sangeethavaibhavam_mar13

AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA SANGEETHA VAIBHAVAM 24 Mar 13

http://vedantatattva.org/vedantagroup/SangeethaVaibhavam of 22

Sangeetha Vaibhavam

Salutations to all.

Generally we find that likes of people differ from one person to another. Some people like

science, others technology and yet others medicine. Even with technology itself, there are

people who like programming, networking and many other sub-fields. Even between two

programmers, the likes differ. In such a world which is based on differences, it is very tough

indeed to find something which will cater to each and every person. But we need look no

further than music in order to find that which everybody likes. Some may know the nuances

of music; some may understand it a bit; others may not know music at all but all like music

because music is that which touches everybody irrespective of all distinctions.

Though people like different kinds of music, still music is one thing which binds the entire

world as one. Ages ago, different kind of music was liked by people – today it is a different

kind of music but it can definitely be said that music is something which finds its place in

even the most evil of person (this means that music finds a place in the mind or heart of

everybody).

But what is the point of merely liking something? There is no point at all unless we are able

to convert this liking into eternal bliss. That which we like, if we are filled in and out with it

then we will find ourselves blissful. But such bliss is short-lived if the object we like is short-

lived. We can cover ourselves in soap if we like it but sometime we have to remove soap.

This goes for clothes, equipments and everything in the world.

So does this mean that music cannot lead us to eternal bliss?

Music definitely can lead us to eternal bliss provided we remember the eternal entity which

is hinted and pointed out through music. This eternal entity is the ultimate reality of Lord or

Brahman. This Lord is the very basis of the world and he pervades the entire world in and

out. All differences that appear as existing now are just illusions in Ishwara even as the

entire dream world is just an illusion in the dreamer. If we remember this ultimate reality of

Lord as the subject-matter of music then we will be directly lead to eternal bliss or the state

of moksha through music. Great masters of the past like Tyagaraja and others have shown

that we can definitely be lead to moksha through music. Of course mere music is futile

unless we have devotion in it (sangeetha jnaanamu bhakti vinaa). This devotional aspect of



music is only possible when we are able to understand the nuances of music which include

raga, tala and sahitya. It is bhaava which is the very basis of good music – bhaava is when

these three of raga, tala and sahitya are used in order to praise that Ishwara who is the

very basis of the entire world. Some people alone thus are filled with true bhaava. Though

great musicians like Yesudas are filled with bhaava, their bhaava isn’t focused on Ishwara

and hence it isn’t true bhaava (unless it is true bhaava it will not lead us to eternal bliss).

A great singer like M D Ramanathan will be able to create a change in us when we listen to

his bhaava-filled music for he is evoking Ishwara and that Ishwara is thus remembered by

us thereby leading us to eternal bliss.

It is the purpose of this magazine to bring out the different nuances of music so that

through a proper understanding of music we will be able to direct our attention on Ishwara.

The ultimate goal of life is to realize Ishwara (attain the state of moksha). This is easier said

than done as we don’t know Ishwara – therefore trusting or seeking such an Ishwara is very

tough indeed. Moreover the entire world poses an obstacle towards realization of Ishwara

(as the entire world appears very real whereas Ishwara appears unreal). Therefore it is

essential to find the passion in us which when directed towards Ishwara will lead us to the

state of moksha here itself. It is a personal belief and proven through history that if we are

able to develop passion towards music through proper learning then we will easily be able to

direct all our attention towards Ishwara. Then we will find ourselves immersed in Ishwara at

all times – even though we may be in an office or a temple or a market, we will be

remembering Ishwara through music. Though the entire world might call us mad, still the

bliss that we experience as a result of remembrance of Ishwara through music is

inexplicable. Since it is this bliss that we all are seeking each and every moment of our life

therefore all effort should be in order to attain this goal through music and remembrance of

Ishwara.

May we all strive to develop passion towards music so that through learning of music our

attention will be fully focused on Ishwara and thereby we will be able to get rid of all

sorrows and will be able to ever rejoice in bliss here and now itself.

AUM NAMAH SHIVAYA

Mar 24th



Anukramaanika

Sangeetha Vaibhavam .................................................................................................................................. 1

Sangeetha Prakaashanam ............................................................................................................................. 4

Hindustani Vivaranam ................................................................................................................................... 7

Raaga Vivaranam ........................................................................................................................................ 10

Kriti Deepam ............................................................................................................................................... 11

Acharya Arpanam ........................................................................................................................................ 15

Ishwara Smaranam ..................................................................................................................................... 18

Anukramaanika Nirdesham ........................................................................................................................ 22



Sangeetha Prakaashanam

In the previous month we saw about Melakartha raga. Let us learn about Janya raga. To

recap briefly about Melakartha raga, Melakartha ragas are sampoorna in the arohanam and

sampoornam in the avarohanam and there are 72 Melakartha ragas.

