Thyagaraja Kriti - Dvaitamu Sukhamaa - Raga Reeti Gaula

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

dvaitamu sukhamA-rItigauLa

In the kRti ‘dvaitamu sukhamA’ – rAga rItigauLa, SrI tyAgarAja asks the Lord to clear his doubt – which is better - whether dvaita or advaita?

P ¹dvaitamu sukhamA advaitamu sukhamA

A ²caitanyamA vinu sarva sAkshi
vistAramugAnu telpumu nAtO (dvaitamu)

C gagana pavana tapana ³bhuvan(A)d(y)avanilO
naga dhar(A)ja Siv(E)ndr(A)di surulalO
bhagavad-bhakta var(A)grEsarulalO
bAga ramincE ⁴tyAgarAj(A)rcita (dvaitamu)

Gist
Listen, O Pure Consciousness! O Witness to everything (or everybody)!O Lord - worshipped by this tyAgarAja - sporting well in (a) (the five elements) - the space, air, fire, water, earth etc, (b) (the trinity) - vishNu, brahmA, Siva, (c) indra and other celestials, and (d) the most Eminent of the blessed devotees of the Lord!
Is duality comforting or non-duality?
Please tell me in detail.

Word-by-word Meaning

P Is duality (dvaitamu) comforting (sukhamA) or is non-duality (advaitamu) comforting (sukhamA)?

A O Pure Consciousness (caitanyamA)! Listen (vinu), O Witness (sAkshi) to everything (or everybody) (sarva)! Please tell (telpumu) me (nAtO) in detail (vistAramugA);
is duality comforting or is non-duality comforting?

C O Lord - worshipped (arcita) by this tyAgarAja (tyAgarAjArcita) - sporting (ramincE) well (bAga) in –
(the five elements) - the space (gagana), air (pavana), fire (tapana), water (bhuvana), earth (avani) (avanilO) etc (Adi) (buvanAdyavanilO),
(the trinity) - vishNu – the bearer (dhara) of mountain (mandara or gOvardhana) (naga), brahmA (aja) (dharAja), Siva and indra and other (Adi) (SivEndrAdi) celestials (surulu) (surulalO),
the most Eminent (agrEsarulu) of the blessed (vara) (varAgrEsarulalO) devotees (bhakta) of the Lord (bhagavat) (bhagavad-bhakta)!
is duality comforting or is non-duality comforting?

Notes –
Variations –
⁴ – tyAgarAjArcita – tyAgarAja nuta.
References –

Comments -
¹ - dvaitamu – advaitamu – The following are the statements of SrI tyAgarAja –
(a) In his prologue to dance-drama ‘prahlAda bhakti vijayam’ -
saguNa nirguNamula samamugAnencu suguNa rAma brahma sutuDaina tyAgarAju...

“....tyAgarAja - the son of virtuous rAma brahma - who considers the worship of Lord with Form and without Form on equal footing...”

(b) In the kRti ‘paramAtmuDu veligE’ – rAga vAgadhISvari –

paramAtmuDu veligE muccaTa bAga telusukOrE
saguNamulO viguNamulO

“....Know unerringly the grandeur with which the Supreme Lord is effulgent ... He is found with qualities – sattva, rajas and tamas, and bereft of qualities...”

(c) In the kRti ‘anurAgamu lEni’ – rAga sarasvati, SrI tyAgarAja states –

saguNa dhyAnamu paini saukhyamu

“....comfort experienced in the meditation on Lord with form (qualities)”

(d) In the kRti ‘nI bhajana gAna – rAga nAyaki –

saguNa nirguNa nijamu dabbaralanu ... santasilla kaNTini

“... truth and falsehood of worship of the Lord with attributes and without attributes ... I beheld exultingly...”

(e) In the kRti – ‘sundaratara dEham’ – rAga pantuvarALi, SrI tyAgarAja calls the Lord SrI rAma – ‘Sivam-advaitam’ – the auspicious One and the One without dualitiy.

