Tyagaraja Kriti

Meaning - Gist

O Lord of Universe!
O Destroyer of arrogance of demons! O Lord adorned with SEsha! O Lord sapta RshISa (name of Lord Siva at tapastIrthapuri)!
O Lord worshipped by the very hands of Lord vishNu! O Lord who loves music of sage nArada! O Reliever of suffering of the humble! O Ocean of Supreme Bliss! O Father of Lord skanda!
O Lord worshipped by sage vyAsa! O Protector of true devotees!
O Lord found in sAma and other vEdas! O Lord who has Moon, Fire and Sun as three eyes! O Destroyer of six internal enemies – desire etc! O Lord whose feet are worshipped by indra! O Wielder of Mount mEru as a bow! O Lord abiding in the hearts of ascetics! O Embodiment of Love of this tyAgarAja!

Please protect me.

Is this vision of You attainable to petty persons?
I got Your name as a result of penanace performed some (earlier) day!

The statement that this place is ‘kailAsa on the Earth’ is indeed true;
I beheld much;
Who is equal to You?
Because of Your presence here, all my griefs are gone;
My life attained fruition only today.

Who else is there, other than You, for us?

Please protect me.

Word Division - Word-by-word meaning

pallavi
ISa pAhi mAM jagad-(ISa)

O Lord (ISa) of Universe (jagat) (jagadISa)! Please protect (pAhi) me (mAM).

anupallavi
ASara gaNa mada haraNa
bilESaya bhUsha sapta Rshi-(ISa)

O Destroyer (haraNa) of arrogance (mada) of demons (ASara gaNa)! O Lord adorned with (bhUsha) SEsha – serpent - living in hole (bilESaya)! O Lord sapta RshISa (name of Lord Siva at tapastIrthapuri) (literally Lord of the Seven Great sages)!
Please protect me.

caraNam
caraNam 1
SrI nAtha kara-arcita dorakunA-alpulaku-I darSanamu-
E nATi tapaH phalamO nI nAmamu dorakE
SrI nArada gAna priya dIna-Arti nivAraNa parama-
Ananda-arNava dEvayAnA-pa janaka sapta Rshi-(ISa)

O Lord worshipped (arcita) by the very hands (kara) (karArcita) of Lord vishNu – Consort (nAtha) of lakshmI (SrI)!
Is this (I) vision (darSanamu) of You attainable (dorakunA) to petty persons (alpuluku) (dorakunAlpulukuI)?
I got (dorakE) Your (nI) name (nAmamu) as a result (phalamO) of penanace (tapaH) performed some (earlier) day (E nATi) (darSanamE)!
O Lord who loves (priya) music (gAna) of sage SrI nArada! O Reliever (nivAraNa) of suffering (Arti) of the humble (dIna) (dInArti)!
O Ocean (arNava) of Supreme (parama) Bliss (Ananda) (paramAnandArNava)! O Father (janaka) of Lord skanda – Consort (pa) of dEvayanA (wife of skanda) (dEvayAnA-pa)!
O Lord saptaRshISa! Please protect me.

caraNam 2
vyAsa-arcita pAlita nija dAsa bhU lOka
kailAsambu-anu palkulu nijamE sAreku kaNTi
nI sATi evaru-ayya nI sAkshAtkAramuna
vEsaTalu-ella tolage nEDE janmamu sAphalyamu (ISa)

O Lord worshipped (arcita) by sage vyAsa (vyAsArcita)! O Protector (pAlita) of true (nija) devotees (dAsa)!
The statement (palkulu) (literally words) that (anu) this place (tapastIrthapuri) is ‘kailAsa (kailAsambu) (kailAsambanu) on the Earth (bhU lOka)’ is indeed true (nijamE); I beheld (kaNTi) much (sAreku);
O Lord (ayya)! Who (evaru) (evarayya) is equal (sATi) to You (nI)? Because of Your (physical) presence (sAkshAtkAramuna) here, all (ella) my griefs (vEsaTalu) (vEsaTalella) are gone (tolage);
My life (janmamu) attained fruition (sAphalyamu) only today (nEDE);
O Lord of Universe! Please protect me.

caraNam 3
sAma-Adi nigama sancAra sOma-agni taraNi lOcana
kAma-Adi khaNDana sutrAma-arcita pAda
hEma-acala cApa ninu vinA mari-evaru muni manO-
dhAma tyAgarAja prEma-avatAra jagad-(ISa)

O Lord found (sancAra) in sAma and other (Adi) (sAmAdi) vEdas (nigama)! O Lord who has Moon (sOma), Fire (agni) (sOmAgri) and Sun (taraNi) as three eyes (lOcana)!
O Destroyer (khaNDana) of six internal enemies – desire (kAma) etc. (Adi) (kAmAdi)! O Lord whose feet (pAda) are worshipped (arcita) by indra (sutrAma) (sutrAmArcita)!
O Wielder of Mount mEru – the Golden (hEma) Mountain (acala) (hEmAcala) - as a bow (cApa)!
Who (evaru) else (mari) (marevaru) is there, other than (vinA) You, (ninu) for us, O Lord abiding (dhAma) in the hearts (manas) (literally mind) (manO-dhAma) of ascetics (muni)?
O Embodiment (avatAra) of Love (prEma) (prEmAvatAra) of this tyAgarAja!
O Lord (ISa) of Universe (jagat) (jagadISa)! Please protect me.

Notes

Variations - (Pathanthara)
³ – dorakunAlpulakulakI – dorikinAlpulakI - dorikenAlpulakI. However, as the meaning derived in all books is that of ‘dorakunAlpulakI’, the same has been adopted. 'dorikinAlpulakI' is a wrong usage of telugu.

⁴ – dEvayAnA-pa janaka – dEvayanAbha janaka - dEvayanApa janaka.
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References
¹ – sapta RshISa – sapta RshISvara - Name of Lord Siva at tapastIrthapuri – now known as Lalgudi. Lalgudi Temple

Seven Great Sages – Different purANas give different composition of the seven great sages. One such version is - vaSishTha, kaSyapa, atri, jamadagni, gautama, viSvAmitra and bharadvAja. Ursa Major in the Northern Sky revolving around Pole Star (dhruva) is also called sapta Rshi.
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² – SrI nAtha kArArcita – there are atleast two places – Tirumalpur near Kancheepuram and Thiruveezhimizhalai near Mayiladuthurai – where vishNu is stated to have worshipped Lord Siva by offering his eye in lieu of 1000th lotus flower and consequently vishNu was bestowed with discus (cakrAyudhaM). Thiruveezhimizhalai Temple

⁵ – kAmAdi – kAma, krOdha, lObha, mOha, mada, mAtsarya.
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⁶ - hEmAcala cApa – Lord Siva is stated to hold Mount mEru as a bow. In Sivananda Lahari - verse 27 it is stated ‘karasthE hEmAdrau’ – Thou holdest the golden mountain (Meru) in Thy hand (as the bow). The same epithet is also found in Siva Mahimna Stotra (18).

The spinal cord of man is called mEru-daNDa. In the kuNDalini yOga there is a mention of mEru-daNDa – kuNDalini yOga, the e-book of svAmi sivAnanda

More Information on Kundalini
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ISa pAhi - rAga kalyANi