Janya raga are derived from Melakartha ragas. From each of the melakartha raga, when

drop some swaras in the arohana and/or avarohana, the resultant will form what is called

Janya Raga. For example, if we leave Ma and Ni in the arohana of Shankarabharanam and

all swaras in Avarohana, the resultant raga is called Bilahari. The number of swaras that

could be dropped in arohana or avarohana would be 2. There are very few raga that miss

more than 2 raga because it will not be create a distinct raga swaroopam with the remaining

swaras.

If all swaras are used in arohana or avarohana it is called Sampoorna. If one swara is

missed, it is called Shadava and if 2 swaras are missed it is called Audava. Melakartha raga

as we saw are sampoorna in the arohana and avarohana. Following are the possible

combinations of raga in arohana and avarohana

1. Sampoorna – Sampoorna

2. Sampoorna – Shadava

3. Sampoorna – Audava

4. Shadava – Sampoorna

5. Shadava – Shadava

6. Shadava – Audava

7. Audava – Sampoorna

8. Audava – Shadava

9. Audava – Audava

If we go with just mathematical calculations, let us take just one combination above, say

Sampoorna-Shadava – there are 72 sampoorna arohana and 6 shadava avarohana for each,

leading to 432 janya raga for just this group. And same count for Shadava-Sampoorna as

well. Likewise if we try to calculate for each of the combination, we might end up getting

around thirty thousand janya raga. It may look quite easy when we do some mathematics

around it, but raga is not just maths. Every raga is known by their raga lakshana and most



of janya raga of the thirty thousand are not in use because of not having a differentiating

raga lakshanam.

The type of janya raga that we saw until this point, which skips swara in the arohana or

avarohana, is called upanga janya raga. There are some janya raga, that has twisted

arohana and/or avarohana. For example, there is a janya raga of Dheerashankarabharana

that goes like Sa Ri Ma Dha Ni Ga Pa Sa in the arohana. This is the arohanam of Raga

Kathana kuthuhalam. The avarohanam is straight sampoorna avarohanam of

Dheerashankarabharanam. These type of janya raga are called Vakra Raga.

There are is also another type of janya raga that has swaras that do not belong to the

Melakartha raga. For example, Raga Bhairavi is a janyam of 20th Melakartha raga

Natabhairavi. The arohanam and avarohanam of Bhairavi is Sa Ri2 Ga2 Ma1 Pa Dha2 Ni2 Sa –

Sa Ni2 Dha1 Pa Ma1 Ga2 Ri2 Sa. The arohanam of the raga has Chathusruti dhaivatam which

do not belong to the Natabhairavi scheme and in the avarohanam it uses the shuddha

dhaivatam which belong to Nata Bhairavi scheme. The type of raga are termed as

Bhashanga raga.

A janya raga can either be upanga raga or bhashanga raga, it cannot be both. But Vakra

raga can fall under upanga raga or Bhashanga raga. Thus, if we see there can be many raga

possible out of melakartha raga, it may be a upanga raga or bhashanga raga or Vakra raga,

but the most important factor of any raga is the raga lakshana that uniquely belong to raga.

So whenever we have to analyze a raga, we have to first see which melakartha scheme it

belong to, what type of janya raga it is whether it is Upanga or Bhashanga or Vakra. If it is

Bhashanga raga, which swara is making it a bhashanga what its usage.

Another common term used is ‘Varja’ to speak about any missing swara. For example, the

arohanam and avarohanam of Raga Sriranjani is Sa Ri2 Ga2 Ma1 Dha2 Ni2 Sa – Sa Ni2 Dha2

Ma1 Ga2 Ri2 Sa. Raga Sriranjani is janyam of Raga Kharaharapriya. It also has the same

swaroopa as Raga Kharaharapriya, but Sriranjani do not have Panchamam and it is normally

said as Panchamam varja raga. Raga Malayamarutham which is considered as the janya

raga of Chakravaham is a Madhyama varja raga. The arohanam and avarohanam of

Malayamarutham is Sa Ri1 Ga3 Pa Dha2 Ni2 Sa – Sa Ni2 Dha2 Pa Ga3 Ri1 Sa. There is another

melakartha raga by name Ramapriya which is a prathimadhyama raga. Chakravaham and



Ramapriya differ only in Madhyamam and there could be a confusion for Malayamarutham

to which melakartha scheme it belongs to.

We can find many such raga upanga ragas that could lead confusion to which melakartha

scheme they might belong to. Mohanam is yet another most popular example. The

arohanam and avarohanam of Mohanam is Sa Ri2 Ga3 Pa Dha2 Sa – Sa Dha2 Pa Ga3 Ri2 Sa.

