with one asterik (5-11) . Please bear with
this some what lengthy posting .There is so much 
material to cover on the exemplary Raama Bhakthi of
Saint ThyagarAjaa.

His Eleven Hari KaambhOji Krithis
**********************************

**1.UnDEthi Raamudu 
**2.YentharAni tanakentha pOni
**3.Yenthuku Nirdhaya yevarunnArurA ?
**4.DinamaNi Vamsa Tilaka LaavaNya

*5.ThSani thOdidEvE oh manasA
*6.Oka maaDa oka BhANamu oka pathni vrathutE
*7.Raama Nannu bhrOvarA
*8.vallakA tanaka SeethA vallabhaa
*9.VinathA sutha Vaahanutai
*10.RarA PaNi Sayana Ravi Jaladhija Nayana
*11.Laali Laaliyani 

Fifth Krithi: (Th)sani thOdidEvE oh manasA
*******************************************

This is one of the Maanasa SambhOdhana krithi ,
where the Saint assumes Naayaki Bhaavam and 
requests his mind to rush quickly to her Naayakan's
( Sri Raaman's) side and bring Him back quickly for
a happy union with Him . 

AzhwArs like ParakAlan and ParAnkusan have experienced 
this Bhaavam and have begged their minds to unite them 
with the Lord , Sriman NaarAyaNan , in their divya prabhandha 
Paasurams. They have also declared that the mind , body 
and beauty are of no use unless they are offered in service 
to the Lord . The AzhwArs have sent birds and bees as 
messengers to the Lord to describe their state of desperation 
and to bring Him back to them .Some times , they have asked 
their minds to intervene before things go too far . The entire 
decad of 4.8 of NammAzhwAr's Thirumozhi is an example 
of the Naayaki's vipralambha srungAram .

The great AchAryan ,AlawandAr summarized the spirit of 
this decad in the 57th slOkam of SthOthra Rathnam this way :

na dEham na prANAn na cha sukhamasEsha ahilashitham
   nachAthmAnam naanyath kimapi tava sEshathva vibhavAth
bahirbhUtham Naatha KshaNamapi sahE yaathu sadathA 
   vinAsam tath Sathyam Madhumathana Vijn~Apanam idham 

(meaning): Oh MadhusUdhanA ! This is the most truthful 
statement .I swear that my body , prANan , desire , sukham 
are for Your BhOgam , since my anAdhi sEshathvam is ubhayuktham 
(subservient )to You as sarva Seshi . If these are not used 
by You and if they fall outside Your desire , let them all
disintegrate. What is the use of them ? Sri AaLavandhAr 
reveals a deep saasthrArtham here , which focuses on the fact 
that for mumukshus , whatever that is not used for Bhagavath-
Kaimkaryam is thyAjyam ( to be abndoned ). 

NammAzhwAr has declared in this context :
 
------------------aDalAzhi taDakkaiyaan 
paNi mAnam pizhayAmE adiyEnaip paNi konDa
maNimAyan kavaraatha mada nenjaal kuRaivilamE 
( thiruvaimozhi : 4.8.2) . 

NammAzhwAr says : What is the use of this mind 
of mine , which has not longed for the experience 
of embracing the powerful Lord with the fiery disc 
on His hand ? He reminds the mind of its uselessness ,
if it does not celebrate and enjoy the Lord .

NammAzhwAr is tough on his mind  .Saint ThyagarAjA 
is more considerate and appeals gently to
his mind and sends it on a mission to bring the Lord back ,
just as ANDAL did in NaachiyAr Thirumozhi .

Saint asks his mind to go quickly to the Lord's
side and bring Him back rightaway to his side
( tsanithODi dEvE Oh manasA ).Naayaki gives a word of
advise to her mind regarding how to bring the Lord 
to her side .She instructs the manas to hold the Lord's 
hand with karuNA and bring Him to her presence willingly 
so that they can enjoy each other's company for a very ,
very long time (--chira kaalamu sukham anubhavimpa ).

