Thyagaraja Kriti - Nijamuga Nee - Raga Sahaana

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

nijamuga nI-SahAna

In the kRti ‘nijamuga nI mahima’ – rAga SahAna, SrI tyAgarAja makes stinging criticism of the hypocrites masquerading as devotees of Lord and preaching without themselves knowing the truth.

P nijamuga nI ¹mahima telpa lEru

A bhajana sEyum(a)ni palikiri kAni
²aja gaja simha ³sRgAl(A)ntaram(a)ni (nija)

C ⁴buddhi(y)anu tallini vishaya viTulaku
proddun(o)sagi paikamul(A)rjincE
⁵siddhulu sujanula sabhaku rA nErani
⁶peddalu SrI ⁷tyAgarAja vinuta rAma (nija)

Gist
O Lord rAma praised by this tyAgarAja!

People cannot truly tell about Your might.

They ask others to chant names of Lord; but, they cannot truly tell about Your might which is as different as that between a goat and elephant and a lion and jackal.

The (so called) ‘accomplished persons’ who earn money by offering, since morning, the mother called 'intellect' to the libertines called 'objects of senses' and the (so called) ‘great men’ who do not happen to come to the assembly of virtuous people, cannot truly tell about Your might.

Word-by-word Meaning

P People cannot (lEru) truly (nijamuga) tell (telpa) about Your (nI) might (mahima).

A They ask (palikiri) others to (ani) chant (sEyumu) (sEyumani) names of Lord (bhajana); but (kAni)
people cannot truly tell about Your might which is as (ani) different (antaramu) as that between a goat (aja) and elephant (gaja) and a lion (simha) and jackal (sRgAla) (sRgAlAntaramani).

C The (so called) ‘accomplished persons’ (siddhulu) who earn (ArjincE) money (paikamulu) (paikamulArjincE) by offering (osagi) since morning (prodduna) (proddunosagi) the mother (tallini) called (anu) intellect (buddhi) (buddhiyanu) to the libertines (viTulaku) called objects of senses (vishaya) and
the (so called) ‘great men’ (peddalu) who do not happen (nErani) to come (rA) to the assembly (sabhaku) of virtuous people (sujanula) -
O Lord rAma praised (vinuta) by this tyAgarAja!
(these people) cannot truly tell about Your might.

Notes –
Variations –
¹ – mahima – mahimalu.

³ – sRgAla – SRgAla : 'sRgAla', as per telugu dictionary, is the telugu form of Sanskrit word 'SRgAla'.

⁴ – buddhiyanu – buddhyanu.

⁷ – tyAgarAja vinuta rAma – tyAgarAja vinuta.

References –

Comments -
² - aja gaja simha SRgAla antara – The name 'rAma' is tAraka mantra for delivering one from the Ocean of Worldly Existence. But, those who utilise their intellect for the purpose of earning money, do not know the truth about the potency of chanting Lord’s name. How can they truthfully convey the message?

In the kriti ‘bhakti biccamiyyavE’ rAga SankarAbharaNaM, SrI tyAgarAja asks ‘what avail if the capability of chanting (or reciting) and discoursing of/on epics, Agama, sciences and vEda accrue to clever persons?’

Also refer to 'ajAmilOpAkhyAna' (story of ajAmila) (Srimad-bhAgavataM, Book 6, Chapter 2)

mriyamANO harEr-nAma gRNan putrOpacAritam
ajAmilO(a)pyagAd-dhAma kiM punaH SraddhayA gRNan 49

"Even (a great sinner like) ajAmila, who uttered, while dying (in a helpless state without reverence) the name of SrI hari and that too in its secondary application as denoting his son, ascended to the Lord's (divine) Abode! What wonder, then, if one who pronounces it with reverence should attain to His Abode?"

⁴ – buddhiyanu tallini vishaya viTulaku proddunosagi – please also refer to SrI tyAgarAja kRti ‘manasu vishaya naTa viTulaku’ – rAga nATakuranji

The following kaThOpanishad, verses are relevant –

indriyANi hayAn-Ahur-vishayAMs-tEshu gOcarAn
AtmEndriya manO-yuktaM bhOktEty-Ahur-manIshiNaH
yastv-avijnAnavAn-bhavaty-ayuktEna manasA sadA
tasyEndriyANy-avaSyAni dushTASvA iva sArathEH I-iii-4,5

"They call the organs the horses; the organs having been imagined as horses, (know) the objects as the roads. The discriminating people call that Self the enjoyer when It is associated with body, organs, and mind.