This can be considered as belonging to Harikamboji or Mechakalyani or

Dheerashankarabharana. Mohanam is considered as the janyam of Harikambhoji because

Harikambhoji comes first in the Melakartha list (Harikambhoji is 28,

Dheerashankarabharana is 29 and Mechakalyani is 65). So, those raga that could seem to

belong to many melakartha scheme, the lowest number wins. In the case of

Malayamarutham , chakravaham is 16 and Ramapriya is 52 and thus Malayamarutham is

considered to be Janyam of Chakravaham.

We will see about Tala in the next article.



Hindustani Vivaranam

Thaats

As we saw previously, thaats were introduced by Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande in

order to formalize the grouping of ragas (similar to the sampoorna and asampoorna

melakartha paddhatis in carnatic music).

Though this system of categorization of ragas doesn’t work well in Hindustani music due to

ragas being grouped as per their usage, phrases etc., still such a classification would help

learners to find out the swaras that are primarily used in a particular thaat. Thus each thaat

has a main raga based on it and a set of swaras that are primarily used in it. There are ten

thaats in total.

1. Bilawal – S R G M P D N (capital letters denote the higher notes except for madhyama –

m stands for teevra mandhyama and M for shuddha madhyama – or in other words, all

capital stands for shuddha svaras and lower case denotes komal or teevra)

Equivalent to the Sankarabharana scale, Bilawal thaat uses all shuddha svaras. There are

lot of ragas in this particular thaat and the set of bilawal ragas starting with alhaiya bilawal

form a part of this thaat. Characteristic phrases of this thaat include P D M, P D G etc.

2. Khamaj – S R G M P D n

Khamaj thaat is well represented by the Khamaj raga. Here except Ni which is komal, all

other svaras are shuddha. The famous song of vaishnava janato is set in Khamaj raga. The

equivalent carnatic scale is harikamboji.

3. Kafi – S R g M P D n

Kafi thaat has gandhar and nishad komal; rest of the svaras are shuddha svaras. This is

equivalent of the kharaharapriya scale of carnatic music.

4. Asavari – S R g M P d n

In asavari thaat, except rishabha and madhyama, all other svaras are komal. Shuddha

rishabh asavari and komal rishabh asavari are couple of famous ragas that can be grouped

into this thaat.



5. Bhairavi – S r g M P d n

Bhairavi thaat has all komal svaras except the madhyama which is shuddha. The folk but

very wide raga bhairavi is the famous raga in this particular thaat.

6. Bhairav – S r G M P d N

Bhairav thaat has gandhar, nishad and madhyama as shuddha; rest svaras are komal.

Bhairav is the popular raga in this thaat. The thaat evokes a strong majestic behavior or

emotion (though this might differ from raga to raga based on the usage of svaras).

7. Kalyan – S R G m P D N

Kalyan thaat has all shuddha svaras except the madhyama which is teevra. There are many

ragas in this thaat including the vast set of kalyan ragas including yaman kalyan, shuddha

kalyan, shyam kalyan etc.

8. Marwa – S r G m P D N

Marwa thaat has all shuddha svaras except madhyama and rishabh. The famous marwa

raga which s tough to master is the prime raga of this thaat. Other ragas including pooriya

and sohani. These three ragas have same phrases yet are entirely different based on the

intonation or usage of svaras.

9. Purvi – S r G m P d N

Purvi thaat has gandhar and nishad alone as shuddha svaras. Purvi raga is the prime raga

of this thaat. Other ragas include puriya dhanasree.

10. Todi – S r g m P d N

Todi thaat has just nishadh as shuddha. There are a lot of ragas in this thaat which evoke a

very different feeling from other ragas.

Svaras and ragas

Carnatic ragas emphasize on phrases rather than mere svaras and their intonation.

Hindustani ragas emphasize on svaras and the way in which svaras are used. Also ragas, as

has been explained before, are grouped therefore two ragas having same svaras but in two

groups will be used differently (and the emotions evoked by the two ragas will be entirely

different).



Taking simple examples, there are three ragas in hindustani with the notes of S R M P n;

the three ragas are madhmad sarang, megh and megh malhar. The same scale in carnatic

music is the raga of madhyamavati. Madhmad sarang is part of the sarang group of ragas

where svaras are used plainly, without any meend. Thus this is a very smooth moving raga

with no emphasis at all on meend. Since svaras are plain therefore movement swiftly from

one note to another at the higher level is used a lot. Compared with this raga of the sarang

group, megh is filled with lot of meends. Svaras are used only with meend (never plain) –

thus the raga evokes the emotion that is majestic in nature. We can compare madhmad

sarang to a child playing whereas megh as a elderly person well poised. Megh and megh

malhar are almost the same except that megh malhar is part of the malhar group of ragas –

therefore malhar phrases are used in megh malhar (which are absent in megh).

