Thyagaraja Kriti - Guru Leka - Raga Gauri Manohari

Transliteration–Telugu _______________________________________________________
Transliteration as per Modified Harvard-Kyoto (HK) Convention
(including Telugu letters – Short e, Short o) -

a A i I u U
R RR lR lRR
e E ai o O au M (H or :)

(e – short E – Long o – short O – Long)

k kh g gh n/G
c ch j jh n/J (jn – as in jnAna)
T Th D Dh N
t th d dh n
p ph b bh m
y r l L v
S sh s h

guru lEka-gaurimanOhari

In the kRti ‘guru lEkayeTuvaNTi’ – rAga gaurimanOhari, SrI tyAgarAja describes the importance of preceptor.

P guru lEka(y)eTuvaNTi guNiki teliyaga pOdu

A karukaina ¹hRd-rOga gahanamunu koTTanu sad-(guru)

C tanuvu suta dhana dAra ²dAy(A)di bAndhavulu
³janiyinci cedaru jAlini karuNatO
manasun(a)NTaka sEyu mand(a)nucu tatva
bOdhana jEsi ⁴kApADu ⁵tyAgarAj(A)ptuDagu (guru)

Gist
No matter how much meritorious or virtuous one is, without a preceptor, it would not be possible to know (the truth by oneself).

No matter how much meritorious or virtuous one is, without a competent preceptor, it would not be possible for him to know (how) to destroy the thorny thicket of affliction of the heart.

No matter how much meritorious or virtuous one is, it would not be possible for him to know, without a preceptor like (sage nArada) the benefactor of this tyAgarAja, who protects compassionately by imparting knowledge of the reality, which, like a medicine, prevents from touching the mind the grief of (first) being born (and then) dissipation of body, children, wealth, wife, cousin and other relatives.

Word-by-word Meaning

P No matter how much (eTuvaNTi) meritorious or virtuous (guNi) (guNiki) one is, without (lEka) (lEkayeTuvaNTi) a preceptor (guru), it would not be possible (pOdu) to know (teliyaga) (the truth by oneself).

A No matter how much meritorious or virtuous one is, without a competent (sad) (literally pious) preceptor, it would not be possible for him to know
(how) to destroy (koTTanu) the thorny (karukaina) thicket (gahanamunu) of affliction (rOga) of the heart (hRt) (hRd-rOga).

C No matter how much meritorious or virtuous one is, it would not be possible for him to know, without a preceptor like (sage nArada) - the benefactor (AptuDagu) of this tyAgarAja (tyAgarAjAptuDagu),
who protects (kApADu) compassionately (karuNatO) by imparting knowledge (bodhana jEsi) of the reality (tatva),
which, like (anucu) a medicine (mandu) (mandanucu), prevents from touching (aNTaka sEyu) the mind (manasuna) (manasunaNTaka) the grief (jAlini) of (first) being born (janiyiJci) (and then) dissipation (cedaru) of
body (tanuvu), children (suta) (literally son), wealth (dhana), wife (dAra), cousin (dAya) and other (Adi) (dAyAdi) relatives (bhAndhavulu).

Notes –
Variations –
⁴ – kApADu – kApADa.

⁵ – tyAgarAjAptuDagu – tyAgarAjAptuDanu : tyAgarAjAptuDagu - is the appropriate word.

References –

Comments -
¹ – hrd-rOga – this may refer to tApa-traya - adhyAtmika – adhibhautika – adhidaivIka or IshaNa-traya – wealth, wife and son.

² – dAyAdi – Both 'dAya' and 'dAyAdi' mean 'cousin'. However, from the construction of caraNa, it would be more appropriate, if the word is split as 'dAya+Adi' (dAyAdi bAndhavulu). It has accordingly been translated here.

³ – janiyinci cedaru – This is how it is given in all the books. The word 'janiyinci' is generally taken as a transitive verb – 'having produced'; however, it is also an intransitive verb – 'be born'. However, the other word of the pair, 'cedaru' is an intransitive verb. Therefore, both words have been taken as 'intransitive' because suitable meaning cannot be derived if both words are not of the same type.


