Tyagaraja Kriti

Meaning - Gist

Even if one –

is skilled in many branches of knowledge,
undertakes any amount of charitable acts with provisions and money,
recites or reads unfailingly the epics bhAgavata, rAmAyaNa etc,
practises yOga and/or one attains much Worldly enjoyments,

wisdom will not dawn –

without listening to the words of advice of great devotees;
without partaking the nectar of words of those devotees whose minds are dedicated to the exclusion of everything else than meditation on God;
without associating with of those who know the secrets of the exploits or story of Lord SrI rAma – the human incarnate;
without befriending servants of Lord SrI rAma, praised by this tyAgarAja.

Word Division - Word-by-word meaning

pallavi
buddhi rAdu buddhi rAdu peddala suddulu vinaka

Wisdom (buddhi) will not dawn (rAdu) (literally come); wisdom (buddhi) will not dawn (rAdu) without listening (vinaka) to the advice (suddulu) (literally news) of great devotees (peddala) (literally elders).

anupallavi
buddhi rAdu buddhi rAdu bhUri vidyala nErcina (bu)

Wisdom (buddhi) will not dawn (rAdu); even if one is skilled (nErcina) in many (bhUri) branches of knowledge (vidyala),
wisdom (buddhi) will not dawn (rAdu) without listening to the words of great devotees.

caraNam
caraNam 1
dhAnya dhanamula cEta dharmamu-entayu jEsina
na-anya citta bhaktula vAg-amRta pAnamu sEyaka (bu)

Even if one undertakes (jEsina) any amount of (entayu) charitable acts (dharmamu) (dharmamentayu) with (cEta) provisions (dhAnya) (literally cereals) and money (dhanamula) (literally wealth),
without partaking (pAnamu sEyaka) the nectar (amRta) of words (vAk) (vAgamRta) of those devotees (bhaktula) whose minds (citta) are dedicated to the exclusion of everything else (na anya) (nAnya) than meditation on God,
wisdom will not dawn.

caraNam 2
mAnaka bhAgavata-Adi rAmAyaNamulu cadivina
mAnusha-avatAra carita marmajnula jata kUDaka (bu)

Even if one recites or reads (cadivina) unfailingly (mAnaka) the epics bhAgavata, rAmAyaNa (rAmAyaNamulu) etc (Adi) (bhAgavatAdi),
without associating (jata kUDaka) with of those who know the secrets (marmajnula) of the exploits or story (carita) of Lord SrI rAma – the human (mAnusha) incarnate (avatAra) (mAnushAvatAra),
wisdom will not dawn.

caraNam 3
yOgamulu-abhyasincina bhOgamulu-entO kaligina
tyAgarAja nutuDau rAma dAsula celimi sEyaka (bu)

Even if one practises (abhyasincina) yOga (yOgamulu) (yOgamulabhyasincina) and/or one attains (kaligina) much (entO) Worldly enjoyments (bhOgamulu) (bhOgamulentO),
without befriending (celimi sEyaka) servants (dAsula) of Lord SrI rAma – one praised (nutuDau) by this tyAgarAja,
wisdom will not dawn.

Notes

Variations - (Pathanthara)
¹ – suddulu – Suddhulu : In all books, the meaning derived is ‘advice’. According to telugu dictionary, root of both words (suddi and Suddhi) seem to have been derived from Sanskrit word 'Suddha'. However, the telugu word 'Suddhi' does not have meaning 'advice'. Therefore, ‘suddulu’ may be appropriate word.
Top

References
² – yOga – this refers ashTAnga yOga consisting of yama, niyama, Asana, prANAyAma, pratyAhAra, dhAraNa, dhyAnaM, samAdhi – Please refer to ‘Patanjali Yoga Sutras’.

Practical lessons in Yoga’ by Swami Sivananda – a free e-book download
Top

Comments

buddhi rAdu - rAga SankarAbharaNaM