pallavi
1dvaitamu sukhamA advaitamu sukhamA
anupallavi
2caitanyamA vinu sarva sAkshi
vistAramugAnu telpumu nAtO (dvaitamu)
caraNam
gagana pavana tapana 3bhuvan(A)d(y)avanilO
naga dhar(A)ja Siv(E)ndr(A)di surulalO
bhagavad-bhakta var(A)grEsarulalO
bAga ramincE 4tyAgarAj(A)rcita (dvaitamu)
pallavi
dvaitamu sukhamA advaitamu sukhamA
Is duality (dvaitamu) comforting (sukhamA) or is non-duality (advaitamu) comforting (sukhamA)?
anupallavi
caitanyamA vinu sarva sAkshi
vistAramugAnu telpumu nAtO (dvaitamu)
O Pure Consciousness (caitanyamA)! Listen (vinu), O Witness (sAkshi) to everything (or everybody) (sarva)! Please tell (telpumu) me (nAtO) in detail (vistAramugA);
is duality comforting or is non-duality comforting?
caraNam
gagana pavana tapana bhuvana-Adi-avanilO
naga dhara-aja Siva-indra-Adi surulalO
bhagavad-bhakta vara-agrEsarulalO
bAga ramincE tyAgarAja-arcita (dvaitamu)
O Lord - worshipped (arcita) by this tyAgarAja (tyAgarAjArcita) - sporting (ramincE) well (bAga) in –
(the five elements) - the space (gagana), air (pavana), fire (tapana), water (bhuvana), earth (avani) (avanilO) etc (Adi) (buvanAdyavanilO),
(the trinity) - vishNu – the bearer (dhara) of mountain (mandara or gOvardhana) (naga), brahmA (aja) (dharAja), Siva and indra and other (Adi) (SivEndrAdi) celestials (surulu) (surulalO),
the most Eminent (agrEsarulu) of the blessed (vara) (varAgrEsarulalO) devotees (bhakta) of the Lord (bhagavat) (bhagavad-bhakta)!
is duality comforting or is non-duality comforting?
Notes
Variations - (Pathanthara)
4 – tyAgarAjArcita – tyAgarAja nuta.
References
Comments
1 - dvaitamu – advaitamu – The following are the statements of SrI tyAgarAja –
(a) In his prologue to dance-drama ‘prahlAda bhakti vijayam’ -
saguNa nirguNamula samamugAnencu suguNa rAma brahma sutuDaina tyAgarAju...
“....tyAgarAja - the son of virtuous rAma brahma - who considers the worship of Lord with Form and without Form on equal footing...”
(b) In the kRti ‘paramAtmuDu veligE’ – rAga vAgadhISvari –
paramAtmuDu veligE muccaTa bAga telusukOrE
saguNamulO viguNamulO
“....Know unerringly the grandeur with which the Supreme Lord is effulgent ... He is found with qualities – sattva, rajas and tamas, and bereft of qualities...”
(c) In the kRti ‘anurAgamu lEni’ – rAga sarasvati –
saguNa dhyAnamu paini saukhyamu
“....comfort experienced in the meditation on Lord with form (qualities)”
(d) In the kRti ‘nI bhajana gAna – rAga nAyaki –
saguNa nirguNa nijamu dabbaralanu ... santasilla kaNTini
“... truth and falsehood of worship of the Lord with attributes and without attributes ... I beheld exultingly...”
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(e) In the kRti – ‘sundaratara dEham’ – rAga pantuvarALi, SrI tyAgarAja calls the Lord SrI rAma – ‘Sivam-advaitam’ – the auspicious One and the One without dualitiy.
(f) In the kRti ‘rAma sItArAma rAma’ – rAga balahaMsa –
advaita sAmrAjyamul(a)bbin(a)TTu rAma
sad-vairAgyamu nidhiyu sAyujyamE rAma
“In the same manner as attainment of the empire of non-duality, the wealth of real indifference to Worldly pleasures too amounts to one-ness with You.”
(g) In the kRti ‘E dAri sancarinturA’ – rAga Srutiranjani, SrI tyAgarAja asks the Lord which path he should follow – dvaita or advaita.
E dAri sancarinturA-yika balkarA
anni tAnanu mArgamunanu canaga
nannu vIDanu bhAramani-yADedavu
tannu brOvu dAsa varadA-yaNTE
dvaituD-anedavu tyAgarAja nuta
“Please tell me now as to which path should I adhere. If I go in the path of advaita – all is Self only, You say that it is difficult to overcome ego; if I pray ‘please protect me, O bestower of boons to the devotees’, You say that I am a dvaitin.”
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2 – caitanyamA – sarva sAkshi – O Pure Consciousness! O Witness of Everything (everybody)! These two epithets go to show the bent of mind of SrI tyAgarAja.
SrI tyAgarAja is not the first person to raise such a query. There has been no definitive and final answer for millenniums. The following quotation from ashTa-vakra gIta is relevant –
kva dharmaH kva ca vA kAmaH kva cArthaH kva vivEkatA |
kva dvaitaM kva ca vA(a)dvaitaM svamahimni sthitasya mE || 19-2 ||
"For me, established in my own glory, there is no religion, sensuality, possessions, philosphy, duality or even non-duality." (Translation by John Richards)
3 – bhuvana – this word generally means living creatures, mankind etc. But this word also means ‘water’. In the context of five elements – ‘water’ seems to be the appropriate meaning.
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