Tyagaraja Kriti

Meaning - Gist
O Lotus petal eyed! O Lord reclining in the Ocean of Milk!

Please listen.
Who else than You will protect me?

You are my Mother and Father who protect me very compassionately by granting all necessary wishes;
You are the wealth earlier earned by fore-fathers born in our lineage, by undertaking penances;
You are the fruit of my worshipping with thousands of flowers in many of my earlier births;
You are the rain bearing cloud which extinguishes the flames of sins of those who have sought refuge in You;
You are the quintessence ‘sat-cit-Ananda’ having abode in the hearts of celestials, sages and ascetics;
You are indeed the fruit that accrues by taking holy dip in gangA - most sacred of all rivers;
Your name is the ferry that takes one cross the Ocean of Worldly Existence, which, Lord Siva swore as sacred to brahmA and others.

Word Division - Word-by-word meaning

pallavi
nIvE kAni nannu-evaru kAtururA
nIraja daLa nayana

O Lotus (nIraja) petal (daLa) eyed (nayana)! Who (evaru) else than (kAni) You (nIvE) will protect (kAtururA) me (nannu) (nannevaru)?

anupallavi
kAvalasina kOrikalu-icci nannu cAla
karuNinci 1brOcE talli taNDrivi (nIvE)

You are my Mother (talli) and Father (taNdri) (taNDrivi) who protect (brOcE) me (nannu) very (cAla) compassionately (karuNinci) by granting (icci) all necessary (kAvalasina) wishes (kOrikalu) (kOrikalicci);
O Lotus petal eyed! Who else than You will protect me?

caraNam
caraNam 1
munu mA vaMSamuna kalugu peddalu
tapamulanu jEsi-Arjincina dhanamu
vinu-ayya bahu janmamulanu nEnu-anEka
virula vEla pUjincina phalamu (nIvE)

You are the wealth (dhanamu) earlier (munu) earned (Arjincina) by fore-fathers (peddalu) (literally elders) born (kalugu) in our (mA) lineage (vaMSamuna), by undertaking penances (tapamulanu jEsi) (jEsiyArjincina), and
O Lord (ayya)! Please listen (vinu) (vinavayya)! You are the fruit (phalamu) of my (nEnu) worshipping (pUjincina) with thousands (anEka vEla) (literally many thousands) (nEnanEka) of flowers (virula) in many (bahu) of my earlier births (janmamulanu);
O Lotus petal eyed! Who else than You will protect me?

caraNam 2
SaraNu-Agata jana pApa jvalanamunu
Samana jEyu jala pUrita ghanamu
sura muni jana yOgi gaNamula hRdayamu
su-gRhamau saccidAnanda ghanamu (nIvE)

You are the rain bearing (jala pUrita) (literally water filled) cloud (ghanamu) which extinguishes (Samana jEyu) the flames (jvalanamunu) of sins (pApa) of those (jana) who have sought (Agata) refuge (SaraNu) (SaraNAgata) in You;
You are the quintessence (ghanamu) sat-cit-Ananda (saccidAnanda) having abode (sugRhamau) in the heart(s) (hRdayamu) of multitude (gaNamula) of celestials (sura), sages (muni jana) and ascetics (yOgi);
O Lotus petal eyed! Who else than You will protect me?

caraNam 3
sAgara Sayana nadulalO mElaina
svar-nadI snAnAmbuna kalgu phalamu
tyAgarAju varamu-ani brahmA-Adulaku
satyamu jEsi palkina tArakamu (nIvE)

O Lord reclining (Sayana) in the Ocean (sAgara) of Milk! You are indeed the fruit (phalamu) that accrues (kalgu) by taking holy dip (snAnambuna) in gangA - the heavenly (svar) river (nadI) – most sacred (mElaina) (literally best) of all rivers (nadulalO);
Your name is the ferry (tArakamu) that takes one cross the Ocean of Worldly Existence, which, Lord Siva – tyAgarAja (tyAgarAju) swore (satyamu jEsi palkina) (literally told by swearing) as (ani) sacred (varamu) (literally boon) (varamani) to brahmA and others (Aduluku) (brahmAdulaku);
O Lotus petal eyed! Who else than You will protect me?

Notes

Variations - (Pathanthara)
¹ – brOcE – brOcu.

³ – svar-nadI – suvarnadI - svarNa nadI : As per Monier’s saMskRta dictionary, the following words refer to gangA – ‘svar-gangA’ and ‘sura nadI’. Therefore the appropriate word might be ‘svar-nadI’.
Top

References
² – saccidAnanda - sat-cit-Ananda – Triple designation of paramAtmA – Supreme Lord – Existence (sat) - Consciousness (cit) - bliss (Ananda)
Top

Comments
⁴ – tyAgarAju – In the books, this word has been attributed to Lord Siva. This seems to be appropriate and has been accordingly adopted.
Top

nIvE kAni - rAga bilahari