Another difference in these three ragas with same svaras is the main and secondary note in

the raga. The main or primary note which is the basis of the raga itself is called vaadi svara

and secondary note is called samvaadi svara. Vaadi svara is used for pausing, stopping and

it will be more used compared to other svaras. All ragas have vaadi and samvaadi.

Madhmad sarang has vaadi as R and samvaadi as P (in tune with all sarang ragas) whereas

megh and malhar have M as vaadi and S as samvaadi.

An aspiring performer as well as fans of Hindustani music would do good to learn the

different intonations of ragas in order to ensure that the right raga is evoked with the right

emotions. Only then will the raga be sung be fully justified and thereby the singing itself will

be enjoyed by oneself and others as well.



Raaga Vivaranam

Hamsadhvani

Hamsadhvani is the janyam of 29thMelakartha raga Dheerashankarabharana

Arohanam: Sa Ri2Ga3 Pa Ni3 Sa

Avarohanam: Sa Ni3 Pa Ga3 Ri2 Sa

Hamsadhvani is aUpanga raga with no Madhyamam and Dhaivatam in arohanam and

avarohanam. Hamsadhvani is discovered by MuthuswamyDikshitar’s father

RamaswamyDikshitar. This raga is a very strong raga that is normally sung at the beginning

of the concert and there are lot of songs on Lord Vinayaka in Hamsadhvani.

The Jeevaswaras of Hamsadhavani are Ri, Ga and Ni and amsaswara is Pa. All swaras are

nyasaswaras. This raga is generally fast paced raga and most times stays at the higher

notes. Some of the most commonly used patters are Ga Pa Ni Pa Ga, GaRi Sa Ni Pa, Ni RiGa

Pa GaRi Sa and so on. Since all the swaras used in this raga are nyasaswaras, there can be

lot many patterns that can be used.

Some of the most popular compositions

1. VatapiGanapathim – MuthuswamyDikshitar

2. Raghunayaka – Thyagaraja Swami

3. Gajavada mam pahi – M D Ramanathan

4. Jalajaksha (Varnam) – Venkatasubbayyar

5.

This raga is also been used in Hindustani music as well with almost the same swaroopa as

the Carnatic music.



Kriti Deepam

VatapiGanapathimBhaje is one of the most popular Kriti of MuthuswamyDikshitar written in

Sanskrit and composed in Raga Hamsadvani. This Kriti was written on Lord Ganapathy,

explains about the glory of Lord Ganapathy. Lord Ganapathy, who is known as the lord of all

obstacles, removes all the obstacles of the devotees and also grants all boons to the

devotees. We will learn and understand the meaning of this most popular kriti.

Pallavi:

Vatapiganapathimbhajehamvaaranaasyamvarapradhamshree

I remember Lord Ganapathy of Vatapi who has a face of an elephant and confers

boons on His devotees.

Scriptures speak about two types of Bhakti – Para and Apara. Para Bhakti is when a person

has the realization of the Ultimate Knowledge that Brahman alone exists here. Apara Bhakti

is that in which person do not yet have this ultimate knowledge but remembers Brahman as

the Lord of the world. The Lord of the world is the creator and protector of the world. When

the devotee remembers the Lord constantly, he will be able to get the mental capability to

assimilate the Ultimate Knowledge. But until then, the most important thing required is the

constant remembrance of the Lord in some way. Often, it is difficult to remember Lord as

the formless and all-pervading, therefore most devotees try to remember the Lord in a

particular form, the form that they can easily remember.

Lord Ganapathy has a form of an elephant, and a big body. Such a form is not a usual form

and naturally the mind will stick to something that is not normal. Thus, it is not difficult to

remember the form of Lord Ganapathy. Here in the pallavi, Dikshitar starts the kriti by

saying let us do the Bhajanam of Lord Vinayaka. Bhajanam means remembrance of the Lord

and here it means that I remember Lord Ganapathy who has an elephant face and who

grants boon to the devotees. Vatapi was a former name of a place in Karnataka called

Badami.

Anupallavi:

Bhootadisamsevatacharanam

Bhootabhautikaprapanchabharanam

Veetharaaginamvinithayoginamvishwakaaranamvignavaaranam



His feet is worshipped by Bhutasetc, He is the supporter of living and non-living

things in this world, devoid of desires (likes), prostrated by Yogis, the cause of the

world, remover of all obstacles.

The world came from the Lord and the world is controlled and protected by the Lord. The

creation is composed of so many things. The creation can be broadly considered as

containing living and non-living things in all 14 worlds. Such a powerful Lord is giving a form

and name for the sake of remembrance as Lord Ganapathy, who stands for that Brahman.

The Lord created not only created the world and living beings, Lord also created devatasto

rule different aspects of the world as well. Here Dikshitar says that everyone in all 14 worlds

worship the feet of the Lord. Lord protects and controls everyone without any partiality.