Devanagari

ऎ,कॆ,चॆ.. - e,ke,ce..(short);
ए,के,चे.. - E,kE,cE..(long);
ऐ,कै,चै.. - ai,kai,cai..;
ऒ,कॊ,चॊ.. - o,ko,co..(short);
ओ,को,चो.. - O,kO,cO..(long);
औ,कौ,चौ.. -au,kau,cau..;

प. गुरु लेक(यॆ)टुवण्टि गुणिकि तॆलियग पोदु

अ. करुकैन हृ(द्रो)ग गहनमुनु कॊट्टनु सद्-(गुरु)

च. तनुवु सुत धन दार दा(या)दि बान्धवुलु
जनियिञ्चि चॆदरु जालिनि करुणतो
मनुसु(न)ण्टक सेयु म(न्द)नुचु तत्व
बोधन जेसि कापाडु त्यागरा(जा)प्तुडगु (गुरु)

Tamil

க,ச,ட,த,ப - 2-ख छ ठ थ फ; 3-ग ड द ब; 4-घ झ ढ ध भ
(ச3 - ஜ)
ஸ1 श - शिव - சிவன்
ரு2 ऋ - कृप - கிருபை

ப. கு3ரு லேக(யெ)டுவண்டி கு3ணிகி தெலியக3 போது3

அ. கருகைன ஹ்ரு2த்3-ரோக3 க3ஹனமுனு கொட்டனு ஸத்3-(கு3ரு)

ச. தனுவு ஸுத த4ன தா3ர தா3(யா)தி3 பா3ந்த4வுலு
ஜனியிஞ்சி செத3ரு ஜாலினி கருணதோ
மனுஸு(ன)ண்டக ஸேயு மந்(த3)னுசு தத்வ
போ3த4ன ஜேஸி காபாடு3 த்யாக3ரா(ஜா)ப்துட3கு3 (கு3ரு)

குருவின்றி, எப்படிப்பட்ட
குணமுடைத்தோனுக்கும், தெரியவராது

கூர்மையான, இதய நோயெனும்
முட்புதரினை அழிப்பதற்கு,
நற்குருவின்றி, எப்படிப்பட்ட
குணமுடைத்தோனுக்கும், தெரியவராது

உடல், மக்கள், செல்வம், மனையாள், பங்காளிகள், முதலான
உறவினர்கள் பிறந்து, சிதறும் துயரினை, கருணையுடன்,
மனத்தினைத் தீண்டாமற் செய்யும் மருந்தென, தத்துவ
போதனை செய்து காக்கும், தியாகராசனின் நற்றுணை போலும்
குருவின்றி, எப்படிப்பட்ட
குணமுடைத்தோனுக்கும், தெரியவராது

இதய நோய் - மூவாசை அல்லது முவ்வெம்மைகளைக் குறிக்கும்
தியாகராசனின் நற்றுணை - நாரதரைக் குறிக்கும்

Telugu

ప. గురు లేకయెటువంటి గుణికి తెలియగ పోదు

అ. కరుకైన హృద్రోగ గహనమును కొట్టను సద్-(గురు)

చ. తనువు సుత ధన దార దాయాది బాంధవులు
జనియించి చెదరు జాలిని కరుణతో
మనుసునంటక సేయు మందనుచు తత్వ
బోధన జేసి కాపాడు త్యాగరాజాప్తుడగు (గురు)

Kannada

ಪ. ಗುರು ಲೇಕಯೆಟುವಂಟಿ ಗುಣಿಕಿ ತೆಲಿಯಗ ಪೋದು

ಅ. ಕರುಕೈನ ಹೃದ್ರೋಗ ಗಹನಮುನು ಕೊಟ್ಟನು ಸದ್-(ಗುರು)

ಚ. ತನುವು ಸುತ ಧನ ದಾರ ದಾಯಾದಿ ಬಾಂಧವುಲು
ಜನಿಯಿಂಚಿ ಚೆದರು ಜಾಲಿನಿ ಕರುಣತೋ
ಮನುಸುನಂಟಕ ಸೇಯು ಮಂದನುಚು ತತ್ವ
ಬೋಧನ ಜೇಸಿ ಕಾಪಾಡು ತ್ಯಾಗರಾಜಾಪ್ತುಡಗು (ಗುರು)

Malayalam

പ. ഗുരു ലേകയെടുവണ്ടി ഗുണികി തെലിയഗ പോദു

അ. കരുകൈന ഹൃദ്രോഗ ഗഹനമുനു കൊട്ടനു സദ്-(ഗുരു)

ച. തനുവു സുത ധന ദാര ദായാദി ബാന്ധവുലു
ജനിയിഞ്ചി ചെദരു ജാലിനി കരുണതോ
മനുസുനണ്ടക സേയു മന്ദനുചു തത്വ
ബോധന ജേസി കാപാഡു ത്യാഗരാജാപ്തുഡഗു (ഗുരു)

Updated on 31 Mar 2009