The mind asks the Naayaki a question .How am I going to
recognize this Naayakan of yours ? The Naayaki replies:
It is not difficult to recognize Him . He is the One ,
who redeems those , who have strayed away from the path
of righteousness. He will have the tejas of hundreds of
Manmathans .He is ThyagarAja hruth sanchAri .Finally ,
He is the One , who observes PaaramArthika doctrines
strictly ( Paramaartha matha VisishtAnusArini). He 
strictly executes the doctrines related to parama hitham
( saraNAgathi )as saraNAgatha vrathee . You wont have any 
problem recognizing Him .He stands out with no one
equal to Him or superior to Him . 

The charaNam words used by Saint ThyagarAjA in this
krithi to describe the Lord  for the benefit of his mind
are beautiful :

pathithula brOchE pattadhikAruni
Paramaartha Matha VisishtAnusArini 
Dhyuthi nirjitha satha SambharaariNi
dhurINa Thyagaraaja hrucchArini 

Sixth Krithi: Oka mAta oka BhaaNamu--
*************************************
This is another Maanasa SambhOdhana krithi 
with Dhaivatha Eduppu .The previous krithi had 
the panchama eduppu . 

The Parama Raama BhakthA reminds his mind here 
that it should never ever forget Sri Raamabhadran .
He is a man of one word ( na dhvibhAshi), one
arrow ( never fails to reach its target ),one
wife (Eka pathni vrathan )and one mind ( abhaya-
PradhAnan , SaraNAgatha Vrathee ).The saint assures 
his mind that Sri Raaman blesses His bhakthAs with 
long life in this world to worship Him and thereafter 
confers the boon of Moksham . He is verily 
the Supreme Being in Human form .

Seventh Krithi: Raama nannu brOvaraa ?
**************************************
This is sva-yOgya kathanA krithi , set in
GhAndhaara Eduppu ,where he tightly questions 
Sri RaamA about the reasons for abandoning 
His Bahktha, ThyagarAjA .He asks :Oh RaamA ! 
They say that You have the reputation
to abide lovingly in all beings from a tiny ant 
to the mighty thrimUrthis ( cheemalO BhramalO-
Siva KesavaadhulalO , prEmameera melaguchunDE
BIRUDHU vahinchina SitArAma nannu bhrOvarA ?). 
Oh SitArAmA !How come You have not swiftly 
stepped up to offer Your protection to me? Oh Jaanaki-
naathA ! You know very well that I have carefully
conducted myself by not seeking approbations from
people by not borrowing from them and becoming 
indebted to them . I have not become haughty 
with respect to treating others and yet You
are not moving forward to protect me .Oh my 
dear One ! Please come to my rescue .Please 
do n't forsake me .

Eigth Krithi:vallagadhanaka , SithAvallabha bhrOvu naa
*******************************************************
This is sometimes cited as being sung in SankarAbharaNam .
The original rendition is in Hari KaambhOji . This is an
Amarsha rOsha rOshOkthi krithi set in dheerga nishAda
eduppu and Roopaka TaaLam . 

Oh Lord! Please do not declare that You will not
be able to protect me. Why did You write the history
dealing with Bhaktha RakshaNam in the days of Yore ?
In every yugam, You have gone on record as the savior 
of Your BhakthAs , who sought refuge in You . This is a
matter of undisputed record .You saved PrahlAdhan
by concealing Yourself in a pillar ; You hid behind a tree
to save SugrIvan from the power of his brother Vaali ;
You rested on the lap of YasOdhA as a child to save
the GopAs and Gopis ; You approached the haughty 
Muchukundhan and then withdrew and blessed him .
You have been saving multitudes of people , who 
practise kumbhaka , Rechaka methods for dhyAnam .
In every Yugam , You have been saving them all .
Please do n't say that You can not protect me now . 

