pallavi
evaritO nE telpudu rAma
nA lOni jAlini
anupallavi
1kavagoni sadA bhajana sEya
kAryamul(a)nni vErAye (evaritO)
caraNam
2gaNa nAthu sEya kOraga kaDu
vAnaruDai tIregA
3guNa maya mAy(A)mbuda samIra
gOpAla tyAgarAja nuta (evaritO)
pallavi
evaritO nE telpudu rAma
nA lOni jAlini
O Lord rAma! To whom (evaritO) shall I (nE) convey (telpudu) my (nA) inner (lOni) grief (jAlini)?
anupallavi
kavagoni sadA bhajana sEya
kAryamulu-anni vErAye (evaritO)
Even though I always (sadA) performed (sEya) Your bhajana without break (kavagoni), all (anni) my efforts (kAryamulu) (kAryamulanni) have gone awry (vEru Aye) (vErAye) (literally become different);
O Lord rAma! To whom shall I convey my inner grief?
caraNam
gaNa nAthu sEya kOraga kaDu
vAnaruDai tIregA
guNa maya mAyA-ambuda samIra
gOpAla tyAgarAja nuta (evaritO)
Much like wanting (kOraga) to mould (sEya) (the form of) vinAyaka (gaNa nAthu) and ending up (tIregA) as sheer (kaDu) monkey (vAnaruDai);
O Lord gOpAla - the wind (samIra) that blows away the cloud (ambuda) of mAyA (mAyAmbuda) of the nature (maya) of three guNas – sattva, rajas, tamas! O Lord praised (nuta) by this tyAgarAja!
O Lord rAma! To whom shall I convey my inner grief?
Notes
Variations - (Pathanthara)
References
3 – guNa maya – In some books this has been translated as an epithet of the Lord – Ocean of Virtues – Embodiment of virtues etc. In my opinion, it is not appropriate to describe the Lord as ‘guNa maya’ – it is not same as ‘saguNa’. Therefore, ‘guNa maya’ has been taken to qualify ‘mAya’. In this regard, the following verse from SrImad-bhagavad-gItA, Chapter 14 is relevant –
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sattvam rajas-tama iti guNAH prakRti-sambhavAH ||
nibadhnanti mahA-bAhO dEhE dEhinam-avyayam || 5 ||
sattva, rajas and tamas – these gunAs, O might-armed, born of prakRti, bind fast in the body the indestructible embodied one. (gItA translations by Swami Swarupananda).
“Prakrti, Maya and Pradhana are approximate words (synonyms) and stress the material origin of life.” - Explanation of 'brahma sUtra' - 1.1.5.
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Comments
1 – kavagoni – There is some doubt about this usage. ‘kava’ means ‘pair’ – in that sense, ‘kavagoni’ could be interpreted as ‘because of dvandva – pairs of opposites’. However, ‘kavalugonu’ means ‘to take up or catch up the recitation of the vEda from another person without making a break’. In the latter sense, it could mean ‘without break’. The meaning derived in all the books is ‘always’, ‘constantly’, ‘without break’; accordingly the traditional meaning has been retained here also.
2 – gaNa nAthu sEya - In tamizh, it is called ‘piLLaiyAr piDikka kurangAnadu’.
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