Lord is like the mother. A mother do not show partiality towards any of her children, she

showers the same love and affection to all her children and takes care of all her children in

the same way. Likewise Lord takes care of everyone in the same way. But in order to

understand that Lord’s grace is there with everyone all the time, we have to surrender unto

the Lord. In the pallavi, Dikshitar mentioned that Lord grants all the boons of His devotees.

Everything we get from this world is the grace of Lord but in order to be able to appreciate

this, we have to surrender to the feet of the Lord. But people who understands that Lord is

the protector and controller of the entire world, they naturally would be able to prostrate at

the feet of the Lord.

Scriptures say that the Lord is the creator of the world and everything came from the Lord.

Lord is both intelligent and material cause of the world. Lord also is essence of everything in

the world. The whole world comes to life only because of the Lord who is intimately present

in each and everything in this world. Even though Lord is present in each and everything,

Lord is not affected by whatever happen to the thing. Lord is present in everything as a

witness of everything. Lord just being a witness, do not have likes-dislikes. Yogis, who are

ever focused on the Lord, naturally surrenders to the Lord. Dikshitar here says let us

remember such a great Lord Ganapathy who is created the world and also entered the world

and protects the world and is been worshipped by yogis, etc.

Charanam:

Purakumbhasambhavamunivaraprapoojitamtrikonamadhyagatam

Muraaripramukhaadyupaasitammoolaadhaarakshetrastitam

Paraadichatvaarivaagatmakampranavaswaroopavakrathundam



NirantaramnitilaChandrakhanDamNijavaamakaravidhrutekshudandam

Karambuja pasha beejapooramkalushavidoorambhutaakaram

Haraadiguruguhatoshitabhimbamhamsadvanibhooshitaherambam

He is worshipped by Superior Saint (Agastiya) who was born out of a pot once

upon a time, who resides in the middle of the (tantric) triangle, who is worshipped

by Lord Murari and other important ones, who is situated in the Mooladhara, who

is the essence of 4 levels of speec, who has twisted trunk in the form of OM, who

is permanent, who bears a crescent moon on the forehead, who holds a stack of

sugarcane in his left hand, who holds noose (pasha) and a pomegranate fruit on

his lotus-like hand, who has a gigantic body, whose round form is pleasing to Lord

Shiva, Lord Murugaetc, who is the protector of the meek, and is adorned by Raga

Hamsadvani.

Among the sages, Sage Agastiya was considered as the greatest of the sages for his

devotion and knowledge. He is known to be born out of pot of water through the join of

seeds of Sun Lord and Rain Lord. Once there were two asurasVatapi and Ilvala, and they

had the great MritaSanjeevani Mantra. They were misusing this mantra in such a way that,

Ilvala would invite a Brahmana for a feast and Vatapi would change his form into a fruit

which the Brahmana would eat. When the Brahmana finishes the fruit, Ilvala would call

Vatapi and Vatapi would come out killing the Brahmana. This was happening for very long

time and Sage Agastiya by the grace of Lord Vinayaka had put an end to this. Agastiya got

invited for the feast and when Agastiya ate the fruit, Vatapi got didn’t come out as he got

digested. It is not just Sage Agasthiya, Lord Ganapathy is worshipped by all great

mahatmas.

In any formal worship of a devata, there are 3 important things which are Mantra, Yantra

and Tantra. Yantra stand for the deity and in the Yantra for Lord Ganapathy there is a

triangle. Lord is the center of the Yantra which means that Lord is the essence of any

worship itself. In our body, there are seven chakras starting from Mooladharam till

sahasraram. Each chakra is presided over by one devata and for Mooladhara chakra, Lord

Ganapathy is the presiding deity. Also, Lord Vinayaka’s idol in Tiruvarur is enclosed in a

triangle and the Tiruvarur is considered as the MooladharaKshetram.

There are about 4 types of shabdham which are Para, Pashyanti, Madhyama and Vaikhari.

Vaikhari is the manifested word that can be heard, Madhyama are the words in the mind



just before getting manifested, Pashyanti is the idea before coming up as words in the mind,

and Para is the unmanifested causal form of the word. For all these 4 forms of speech to

function, the most important requirement is Consciousness and that Consciousness which

illuminates everything is the Lord. He has a twisted trunk which is in the form of OM. It can

also be understood as Lord Vinayaka whose real nature is OM and has a twisted trunk. With

this Dikshitar means that Lord Vinayaka, to whom was given a specific form of elephant

with twisted trunk, stands for Brahman. If Lord is Nirguna, how can he have a form? Lord

always can, because the world was created by him. The Lord Himself became every form in

the world and hence it is certainly possible for the Lord to assume any specific form. But

whatever form it may be, the form the Lord assumes stand for that Ultimate Reality of

Brahman.

