Nannu = me; brova = to protect, rescue; niiku = (for) you; inta = this much, so much;(niiku+inta = niikinta); tamasamaa = delay, slow to respond; naapai = upon me, mine; neramemi = what infraction (mistake) have I done? What is my error, crime? Baluku = paluku, tell me; O manasa = O mind.
Chinna natane = in childhood itself, in youth itself; chelimi = (your) friendship, association with you; kalga = get established, get rooted; kori = desiring; chintimpa leda = did I not think, did I not ponder?
Nija = own, Sri Rama’s; dasa = servant, an individual who submits totally to Rama (Narayana); varulaku (vaaraluku) = to those excellent people, to those rare exceptional persons; tammulato = with brothers, together with brothers; nivu = you; baguga = in a nice way, pleasingly, appropriately; puttaga leda = were you not born? Gaja-raja rakshaka = the protector of Elephant King (see Srimad-Bhagavatam); tanayulanu = sons; kani pencha = gave birth and brought them up; leda = not, didn’t you? Tyagaraja-nuta = praised by Tyagaraja.
The song opens with a direct question to Sri Rama thus: “How come You are so lazy in responding to my requests? How come? Rama, why are you so lethargic to come to my rescue?”
I remember an incident with my cousin brother many years back. It succinctly brings out the ‘state of lethargy’. He just graduated from high school and was still idling at home. He loved languages particularly Telugu and Sanskrit. Even after the summer holidays he still used to lazily hang around the house getting up late in the mornings (> 10 a.m.). One morning our grandmother got totally fed up with my cousin’s irresponsible behavior. Early morning at 7 a.m. she got a stiff coconut (leaf spline) broom and gave my brother good thrashing. He was still in deep sleep with stretched out body on the cot in the garden. On top of that she poured a bucketful of ice-cold water on the lazy future scholar (pundit). She sternly asked, “What do you want to do? You need a job to live. Tell me seriously.” Shivering my cousin replied tentatively thus: “I want to be a Telugu pundit and get a job as first grade teacher.”
Grandmother by then had mellowed and pushed him to go and pursue the education at a free Sanskrit college near Godavari River. That push changed everything for my cousin. It made his life and he had a productive career in teaching. So, for the ordinary humans lethargy need to be broken – broken deliberately through effort.
Now, here why is He not listening to the requests? We do not know and we cannot fathom. If the great composer has difficulty in understanding, who are we to decipher this puzzle? Apparently Tyagaraja got into devotion and bhakti at a very tender age. The second stanza really puts the Lord into the accusatory witness box (witness stand) for questioning: For people like Dasaratha (and Devaki, etc.), you took the pains of coming to the earth with your brothers. Ex: Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata, and Satrughna. In Dwapara Yuga, you descended on the earth with Balarama again. O the savior of Gajendra! As a single parent you even raised and brought up the sons (Lava and Kusa) according to the established norms. Further at the appropriate time you also put them on the throne too. Compared to all such complex tasks, isn’t it easy to just speak with me? O mind, tell me what is my crime? Where did I go wrong? The song leaves us with a sad sense and puts us into a meditation of Sri Rama and His inscrutable ways. Copyright 2021 by the author
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