pallavi
nIkE daya rAka nE jEyu panul(e)lla neravErunA rAma
anupallavi
1EkOpincaka 2nEnu nIv(a)nu 3jnAnik(E)lAgu
sukham(i)ccunE O rAghava (nIkE)
caraNam
caraNam 1
manasu nilvani vAru mAyA jAlamu jEsi
mari mukti konan(au)nE
kanu samjnaku rAni kAntanu balimini
karamiDa vaSam(au)nE 4O rAghava (nIkE)
pallavi
nIkE daya rAka nE jEyu panulu-ella neravErunA rAma
O Lord SrI rAma! Can any (ella) (literally all) task (panulu) (panulella) I (nE) undertake (jEyu) be accomplished (neravErunA) without grace coming (daya rAka) of Your own accord (nIkE)?
anupallavi
EkOpincaka nEnu nIvu-anu jnAniki-ElAgu
sukhamu-iccunE O rAghava (nIkE)
O Lord rAghava! How (ElAgu) would it give (iccunE) comfort (sukhamu) (sukhamiccunE) to that (so called) wise man (jnAniki) (jnAnikElAgu) who, without being united (EkOpincaka) with You, (just) utters (anu) ‘I (nEnu) am You’ (nIvu) (nIvanu)?
O Lord SrI rAma! Can any task I undertake be accomplished without grace coming of Your own accord?
caraNam
caraNam 1
manasu nilvani vAru mAyA jAlamu jEsi
mari mukti konanu-aunE
kanu samjnaku rAni kAntanu balimini
karamiDa vaSamu-aunE O rAghava (nIkE)
Wouldn’t it amount to (aunE) those (vAru) with unrestrained (nilvani) minds (manasu) attaining (konanu) (konanaunE) mukti somehow (mari), by resorting (jEsi) to trickery (mAyA jAlamu)?
O Lord raghava! Wouldn’t it amount to (aunE) a woman (kAntanu) not consenting (rAni) to eye (kanu) signal (samjnaku), conceding (vaSamu) (vaSamaunE) when molested (balimini karamiDa) (literally forcibly lay hand on)?
O Lord SrI rAma! Can any task I undertake be accomplished without grace coming of Your own accord?
Notes
Variations - (Pathanthara)
4 - O rAghava – This word is not uniformly given in all books.
5 – madini nilva lEni – madini nilpa lEni.
7 – jEsitE – jEsina : From the context, ‘jEsitE’ seems to be appropriate.
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References
Comments
1 – EkOpincu - (EkOpincaka – negative) – This seems to be the colloquial usage of the word ‘EkI-bhavincu’. In tamizh, this word is available as it is ‘EgOpittal. This word means ‘coalesce’, ‘be united’.
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2 – nEnu nIvu – In all the books this has been taken as ‘one who has the (lower) ahaMkAra bhAva ‘I’ and ‘You’. However, in my opinion, looking at the sequence of the wordings, this refers to the mahAvAkya ‘haMsa’ (haMsasOhaM) or ‘ahaM brahmAsmi’. As the kRti is in second person, being directly addressed to the Lord, ‘He’ is changed to ‘You’ (for ‘I am He’ - ‘I am You’). Otherwise, if ahaMkAra (ego) is meant, then the word ‘EkOpincaka’ may not be necessary; ‘nEnu nIvanu jnAnikElAgu sukhamiccunE’ itself conveys the meaning. This is further clarified from caraNa 1 where SrI tyAgarAja says ‘otherwise, one can attain mukti by resorting to trickery’.
SrI tyAgarAja seems to say that mere repetition of mahA vAkyas (‘haMsa’, ‘ahaM brahmAsmi’ etc.) will not result in bliss unless the truth is apprehended by the practitioner – this is what meant by ‘EkOpincaka’ – unless indeed united with the Lord.
Please also refer to ‘bhramara kITa nyAya’
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3 – jnAniki – Here this word is not to be taken in literal sense. This may either be sarcasm or may refer to a boastful person who, without actually apprehending the truth, has mere theoretical knowledge. This is further amplified in caraNam 1.
6 – sarasuni – the word ‘sarasuDu’ has different meanings - ‘gentleman’, ‘man of good taste’; colloquially, this word also means ‘playboy’, ‘womaniser’ and ‘libertine’. However, from the context and looking at other examples, the meaning of ‘gentleman’ has been adopted, because it is natural for a libertine not to be confidant, but a gentleman would keep secrets.
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