Also, it is important to know that the form of the Lord is not the real Lord, it only stand for

the Lord. We may have our ancestor’s picture in our house. The picture is not our ancestor,

but the picture stands for our ancestor. Name and form are not real, but the Lord is the only

Real entity. Thus, Dikshitar calls Lord as Nirantharam. But as mentioned earlier, in order to

for the mind to remember the Lord, the easiest way is to focus on the form of the Lord.

Thus, in the final few lines, Dikshitar speaks describes the form of the Lord.

Lord Vinayakahas a twisted trunk, bears a crescent moon in His forehead, have sugarcane

stack in one hand, have noose and pomegranate fruit in his other hands, who has a huge

body yet who has no imperfections, whose form is enjoyed by Siva and everyone else, who

is present in the inside of heart cave, who protects the meek and who is praised in the raga

called Hamsadvani.



Acharya Arpanam

In the previous month, we saw the life of Muthuswamy Dikshitar, one of the trinities of

Carnatic music. In this month, we will see the life of another Mahatma who is one of the

trinities, Thyagaraja Swami.

At the end of 16th century, the Vijayanaraga Kingdom, which had a glorious past, fell and

the Northern invasion started influencing most part of the southern India. Many Hindu

families in the region of Andhra migrated down south towards Tamil Nadu so as to live a

peaceful life. Among those migrants were the parents of Thyagaraja Swami, Kakarla

Ramabrahmam and Seetamma. They all moved to Thiruvarur, in the Tanjore District.

Ramabrahmam and Seetamma did not have any child for many years. They were very

devoted to Lord Thyagaraja and Lord Rama. In the biography written by Sri T S Sundresha

Sarma, Lord Rama on seeing the devotion of Ramabrahmam, decides to grant him the boon

of child and also wants to uplift the world towards the remembrance of the Lord. So, he

instructs Valmiki Muni to go down south of India towards Kaveri and act as per the

instructions of Mother Kaveri. Valmiki Muni goes down south to Kaveri where Kaveri

instructs Valmiki Muni to be born as a son of Ramabrahmam and Seethamma.

Ramabrahmam and Seethamma did lot of austerities in order to beget a child.

Ramabrahamam out of frustration and anger shouted at the Lord to grant him the boon of a

child. He was then blessed with a boy, but the boy was fickle minded, short tempered

person. He was named Japyesa. Ramabrahmam having understood his mistake, prayed

again and pleaded for a good child. Valmiki Muni waited for this occasion and thus entered

the womb of Seethamma and thus was born a boy on 4th May 1767 and the parents named

him Thyagaraja, after the Lord Thyagaraja.

Ramabrahmam educated Thyagaraja in music, veda, Sanskrit and astrology in the very

early age. He was also initiated into Rama Taraka Mantra at the age of eight and young

Thyagaraja was so devoted to Lord Rama from his very early childhood. Unlike every other

child at his age, Thyagaraja was always interested in repeating the name of the Lord in

seclusion all the time and thus made him have the vision of Lord even at a very young age.

At the age of thirteen he composed his first song on Lord Rama and thus started the

musical stream that never stopped.



Many people today see Thyagaraja Swami as a musician and composer but truly he was a

Mahatma, a great Bhakta and Jnaani, for whom music was just used as a medium to

express that supreme devotion. Every Mahatma expresses that devotion in various different

ways. Some may write Sanskrit works, some may teach, some may write songs. All the

songs of Thyagaraja Swami are full with devotion, along with apt composition and words.

Scriptures say that all emotions should be directed towards the Lord and when they are

directed towards Lord, that will help purify our mind and thereby it would take us close

towards the Lord.

Ramabrahmam, after the birth of Thyagaja, moved to Thiruvayaaru leaving Thiruvarur. The

king of Tanjore gave him a house in Thiruvayaaru and that’s where Thyagaraja Swami spent

rest of his life. Thyagaraja was then married to Parvati at the age of eighteen. When he was

23, Parvati died unexpectedly. Soon after Thyagaraja married Parvati’s sister Kanakamba.

They both had a daughter by name Seethalakshmi. Seethalakshmi was then married to

Kuppuswamy and to them born a boy by name Thyagaraja who did not have any children.

With that, Thyagaraja Swami’s direct lineage ended. But Thyagaraja Swami had a long

tradition of disciples.

Thyagaraja Swami had spent all his time remembering Lord Rama and singing about the

Lord. He used to walk in the streets singing and get bhiksha for food every day. Thyagaraja

Swami never sang for money or name or fame. On hearing about Thyagaraja Swami, the

king of Tanjore wanted to invite him to his palace and award him with lot of money along

with the post as a minister in the court. The king invited Thyagarajar to the palace and

asked him to sing in praise of the king. The King told him that if he sings in praise of the

king, he would be granted lot of wealth and a position as a minister in the court. In the

palace, Thyagaraja Swami, not distracted by any of wealth and position, he sang in the

palace, “Can wealth give more happiness or the name of the Lord”. Thus, singing he walked

out of the palace and was back to the regular routine of getting bhiksha for food every day.

