pallavi
indukA(y)I tanuvunu pencinadi(ndukA)
caraNam
caraNam 1
nI sEvaku lEka nIdu centaku rAka
Asa dAsuDai aTu(y)iTu tiriguTa(ndukA)
pallavi
indukA-I tanuvunu pencinadi(ndukA)
Is it for this purpose (indukA) that this (I) (indukAyI) body (tanuvunu) has been reared (pencinadi) (literally reared)?
caraNam
caraNam 1
nI sEvaku lEka nIdu centaku rAka
Asa dAsuDai aTu-iTu tiriguTa(ndukA)
Instead of being meant (lEka) for Your (nI) worship (sEvaku) (literally service) and (instead of) coming (rAka) to Your (nIdu) proximity (centaku),
is it for the purpose (andukA), of wandering (tiruguTa) (tiruguTandukA) here (iTu) and there (aTu) (aTuyiTu) becoming a slave (dAsuDai) of desires (Asa), that this body has been reared?
Notes
Variations - (Pathanthara)
General – The ending words of all caraNas have been taken from the Book 'The Spiritual Heritage of Tyagaraja' by Sri C Ramanujachariar as these are appropriate.
1 – gAvimpaga – gAvimpaka : 'gAvimpaka' has a negative meaning. 'gAvimpaga DAci' has been translated here as 'withdrawing (hands) from performing'. If 'gAvimpaka' is correct, then it will be translated as 'withdrawing (hands) instead of performing'.
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References
2 – bhUri – this is short form of ‘bhUri dakshiNa’; in vishNu sahasranAmaM, one of the names of Lord is ‘bhUri dakshiNa:’ (502) –
“He who gives away large gifts (Dakshinaa), as presents distributed at the end of the Sacrifices. When the body, mind and the intellect of man make sacrifices, man does Karmas. Lord Narayana is the One who gives the results for all actions: (Karma Phala Daataa); hence this term to indicate the Lord.” (Commentary by Adi Sankaracharya). vishNu sahasranAmaM
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Comments
General – This kRti belongs to the category of ‘self depreciation’ – Atma garhaNa as described by Dr V Raghavan, in his Introductory Thesis to the book ‘The Spiritual Heritage of Tyagaraja’ by Sri C Ramanujachariar. ‘Atma garhaNa’
Adi Sankara, in his ‘SivAnanda lahari’ states –
sadA mOhATavyAM carati yuvatInAM kuca-girau
naTaty ASA-SAkhAs-vaTati jhaTiti svairam-abhitaH |
kapAlin bhikshO mE hRdaya-kapim-atyanta capalaM
dRDhaM bhaktyA baddhvA Siva bhavad-adhInam kuru vibhO || 20 ||
“O Lord! Thou that bearest a skull in hand! Thou mendicant! Thou auspicious and all-pervading one! Accepting this monkey of my mind as my devout offering, bind it with (the cord of) devotion and bring it under Thy control – this extremely wayward monkey that always wanders in the forest of ignorance, dancing on the hill-tops of young women’s breasts, and moving about quickly in diverse directions (according to its promptings) along the branches of worldly desires.” (Translation by Swami Tapasyananda)
Adi Sankara, being a brahma nishTha, would not have had such a wavering mind. For the benefit of disciples and devotees they coin such wordings assuming their roles.
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