Comments on "oka pilupulo" Song

As I have recounted somewhere, my formative years were spent in listening to lots of songs daily – this intense musical immersion happened for at least six years. The movie theater across the road used to play songs before every show, starting with the devotional songs by Ghantasala. There was no radio at home but occasionally I would to listen to AIR station from Vijayawada across a neighbor’s house. I remember listening to Dr. Balamuralikrishna, Smt. Gopalaratnam, and other vocalists in the morning. Of course, I liked the lady vocalist’s rendition – particularly her sensitive touch with bhakti feeling; her recordings of Annamayya’s compositions are superb. This song exquisitely captures the urgency of a desperate call to the Lord of Seven Hills.

I do not know the author of this lyric. But it has been in circulation widely and the record has been played at events for many decades. The Lord of Seven Hills (we call him endearingly as “Venkanna (వెంకన్న) ” or “Peda Venkanna (పెద వెంకన్న)” is our favorite Lord in the family. Whenever mother made a pledge to the hilly Lord, she would fulfill her vows with utmost fidelity. Even in the midst of a heavy storm with flooded train tracks,  

I made a road trip (via Markapuram and Kadapa) to Tirupati to keep father’s word. This song very delicately condenses the feelings of every devotee. It says: “We come to You with our meager savings (and limited energies) to honor our vows. You demand interest, even compound interest from us. But we are hapless people; we have no principal with us. You have to remove our troubles and help us.” Often we overestimate our value, worth, or possessions. Money, health, intelligence, or even family can all be lost in a moment. It could be due to events beyond our control. When we come face to face with life and some of its hard realities, then we realize our utter helplessness. This writer watched at least two terminal patients: One slowly slipping away due to consumption and another succumbing to cancer. Even with ample money, family, and name (prestige) there are times when one is tragically left (abandoned) in a hospital bed or bare hallway. Lucky are those who can recall and surrender to Lord Srinivasa. It is not easy to remember Him when the body is crippled and mind on the verge of losing all its faculties (memory, speech, thought, and imagination).

The Lord of Seven Hills does not need our monies or jewels. He gently instructs us to keep our word and follow at least one moral in life: “Be truthful”. The same message is conveyed repeatedly in the Satyanarayana (of Annavaram) Vrata story.

“You are the majestic steadfast Lord like a mountain. I come to You with high hopes. Give us Your firm support and rescue (protect) us.” Sri Balaji never failed His devotees. Once we reached the top without any prior arrangements. I was in the long queue muttering unpleasant words and hastily finding fault with the clerks at the counter. It was unbecoming of me to complain. Others too were there in the hot sun for hours waiting patiently. I hold no special claim on His grace. Yet, suddenly out of nowhere a gentleman came to us handing a “special quota slip” for a slot in a nice cottage. Srinivasa’s concern for the struggling devotee cannot be explained; you’ve to directly experience it and feel it inside (heart). 

“You extend an assuring right hand. You are the Lord of protection and remover of fear. Please shower Your protection on us and (help us maneuver this life boat) show us this precious boat of birth - to cross the difficult currents of life.” Srinivasa’s left hand gestures us this: Seek the refuge of my feet and you do not have to worry about the deep waters of life. The Seven Hills, the surrounding towns and hamlets are very sacred to the faithful. Numerous poets, saints, and gurus treaded on these roads and wandered in the gardens here. I conclude with a very humble experience on these hills. On one of the visits I was thinking about the great composer Tallapaka Annamacharya. A flickering thought crossed my mind: “These roads, brick laden paths, and steps – they are holy. How can I move around with footwear here? Perhaps I should walk on the hill bare feet. But my feet are not as strong as before. Now I get planter warts.” That evening I lost my chappals while returning from dinner at Vengamamba! That night I felt exhilarated at the incident. Left to my own devices I would not have dared to walk with naked feet. Next twenty-four hours I was there on the Hill, limping and walking like a cat on a hot tin roof - remembering Sri Hari at every pebble at my bare feet. I felt so happy at Srinivasa’s intervention and grace. He let me fulfill a small wish. Copyright 2020 by the author

తరణి = boat

Lyrics of "Akati veLala" Song - Annamayya's Composition

రాగం: ముఖారి                              తాళం: రూపక

ఆ(కటి వేళల అలపైన వేళలను
వే(కువ హరినామమె దిక్కు మరిలేదు

కొఱమాలి యున్నవేళ కులము చెడిన వేళ
చెఱవడి యొరుల చిక్కిన వేళ
ఒఱపైన హరినామ మొక్కటే గతిగాక
మఱచి తప్పిననైన మరిలేదు తెర(గు

ఆపద వచ్చినవేళ ఆరడి( బడిన వేళ
పాపపు వేళల భయపడిన వేళ
ఓపినంత హరినామ మొక్కటే గతిగాక
మాపుదా( పొరలిన మరిలేదు తెర(గు

సంకెల( బెట్టిన వేళ చంప బిలిచిన వేళ
అంకలిగా నప్పులవా రా(రగించిన వేళ
వేంకటేశు నామమే విడిపించ గతిగాక
మంకుబుద్ధి( దొరలిన మరిలేదు తెర(గు

raagam: mukhaari                              taaLam: ruupaka

aa(kaTi vELala alapaina vELalanu
vE(kuva harinaamame dikku marilEdu

ko~ramaali yunnavELa kulamu ceDina vELa
ce~ravaDi yorula cikkina vELa
o~rapaina harinaama mokkaTE gatigaaka
ma~raci tappinanaina marilEdu tera(gu

aapada vaccinavELa aaraDi( baDina vELa
paapapu vELala bhayapaDina vELa
Opinanta harinaama mokkaTE gatigaaka
maapudaa( poralina marilEdu tera(gu

samkela( beTTina vELa campa bilichinavELa
amkaligaa nappula vaaraa(ragincinavELa
vEnkaTESu naamamE viDipinca gatigaaka
mankubuddhi( doralina marilEdu tera(gu

(I've listened to two or three renderings of this song by various artists. I am sad to say I am utterly disappointed. They could not capture the emotional depth, the anguish, and the tribulations enumerated in this moving composition. Perhaps some day I have to upload my own voice (earlier I put some original songs at Gosthajammi channel at YouTube) for this unique song. Or I have to request my music director friend to record this song. In such dire situations we remember the immense loss of Ghantasala.) 

Endaro Mahanubhavulu - Some Thoughts

We first got to know this famous Tyagaraja song in high school. Then we had four languages to cope with: Telugu I, Telugu II, English, and Hindi. Father used to help me in many ways for my final board examination. Often he would meet our class teachers in the Saturday weekly market or main street and politely enquire about my studies. One English teacher even offered free tuition due to my father’s extraordinary good offices and communication skills with people. Not wanting to take any risk, he procured for me a thick tome (guide) written by five pundits for the prescribed Telugu text. There were many interesting lessons and selections for us, two or three stand out in memory still to this day. 1) A section from ఆంధ్ర మహాభారతము (నన్నయ) 2) an essay on Tyagaraja with some examples of his compositions and 3) a few poems by ఎఱ్ఱాప్రగడ.  I understood most of the essay about Tyagaraja, but I must confess it did not fully touch my heart. This is not due to any unfamiliarity with devotional music. Even as a teenager I used to listen to a number of Carnatic music pieces (both vocal and instrumental) either in live stage performances, small intimate family gatherings, or on the AIR radio. Plus there was quite a bit of singing at home or around in the streets. After all, for any art (particularly poetry or music) we have to really feel it (in our hearts). Only then you can fully appreciate it and if one is lucky, we can go beyond all the way to the stratosphere. The music finally has to touch the inner self (ఆత్మ). I learnt after many years the sad truth about music: Only a very select few are blessed with it and still a miniscule are truly moved by it. That is, perhaps a few in a thousand can completely understand a Tyagaraja (Annamayya or Dikshitar) composition - I mean hear the complete lyrics, meaning of each phrase, entire emotional content, and genuinely feel the melting of heart inwardly. Now let us come to this gem, the fifth one in ‘Pancha-ratna’ set.  

1. చందురు వర్ణుని = Here, it refers to the color of 4 O’clock flower. The flowers come in many different colors and shades but there is one variety with a strong blue-purple-gray combination. Rama’s color is difficult to describe - it is not like blue sky, it tends more towards the dark water filled clouds’ color. The clouds are ever ready to burst into a downpour, a downpour of compassion. So, this line says thus: “These are all great people, great souls who can see (internally) in their lotuses of hearts Sri Rama’s body hue and attractive form, and enjoy the supreme joy (Brahma-ananda) that arises spontaneously upon looking at Sri Rama”.

This is not ordinary joy, it is like an innocent child having a grand birthday celebration sitting in her mother’s lap surrounded by her friends and relatives. Now imagine that joy multiplied by thousand, nay million times. The venerable Paramacharya explained about Brahma-ananda somewhere in one of his speeches (అనుగ్రహ భాషణములు).   

2. సరగున = swiftly, వడిగా, వెనువెంటనే; స్వాoతము = మనసు, mind;

There are some who can readily surrender themselves and their (lotus like) minds at the feet of a guru or the Lord (Sri Rama) . They are in deed great persons. For the modern analytically trained person (scientist or genuinely rational enquiring individual), it may seem odd rather unbecoming to touch the feet of an elder, దేవత, or guru. But man, in most situations carries the burden of “bloated ego” with possessions, wealth, degrees, or official status. For learning anything or for eagerly accepting ‘grace’, the first thing we have to surrender ourselves is our useless vanity and the burdensome feeling of ego. How tragically we miss such invaluable opportunities to learn and receive blessings - sad, one is at times unbelievably stupid, come to think of it. These basic manners should be learnt in childhood. Deliberately one must bow and wait for the guru’s words. There is no other way in this dangerous forest of life.

        

3. Here the individual’s mind is compared to a wadering monkey. మానస వనచర, మానస వనరుహ both seem appropriate. If we are trying to capture the forever drifting of thought (the mind), then the comparison with monkey is apt. But monkeys too are very focussed when they groom each other carefully looking for the pesky parasites. A person’s mind can also be described as a delicate lotus flower - after all it too gets bruised easily, yet in the right conditions it emanates lovely fragrance and exudes gentle beauty.

4. This line is really exquisite.

నీ మేను నామ వైభవములను

నీ పరాక్రమ ధైర్య శాంత మానసము నీవులను

వచన సత్యమును

రఘువర నీ యెడ సద్భక్తియు జనించకను

దుర్మతములను కల్లజేసినట్టి

నీ మదినెఱింగి

Here we get to learn the rules of Telugu grammar (oh, the great Chinnayasuri - we learnt it in Pre-University, 12th standard). When we have a list of items, we add lu+nu = lanu (లు+ను=లను), at the end of the list. Now to quip, here is a laundry list. May I digress a bit with the indulgence of the reader? We had a very gentle dhoban, actually we had two excellent launderers, the one in the village known as Simhachalam and the other वेङ्कन्न. The latter was a highly evolved devout person and often treated most simple maladies. Like many householders we used to keep track of the clothes before handing over to the launderer. We never realized our वेङ्कन्न was much smarter - he would put a black identifying mark for each household. That simple technique solved the problem of logistics. Then why did we waste our time in keeping a notebook for the laundry list? Just a silly habit of getting engrossed in the worldly things. The precious time could have been spent in learning a Tyagaraja kirtana or हरे नाम स्मरण! If the launderer can handle hundreds of clothes, sort them, wash them, and press them into neat stacks for each house, then why should we unnecessarily fret and waste time in making lists? It is better to make a list of the Vishnu-sahasranama or other important matters.

Here in this list we can pick up any one item and make the mind centered on that item alone. It could be Sri Rama’s graceful body, His name, His splendour, or His courage. Over many centuries, composers have dwelt on His inimitable qualities and sung soul-stirring songs. Or we can just focus on His unwavering commitment to a word given. He offered loyal friendship to Sugriva and kept His word. He willingly gave protection to Vibhishana and made him King of Lanka, right on the spot. All those people who constantly keep extolling Rama’s qualities through joyous songs are indubitably great souls!

5. కనకకశిపుసుత = ప్రహ్లాద

They are all pious, great, and eternal (i.e., they are ever present and exist all the time. We just need to ask for their help.). They all know and feel the Brahma-ananda.

6. Here the esteemed poet composer (of course, foremost Tyagayya was (is) a very great disciplined bhakta) obliquely hints at the essence of our dharma (Hinduism, for want of a better equivalent word in English). Whatever is mentioned in the ancient books, namely Srimad-Bhagavatam, Valmiki Ramayana (or any of the faithful translations in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi etc.), Gita, Vedas, and Puranas is genuinely true; the truly learned scholars or saints see no disagreements or discrepancies in various canonical texts. One can faithfully follow any one of the six schools (షణ్మతములు). See for example some of the illuminating expositions given by the revered Paramacharya. The exact number of the celestials is thirty-three crores. There are those who have insight into the minds of the celestials, who are endowed with long life due to the joy of music (with its exalted exquisite combination of the appropriate melody, rhythm, and meaning), with boundless communion with Paramatma - they’re all dear to Tyagaraja and they all are great persons, great souls.

7. When the love and affection accumulates and overflows, devotees take the name of Sri Rama and such persons are sincere servants of Rama (who is praised by Tyagaraja) - they’re so many of them, they all are great people! Indeed. (This is not a complete commentary or exposition on the great composition. I’ve tried to choose several stanzas and dwell on their deeper meaning and import.)