Rama Nama was always on the lips of Thyagaraja Swami at all points in time. He had an

idol in his house which he never missed to worship any day. His brother Japyesa, who was

fool and short tempered, couldn’t withstand the popularity Thyagaraja was getting and

hence decided to get separated from his brother. He split his ancestor property and in anger

he even threw the idol of Lord Rama into the river Kaveri. Thyagaraja Swami’s became



extremely sorrowful in knowing this and sang many songs to express that sadness of losing

the idol which he very dearly been worshipping for many years.

Thyagaraja Swami went on an extensive pilgrimage to all temples in South India and sang

many songs in praise of the Lord in the temples he visited. He took formal sanyasa towards

his end and was spending the rest of the life focusing only on the Lord. Before he attained

Mahasamadhi, Thyagaraja Swami had completed chanting of the Rama Nama more than

Crore and thus was completely absorbed in the thought of Lord Rama. Thyagarja Swami

attained Mahasamadhi on 6th January 1847.

The Kritis written by Thyagaraja Swami not only have the musical greatness but they also

have poetic and also based on the scriptures. Being from a Telugu family, Thyagaraja

Swami’s songs were predominantly in Telugu. Thyagaraja swami being well versed in

Sanskrit, also wrote many songs in Sanskrit. Though all the songs of Thyagaraja Swami are

famous, his Pancharatna Kritis stand out as the most popular group of Kritis. Even in this

period, during every year Thyagaraja Aradhana, great musicians sit together and sing the

Pancharatna Kritis as a tribute for the great composition and the devotion expressed

through them.

Pancha ratna Kritis

1. Jagadananda Karaka – Raga Naatai

2. Duduku gala – Raga Gowla

3. Sadhinchane – Raga Aarabhi

4. Kanakana Ruchira – Raga Varali

5. Endaro Mahanubhavulu – Raga Sri



Ishwara Smaranam

Guruvadivaanavale amritanandamayi

Tiruvadi panindhen varamondru tharuvaai

Amritapureshwari ananda vadive

Arulodu enaiyum padamalar serpai

O Mother Amritanandamayi! Who is in the form of Guru

I have surrendered unto your feet please grant me a boon

O Amritapureshwari! Who is the embodiment of bliss

Unite me unto your feet by your grace.

This song speaks about Amma in the form of Guru. As Lord Krishna mentioned in Bhagavad

Gita, Lord will come in front of the devotee in which ever form the devotee thinks about the

Lord. Arjuna looked up to Lord Krishna as Guru in the battle field and thus Lord Krishna took

the Guru bhava to teach Arjuna the highest knowledge of Brahman. Mahatmas alone can be

Guru to teach this Ultimate Knowledge of Brahman because they are the living embodiment

of the knowledge mentioned in the scriptures. For many people, scriptures are very tough

nut to crack and thus the requirement of Guru is inevitable. Guru do not just teach the

knowledge and then just let go of the student, the Guru also shows how to use the

knowledge by living the knowledge.

Having attained such a Mahatma, only thing we can do is to surrender at their feet. Lord

Krishna in Bhagavad Gita 4th chapter mentions how to approach a Guru. The Lord says that

a student having attained the Guru should surrender unto the Guru, do service to the Guru

and has questions about Brahman. Thus, the song starts by saying that I am surrendering

at the feet of the Guru who is of the nature of Bliss, please grant me the boon to realize

everything is Lord alone. This can be achieved only through the grace of the Lord. The grace

of the Lord is ever available at all point in time, but only when there is surrender of ego, the

grace can be realized and that grace will help the seeker to realize that there is nothing here

apart from Brahman. This knowledge that everything is pervaded in and out by the Lord is

the highest surrender of a devotee, highest knowledge of a spiritual seeker.

Dayai vadivaanavale sivashakti parvati

Tanayan azhaitten ezhundarulvaaye

Dinam unnai naadi varum bhaktargal kootam



Manam tannil thondrume devi nin roopam

O Mother! Who is the embodiment of compassion! Who is the unmanifested power

of Siva, Parvati!

