pallavi
tana lOnE dhyAninci 1tanmayamE kAvalerA
anupallavi
tana guhalO tAn(u)NDeDu tAvunu teliyaga valerA (tana)
caraNam
caraNam 1
nI marmam(A) kshaNamE niScayamai telusunurA (tana)
pallavi
tana lOnE dhyAninci tanmayamE kAvalerA
I wish to be (kAvalerA) totally absorbed in (identical with) You (tanmayamE) by meditating (dhyAninci) within myself (tana lOnE).
anupallavi
tana guhalO tAnu-uNDeDu tAvunu teliyaga valerA (tana)
caraNam 1
nI marmamu-A kshaNamE niScayamai telusunurA (tana)
caraNam 2
Enu-anu mAya-A vELanu-E vankO teliyadurA (tana)
I wish to know (teliyaga valerA) the location (tAvunu) where You (tAnu) reside (uNDeDu) (tAnuNDeDu) in my (tana) body cave (guhalO);
at that very instant (A kshaNamE) (of knowing where You reside) Your (nI) secrets (marmamu) (marmamA) would be revealed (telusunurA) (literally be known) with certainty (niScayamai); and
at that (A) moment (vELanu), the direction (vankO) in which (E) (vELanE) the Illusion (mAya) (mayA) called (anu) ‘I’ (ego) (Enu) (Enanu) has vanished, would not be known (teliyadurA);
I wish to be totally absorbed in You by meditating within myself.
Notes
Variations - (Pathanthara)
References
3 - prakRti svabhAvamulu prajvalincucunuNDu – The natural tendencies will be functioning – Please refer to SrImad-bhagavad-gItA, Chapter 18, verse 11 -
na hi dEha-bhRtA SakyaM tyaktuM karmANy-aSeshataH |
yastu karma-phala-tyAgI sa tyAgIty-abhidhIyatE || 11 ||
“Actions cannot be entirely relinquished by an embodied being, but he who relinquishes the fruits of action is called a relinquisher.”
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4 – mringina kaLLaku – to the half-closed eyes – Please refer to SrImad-bhagavad-gItA, Chapter 6, verse 13 -
samaM kAya SirO-grIvaM dhArayannacalaM sthiraH ||
saMprEkshya nAsikAgraM svaM diSaScAn-avalOkayan || 13 ||
“Let him firmly hold his body, head, and neck erect and still, (with the eye-balls fixed, as if) gazing at the tip of his nose, and not looking around.”
Gazing at the tip of his nose – .... when the eyes are half-closed in meditation, and the eye-balls are still, the gaze is directed, as it were, on the tip of the nose.
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5 – porala jEyucunnAvu – Please to SrImad-bhagavad-gItA, Chapter 9, verse 10 –
mayA(a)dhyakshENa prakRtiH sUyatE sacarAcaram ||
hEtunA(a)nEna kauntEya jagad-viparivartatE || 10 ||
“By reason of My proximity, prakRti produces all this, the moving and unmoving; the world wheels round and round, O Son of kuntI, because of this. (All Translations and notes by Swami Swarupananda)
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Comments
1 – tanmaya – tanmayatva - being or becoming identical with (absorbed in) the object of meditation
2 – E vankO teliyadurA – SrI tyAgarAja states that when one is absorbed in the Lord (object of meditation), the ego (seemingly) scoots - only to show up again at the termination of meditation.
6 – niravadhi Sayya – SEsha, the couch of Lord vishNu, is also called ‘ananta’. SrI tyAgarAja seems to mean ‘ananta SEsha’ by the word ‘niravadhi’.
7 – cE paTTi – pANi grahaNa in marriage is termed as ‘cE paTTu’ in telugu. This indicates the nAyaki bhAva.
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anupallavi and caraNas 1 and 2 are interwoven. One is consequential of the other. I am doubtful whether there is an anupallavi at all because caranas 1 and 2 cannot be segregated from anupallavi.
caraNas 3 – 6 are very tersely worded; caranas 4 - 5 and 6 – 7 are not independently translatable - they have to be combined in order to derive meaning. Yet, in view of the terse wordings, I am not sure whether the translation is correct or not.
This kRti forms part of dance-drama ‘prahlAda bhakti vijayaM’. In this kRti, the prayer of prahlAda to the Lord is depicted.
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