Ninth Krithi: VinathA Sutha Vaahanudai-- Kaanchi Varadhudu
***********************************************************
This is a krithi composed by the Saint during his
pilgrimage to Kaanchipuram . There he had the Bhaagyam
of darsanam of Kanchi Varadhan during His VaikAsi 
Garuda Sevai , when he comes out of His western gOpuram .

This krithi has the Veda nishAdha eduppu . Garudan
is Veda svarUpi as eulogized by Swami Desikan in
Garuda PanchAsath and Garuda daNDakam . This krithi
is in celebration of Garudan as the Veda Moorthy 
and His Lord appearing out of the western door of 
His temple surrounded by Bhramman, DevAs and Sages like 
SanakA to bless the entire world and ThyagarAjA 
during His VaikAsi BhramOthsavam .The bard describes 
the appearance of Sri VaradarAjan was like hundreds
of Suns rising at the same time . 

To fully comprehend Saint ThyagarAjA's reference
to Lord VaradarAjan uplifting the world thru His
Garuda Sevai , one has to connect to Swami Desikan's
VaradarAja Panchaasath passages.Swami Desikan points
out that He is " mOhAndhakAra Vinivarthana JaagarUkan "
or One who banishes the darkness of Ajn~Anam like
the "Sahasra Bhanu " or the thousand rayed Sun rising
in the East . This Lord of the Sooryan rises in the West
however for a special reason .The other Sun can only 
banish the external darkness .This Lord of the Sun 
can remove both external and the internal darkness .
When compared to the Lord's Tejas , the brilliance 
of the ordinary Sun is like a mass of darkness 
( santhamasa parva iva ) according to Swami Desikan .

Tenth Krithi: Raa raa paNisayana Ravi Jaladhija nayana
*******************************************************
This krithi set in panchama eduppu and Roopaka TaaLam 
is a prayer to the Lord to appear before ThyagarAja 
accompanied by SitA PirAtti , His brothers , HanUmAn 
and other BhakthAs . This krithis is a beautiful
NaamArchani for Sri Raamachandran . Let me refer to
some of these ThirunAmams that the Sadhguru uses
to perform his archanai to invoke RaamA's appearance :

PaNi SayaNA = the Lord resting in Milky Ocean on Adhi Seshan
Ravi Jaladhija nayanA = One having the Sun & the Moon  as His eyes
RaagA sasivadhanaa=One with the face resembling the full Moon 
RamaNIyA =the One of incomparable /delectable beauty 
Apaghana= the One , who destroys all sins
Abhja SucharaNa=one with the lotus soft feet 
asama soora = The Raghuveeran of unmatched valor

Eleventh Krithi:DhOlOthsava Krithi
***********************************
Here , Sadhguru SweamigaL places Sri RaamA
and His Devi in a swing ( DhOlai ) and gently
moves it forward and backward to enjoy the beauty
of the divya dampathis . This krithi has four 
charaNams and was used by the sadhguru to offer
the DhOlai upachAram during the nithyArAdhanam .
Another famous DhOlai krithi is UyyAlalUkavayyA
in the soothing NeelAmBhari raagam . 

As he rocks the Lord , the saint eulogizes Him 
in the most affectionate and tender manner :
" Oh vanamAli ! I look at You with great prEmai 
as I rock You in the (golden ) swing and address
You as the Lord of Lords ( DevadEvan ), the King of Kings.
( raajarAjan )As I gently move the swing back and forth, 
I deeply implant Your savarUpam in my heart ,I passionately 
serve You , I sing Your praise and prostrate before 
You with the knowledge that Bhajana alone
is the path to reach You befititng Your description
that You are sthuthi Priyan ".

In the next few postings preceding Sri Raama navami , 
We will enjoy the Hari KaambhOji Janya Raaga krithis. 
There are so many references to AzhwAr's and AchAryAL's
divya sookthis that come to my mind as echos as I write these 
articles . Due to the need keep these postings to limited size , 
I am resisting the temptation to analyze the deeper meanings
of the Krithis of a parama VaishNavar like Saint ThyagarAjA .

Sri Raamachandra ParabrahmaNE nama:
Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan