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Dear Fellow abhimAnis of Carnatic Sangeetham:
 
I would like to brief you on a new initative to
pay our reverence to Saint ThyagarAja and other
luminasries of Carnatic Music .
 
The introduction below written for a new web site
on this topic describes in detail the nature and
scope of this initative. Please review and comment .
Thanks ,
V.Sadagopan
 
 
Introduction to NaadhOpAsanaa of Saint Thyagaraja
**********************************************************
Saint Thyagaraja was a Nadha Yogi. He was steeped
in NaadhOpasana of his ishta dhaivam , Lord Raamachandra.
He performed daily AarAdhanam for the Lord and practised
"Bhakthi Yogam"  through Naadha KusumAnjali and Naadha
NaivEdhyam . To this great Raama BhakthA , Music was
both Yoga ( a path , upAsana) and Siddhi ( realization , end
goal) . In this introduction , we will closely follow the thesis
of late Dr.V.Raghavan of Madras University in understanding
the NadhOpAsana and Bhakthi yogam of Saint Thyagaraja , 
 
Saint Thyagaraja related to Raama as "Saptha Svara SanchArI"
( the Lord who lives and moves in the seven notes) . He saw the Lord as
"Susvaramaya bhUshaNan"-- adorned all over with beautiful
aabharaNams of auspicious svarams) . Succinctly speaking ,
Lord Raamachandran to him is of Naadha BrahmAnandha roopam
( Embodiment of the bliss of Naadham) .
 
Saint Thyagaraja was an ardent believer of VishNu ghAnam;
to him , it was a nithya karma ( daily act to be observed unfailingly).
He evaluated the songs as purposeful or pointless based on 
their links to Sri Raamachandra : " It is immaterial if a song
which does not refer to Sri Raama is sung or not sung "
( AsAveri Krithi: Samayumu delisi) .
 
SwamigaL  has instructed us to seat Raama , the Supreme Lord
on a rathnamaya peetam  of suNaadham  and  Susvarams
and perform Paadha Sevanam ( worship of His sacred feet)
and archanam ( worship)  Him with the fragrant flowers of
His names ( Sri Raaga Krithi: Naama Kusumamulace ) .
 
He has also warned us that music without Bhakthi would 
lead us astray and away from Moksham .He has come down 
strongly on the Bhaagavathaas who are deficient in the knowledge
of Raaga ( Music) and anuraaga (Devotion) .
 
Thyaga Brahmam  is the saadhaka ( UpAsaka--practioner) of
the Upanishadic Udhgitha Vidhya closely linked to Saama Vedham .
Udhgita PraNava upAsanai led ThyAga Brahmam to visualize
His Lord as the beautiful parrot sitting in the cage of PraNavam 
( OmkAra Pancharakeeran) . He was OmkAra Sadhanan
( One who resides inside the PraNavam) .He is the embodiment of
Naadham ( NaadhAthmakan) and its BrahmAnandha rasam .It is
in this  context we have to  understand the proclamation of Saint
ThyAgarAja in his Garuda Dhwani krithi , Anandha Saagara :
" Oh Raama ! One that does not float on the ocean of music ,
adored by the gods and the VedAs , which is BrahmAnandha itself,
is verily a burden to the earth ".
 
Saint Thyagaraja's intense love and reverence for Lord Raamachandran 
made him dependent on the Lord as his Father , Mother , Brother and 
every thing . For Saint Thyagaraja , " the intense and sublime attachment"
of the saadhakan to the Lord and His auspicious attributes is the sure 
means  to liberation from samsAric bonds ( Mokshamu Galadhaa?).
 
In his view , the saadhakan surrenders himself to the Lord unconditionally
and is swept away by Bhagavath Bhakthi to gain moksha saamrAjyam .
This is consistent with the teachings of great AchAryAs. For instance ,
Bhakthi yogam defined by AchArya RaamAnuja is verily " the unceasing
and loving meditation upon the Supreme Being , who is the home of all
auspicious attributes( anantha kalyANa guNams) , and who is untainted
with any imperfection whatsoever (Sarva dhOsha rahithan) . Bhakthi
yogam  is verily the reflection of the infinite qualities and the glory of
the absolute Brahman , the PurushOtthaman , whose savroopa
(inherent nature) , roopa( physical form) and GuNaas( attributes) 
are enjoined to be meditated upon ". To Saint Thyagaraja ,
Raamachandran was that Supreme Being and undisputed
PurushOtthaman ( noblest among all PurushAs) and SwamigaL
sang abundantly about Lord Raamachandran's Svaroopam ,
Roopam ( Mohana Raama) and divine GuNams .
 
ThyAgabrahmam served Raama from sunrise (SuprabhAdham)
to late into the night (SayanOthsavam)  , sang about Him , celebrated Him
and led a simple life free from material temptations . ThyAga Brahmam
had unceasing rememberance of  Lord Raamachandra with intense devotion .
Raaga and anuraaga blended together seamlessly and Thyaga Brahmam
dedicated himself " heart and soul to the eternal service " of Lord Raamachandra
as His bonded servant ( BaNDurethi kolu : HamsAnandhi krithi ) . He could not
live without His Lord even for a moment and was pulled towards his Lord
like a piece of iron that is pulled towards a powerful magnet.
 
ThyagarAja's intense love for the Lord found _expression_ in various forms
of Krithis as a part of his nithya Araadhanam . The nine types of Bhakthi
to the Lord identified by PrahlAdha ( SravaNam, Keerthanam , SmaraNam,
Paadha sEvanam , archanam, vandhanam , dhAsyam , sakhyam and
Aathma nivEdhanam) became the guide posts as well as props
for Thyagaraja SwamigaL . When his Bhakthi yogam ripened ,
the Lord became the sole reason for his existence . In his HarikAmbhOji
krithi , " DinamaNi Vamsa Tilaka LaavaNya " and Kaapi Raaga Krithi ,
" Paahi KalyANa Raama , Paavana guNa Raama" SwamigaL declares
with utter faith that Raama is " my youth , my love , my beauty and its
display , my joy , my strength and He is the very foundation of my being
( jeevAdhharamu) , the source of my auspiciousness, the bliss of
my mind , my Supreme Brahman" . Raama becomes thus ThyAgarAja's
Sarvasvam ( Every thing) .
        
Out of this intense bhakthi flowed the tidal waves of bhakthi-laden
krithis of Saint Thyagaraja untill the last moments of his blessed life
devoted to uninterrupted service to the Lord . Thyaga Brahmam became
Naadha Brahmam; latter was the title taken by him ,when he entered
into sanyAsa asramam towards the very end of his life . 
 
This is to inform Carnatic Sangeetha rasikAs that a group of us here
have created a new web site on  the Raama Bhakthi of Thyaga Brahmam 
entitled "NaadhOpAsana " ; here , we will present selected krithis of
his and add brief commentaries on them in English to illustrate 
how his multifaceted devotion to Lord Raamachandran intertwined with 
his practise of Naadha yogam . He was indeed a supreme Saadhaka ,
who practised the Saadhana Sapthaka described by AchArya RaamAnuja
in his SrI BhAshya : VivEka ( discrimination ), VimOka( freedom from
the cycle of  desire and anger) , abhyAsa ( unceasing rememberance of
the  Lord ) , Kriyaa ( Vedic recitation , Yaaga-Yajnams , benevolence and
penance ) , KalyANa ( Practise of virtues ) , anvashtaa ( Freedom from
weakness) , anuddharsha ( freedom from excessive merriment) .
Viveka was followed by nirvEdha ( sorrow over lost time spent on
fruitless pursuits) , virakthi( detatchment from worldly things)
and samsAra bheethi ( fear about being locked into the unending
cycles of births and deaths) .
 
We have selected illustrative krithis of Saint ThyagaraAja 
sung by Masteros like MaharAjapuram Viswanatha Iyer ,
VeeNai DhanammAL , ThiruvAduthurai Raajarathnam PiLLai ,
Ariyakkudi , Semmangudi , Chembai , Madhurai MaNi Iyer,
GNB , T.V.SankaranArAyaNan , BalamuraLi KrishNa ,
KVN , T.N. Seshagopalan ,D.K.Jayaraman , S,Ramanathan
and many others from public concerts .I would be adding
the Commentaries in English for those songs to gain
a better appreciation of the Saahithyams and the Bhakthi bhAvam
enshrined in them by the Saint-Savant of ThiruvayyARu. This is
a minimal effort to kindle deeper studies on these immortal
Krithis .
 
We are a group of Sangeetha rasikas based overseas and would like
to extend this approach to selected Krithis of other great Sankeerthana   
AchAryAs like Dikshithar ( SrI RaamAshtakam to start with ) ,
Purandara Daasa ( krithis on :Lord VenkatEsa) and AnnamAchArya
( Krithis on Lord Narasimha and Ahobila dhivya dEsam ).
 
We plan to spend net proceeds from any income from these initatives
to support the cause of the advancement of Carnatic Music in India
and abroad thru our own modest efforts :(1) Awards to recognize
budding talent (2) encouragement of research in areas that need
attention to protect and preserve rare krithis and PaadAntharams ,
(3) Women composers and (4) the creation of krithis in 72 Mela Raagams .
It is a long journey that I hope that number of you would join
to succeed in these efforts .
 
The songs chosen for these "Lec-Dem " will be from public concerts
of Sangeetha VidhvAns for Educational purposes . We will scrupulously
avoid inclusion of songs from commercial CDs and recordings .
 
From time to time , we will seek the help of the Members of this
illustrious group for identification of rare krithis and their sung
versions by Sangeetha VidhvAns for content development .
 
We thank you in advance for your encouragement and support of
our modest efforts to serve the noble art of Carnatic Sangeetham .
 
Please write to me about your views and comments about
the relevance and directions of this proposed initative . It will
be very valuable to hear from as many of You as possible 
at this commencement stage of this initative.
 
Thank you all in advance for your inputs ,
Oppiliappan Koil V.Sadagopan
Scarborough , New York
 
P.S : Some sixteen years ago , with the blessings of Sangeetha
Kalanidhis Semmangudi and KVN , a major effort was completed
to have an appreciation of the Bhaava Thrayam of Saint ThyagarAjA's
Ghana Raaga Pamcha Ratnams in the from of a book in Tamil .
Detailed notations , meanings as well as the rendered versions of
Pancha Ratna Krithis were included. That book is out of print now .
Hence an e-book version of this printed book was released 
last year with the help of a friend from Bangalore .It is a 300 plus
page book . You can access it at :
 
http://www.sadagopan.org/nk/nkmain.htm
 
"NK" here stands for Naadha KusumAnjali .
It is in the spirit of this e-book , the new initative 
to cover other Krithis of Saint ThyagarAja ,
Dikshithar , Daasar , NaarAyaNa Theerthar,Annamayyaa
is initated . We approach this gigantic effort in the spirit of
the proverb : " A Journey of 1000 miles starts with a single step".   
I feel that many of You will join in and multiply this effort . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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