pallavi
teliya lEru rAma bhakti mArgamunu
anupallavi
ilan(a)ntaTa tirugucunu
1kaluvarincEru kAni (teliya)
caraNam
vEga lEci nITa munigi bhUti pUsi
2vELLan(e)nci 3veliki SlAghanIyulai
bAga paikam(A)rjana lOlul(ai)rE
kAni tyAgarAja vinuta (teliya)
pallavi
teliya lEru rAma bhakti mArgamunu
O SrI rAma! People are not aware (teliya lEru) of the path (mArgamunu) of bhakti.
anupallavi
ilanu-antaTa tirugucunu
kaluvarincEru kAni (teliya)
Roaming (tirugucunu) all over (antaTa) the Earth (ilanu) (ilanantaTa), they babble as if in a dream (kaluvarincEru);
but (kAni), O Lord SrI rAma! they are not aware of the path of bhakti.
caraNam
vEga lEci nITa munigi bhUti pUsi
vELLanu-enci veliki SlAghanIyulai
bAga paikam(u-)jana lOlulu-airE
kAni tyAgarAja vinuta (teliya)
Getting up (lEci) early in the morning (vEga), taking bath (nITa munigi) (literally taking dip in water), smearing (pUsi) sacred ash (bhUti) on the body,
(performing japa by) counting (enci) fingers (vELLanu) (veLLanenci), and posing (veliki) (literally ostensibly) as praise-worthy (SlAghanIyulai),
they became (airE) totally (bAga) (literally very) committed (lOlulu) (literally dedicated) (lOlulairE) to earning (Arjana) money (paikamu) (paikamArjana), but (kAni)
O Lord praised (vinuta) by this tyAgarAja! they are not aware of the path of bhakti.
Notes
Variations - (Pathanthara)
1 – kaluvarincEru – kaluvarincedaru.
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References
Comments
2 – vELLanenci – counting fingers (instead of rosary). Performing japa in a mechanical manner is meant.
3 – veliki – in telugu, there are two words ‘veliki’ (external) and ‘veligi’ (shining). In the present context, the word ‘veliki’ (external) is the appropriate word; therefore, the constant ‘ki’ should not be softened as ‘gi’.
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