But the organs of that intellect, which, being ever associated with an uncontrolled mind, becomes devoid of discrimination, are unruly like the vicious horses of the charioteer." (Translation by Swami Gambhirananda)

Also refer - kaThOpanishad - discourse - Swami Krishnananda

SrI tyAgarAja calls the intellect as 'mother' (buddhiyani talli); if the intellect, instead of controlling the senses, goes the way of senses (vishaya viTulaku osagi), then what results is 'vicious horses' (dushtASva) which cannot reach the destination.

⁵ & ⁶ – siddhulu – peddalu – these are words of sarcasm.


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. निजमुग नी महिम तॆल्प लेरु

अ. भजन सेयु(म)नि पलिकिरि कानि
अज गज सिम्ह सृगा(ला)न्तर(म)नि (निज)

च. बुद्धि(य)नु तल्लिनि विषय विटुलकु
प्रॊद्दु(नॊ)सगि पैकमु(ला)र्जिञ्चे
सिद्धुलु सुजनुल सभकु रा नेरनि
पॆद्दलु श्री त्यागराज विनुत राम (निज)

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. நிஜமுக3 நீ மஹிம தெல்ப லேரு

அ. ப4ஜன ஸேயு(ம)னி பலிகிரி கானி
அஜ க3ஜ ஸிம்ஹ ஸ்ரு2கா3(லா)ந்தர(ம)னி (நிஜ)

ச. பு3த்3தி4(ய)னு தல்லினி விஷய விடுலகு
ப்ரொத்3து3(னொ)ஸகி3 பைகமு(லா)ர்ஜிஞ்சே
ஸித்3து4லு ஸுஜனுல ஸப4கு ரா நேரனி
பெத்3த3லு ஸ்ரீ த்யாக3ராஜ வினுத ராம (நிஜ)

நிசமாக உனது மகிமையினைத் தெரிவிக்க மாட்டார்

'பசனை செய்வீர்' எனப் பகர்ந்தனர்; ஆயின்,
ஆடு - யானை, சிங்கம் - ஓநாய்களின் வேறுபாடென
நிசமாக உனது மகிமையினைத் தெரிவிக்க மாட்டார்

அறிவெனும் தாயினை விடயங்களெனும் காமுகர்களுக்கு
காலைமுதல் அளித்து, பணம் தேட்டும்
'சித்தர்கள்', நல்லோரின் அவைக்கு வர நேராத
'பெரியோர்கள்', தியாகராசனால் போற்றப் பெற்ற இராமா!
நிசமாக உனது மகிமையினைத் தெரிவிக்க மாட்டார்

மாட்டார் - இயலார் என
விடயம் - புலன்களால் நுகரப்படுபவை
சித்தர்கள், பெரியோர்கள் - இவை கேலிச் சொற்கள்.

Telugu

ప. నిజముగ నీ మహిమ తెల్ప లేరు

అ. భజన సేయుమని పలికిరి కాని
అజ గజ సింహ సృగాలాంతరమని (నిజ)

చ. బుద్ధియను తల్లిని విషయ విటులకు
ప్రొద్దునొసగి పైకములార్జించే
సిద్ధులు సుజనుల సభకు రా నేరని
పెద్దలు శ్రీ త్యాగరాజ వినుత రామ (నిజ)

Kannada

ಪ. ನಿಜಮುಗ ನೀ ಮಹಿಮ ತೆಲ್ಪ ಲೇರು

ಅ. ಭಜನ ಸೇಯುಮನಿ ಪಲಿಕಿರಿ ಕಾನಿ
ಅಜ ಗಜ ಸಿಂಹ ಸೃಗಾಲಾಂತರಮನಿ (ನಿಜ)

ಚ. ಬುದ್ಧಿಯನು ತಲ್ಲಿನಿ ವಿಷಯ ವಿಟುಲಕು
ಪ್ರೊದ್ದುನೊಸಗಿ ಪೈಕಮುಲಾರ್ಜಿಂಚೇ
ಸಿದ್ಧುಲು ಸುಜನುಲ ಸಭಕು ರಾ ನೇರನಿ
ಪೆದ್ದಲು ಶ್ರೀ ತ್ಯಾಗರಾಜ ವಿನುತ ರಾಮ (ನಿಜ)

Malayalam

പ. നിജമുഗ നീ മഹിമ തെല്പ ലേരു

അ. ഭജന സേയുമനി പലികിരി കാനി
അജ ഗജ സിമ്ഹ സൃഗാലാന്തരമനി (നിജ)

ച. ബുദ്ധിയനു തല്ലിനി വിഷയ വിടുലകു
പ്രൊദ്ദുനൊസഗി പൈകമുലാര്ജിഞ്ചേ
സിദ്ധുലു സുജനുല സഭകു രാ നേരനി
പെദ്ദലു ശ്രീ ത്യാഗരാജ വിനുത രാമ (നിജ)

Updated on 13 May 2009