Your son is calling please come

Crowd of devotees rushes daily to have your darshan

Your form will be revealed in our mind

Guru is also like a mother who takes care of her children. A newly born baby cannot do

anything on its own and has 100% surrender towards the mother. When the child grows up

into a kid, the surrender kind of reduces as the kid would start thinking and seeing many

things. But as baby, there is 100% surrender unto the mother. It makes easy for the

Mother to take care of the child. It is not just that things become easy for the mother, the

child gets proper care at appropriate time which helps the child to grow well .The song calls

Guru as the mother and requests mother to come to help the child grow towards the goal of

Moksha. Guru is the embodiment of compassion. There cannot be any equivalent to the

compassion of a Mahatma. They don’t have any desire in the world, they don’t have any

duty to do in this world, yet only for the sake of people in the world, Mahatmas try to help

people and take people towards the goal of Moksha which Mahatmas are enjoying every

moment.

But being the compassionate master and blissful, there will be attraction which will make

more and more people to approach such a master. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa says that

flower need not advertise that it has honey to the honey bee. The moment the flower

blossoms, honey bees would come in to taste and enjoy the nectar. Likewise, more and

more people would come to enjoy the bliss of being near such a Mahatmas. And when there

is bliss of the Self, that bliss always overflows and such a blissful face is the most attractive

face. Whenever we see a happy person, the mind would remember the person for

sometime. If it is about a normal person, Mahatmas ever have the happy face and thus

such a blissful appearance easily gets into the mind and is always easy to remember as

well.

Arulvadivaanavale adi parashakti

Anputan tutiten aadaripaaye

Vedattin sarattai tarum nin upadesham

Paapatai pokidum taaye un darshanam



O Mother! Who is embodiment of grace! The Primordial Power!

I salute you with love

Your teachings give the essence of the scriptures

Your vision will remove all sins!

Ramana Maharishi says that the presence of a Mahatma is enough to uplift the entire world.

This is because they always see their own Self everywhere and hence can uplift everyone to

the Self. That is the real grace of Mahatma. Their very presence can transform everyone in

the world. But only those who surrender to such Mahatmas would be able to understand

this. The goal of Moksha is something incomprehensible, which cannot be understood until it

is realized. But we can get a glimpse of what it is by looking at the Mahatma. Mahatmas,

being compassionate, wants only the goodness of everyone and that goodness being the

eternal happiness which the Mahatma is experiencing every moment. To such a compassion

we can only fall at their feet again and again with reverence.

Mahatmas have nothing else to speak but about truth mentioned in the scriptures. Their

words are nothing but the essence of the scriptures. When the knowledge of Brahman

dawns in us, that will remove all the sorrow and that can only give Bliss. Sins are

synonymous sorrow. When we realize that Lord alone exist and nothing else, that will put an

end to all sorrows and suffering thereby making us enjoy the happiness of the Self.

Tinkalai choodukindra sivanin tiru naamam

Enkalai kaattitave anu dinam koorukiraay

Kavitayil ezhudhidave enakkum iyalavillai

Purviyalum un perumai ezhuttinil atanka villa

You chant the divine name of Lord Shiva

Who wears the crescent moon as an ornament on his head

I am unable to write your greatnes in poems

O ruler of the earth, your glory cant be written or expressed in words.

The most important sadhana that is required to be done by everyone is the constant

remembrance of the Lord. As Arjuna mentions in Bhagavad Gita, the mind is always

turbulent and hence it is not possible to remember Lord at all times. If there is a role model

for every good action, it will be easy for us to follow. Thus, Mahatmas along with the

sadhakas perform all sadhana just like an ordinary person only for the sake of the



sadhakas. Mahatmas have achieved what is to be achieved, and hence all actions they do

are only for the welfare of the world and there cannot be any other motive. To even

describe such a Mahatma, it is impossible because we don’t have the knowledge to exactly

know about them. All we can know is what they exhibit to us in the form of their actions and

words, but it is important to know they are one with Brahman appearing in the form of

Mahatma to guide everyone else. As the Lalitha Sahasranama goes Lord is “Manovacham

agochara – where mind and words cannot reach”. That is the state of Brahman beyond all

limitations. Such a Brahman can only be hinted and can never be described completely in

words or any other form. The only to know is to realize that Brahman as ones own nature of

Self.

This song of Amma was set in the Raga Hamsadhwani.



Anukramaanika Nirdesham

1. Editorial – a general message

2. Sangeetha Prakaashanam – music and concepts of music explained in simple terms.

3. Hindustani Vivaranam – concepts of Hindustani music explained in a comparative

study with carnatic music.

4. Raaga Vivaranam – analysis/explanation of a raaga.

5. Kriti Deepam – a kriti of music explained.

6. Acharya Arpanam – remembrance of an acharya of music.

7. Ishwara Smaranam – remembrance of Ishwara through a devotional song.

1. Comments

2. Suggestions

3. Corrections (word, sloka, content etc.)

4. Would like to see specific content

5. Would like to contribute (through research from websites, don’t need to write up the

content yourself)

Mail [email protected].

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http://vedantatattva.org/vedantagroup/SangeethaVaibhavam/

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