(f) In the kRti ‘rAma sItArAma rAma’ – rAga balahaMsa –

advaita sAmrAjyamul(a)bbin(a)TTu rAma
sad-vairAgyamu nidhiyu sAyujyamE rAma

“In the same manner as attainment of the empire of non-duality, the wealth of real indifference to Worldly pleasures too amounts to one-ness with You.”

(g) In the kRti ‘E dAri sancarinturA’ – rAga Srutiranjani, SrI tyAgarAja asks the Lord which path he should follow – dvaita or advaita.

E dAri sancarinturA-yika balkarA
anni tAnanu mArgamunanu canaga
nannu vIDanu bhAramani-yADedavu
tannu brOvu dAsa varadA-yaNTE
dvaituD-anedavu tyAgarAja nuta

“Please tell me now as to which path should I adhere. If I go in the path of advaita – all is Self only, You say that it is difficult to overcome ego; if I pray ‘please protect me, O bestower of boons to the devotees’, You say that I am a dvaitin.”
² – caitanyamA – sarva sAkshi – O Pure Consciousness! O Witness of Everything (everybody)! These two epithets go to show the bent of mind of SrI tyAgarAja.
SrI tyAgarAja is not the first person to raise such a query. There has been no definitive and final answer for millenniums. The following quotation from ashTavakra gIta is relevant –

kva dharmaH kva ca vA kAmaH kva cArthaH kva vivEkatA
kva dvaitaM kva ca vA(a)dvaitaM svamahimni sthitasya mE 19-2

"For me, established in my own glory, there is no religion, sensuality, possessions, philosphy, duality or even non-duality." (Translation by John Richards)
Source - http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ashtavakra_Gita
³ – bhuvana – this word generally means living creatures, mankind etc. But this word also means ‘water’. In the context of five elements – ‘water’ seems to be the appropriate meaning.


Devanagari Version

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. द्वैतमु सुखमा अद्वैतमु सुखमा

अ. चैतन्यमा विनु सर्व साक्षि
विस्तारमुगानु तॆल्पुमु नातो (द्वै)

च. गगन पवन तपन भुव(ना)(द्य)वनिलो
नग ध(रा)ज शि(वे)(न्द्रा)दि सुरुललो
भगवद्भक्त व(रा)ग्रेसरुललो
बाग रमिञ्चे त्यागरा(जा)र्चित (द्वै)

Tamil Version with Meaning

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. த்3வைதமு ஸுக2மா அத்3வைதமு ஸுக2மா

அ. சைதன்யமா வினு ஸர்வ ஸாக்ஷி
விஸ்தாரமுகா3னு தெல்புமு நாதோ (த்3வை)

ச. க3க3ன பவன தபன பு4வ(னா)(த்3ய)வனிலோ
நக3 த4(ரா)ஜ ஸி1(வே)ந்த்3(ரா)தி3 ஸுருலலோ
ப4க3வத்3ப4க்த வ(ரா)க்3ரேஸருலலோ
பா3க3 ரமிஞ்சே த்யாக3ரா(ஜா)ர்சித (த்3வை)

துவைதம் சுகமா அன்றி அத்துவைதம் சுகமா?

சைதன்யமே! கேள், யாவற்றிற்கும் சாட்சியே!
விவரமாகத் தெரிவிப்பாயெனக்கு;
துவைதம் சுகமா அன்றி அத்துவைதம் சுகமா?

ஆகாயம், காற்று, நெருப்பு, நீர், புவி ஆகியவற்றிலும்,
அரி, பிரமன், அரன், இந்திரன் முதலான வானோரிலும்,
கடவுள் பத்தர்களில் தலைசிறந்தோரிலும்,
நன்கு திருவிளையாடல் புரியும், தியாகராசனால்
தொழப் பெற்றோனே!
துவைதம் சுகமா அன்றி அத்துவைதம் சுகமா?

துவைதம் - பரமான்மாவும் சீவான்மாவும் வேறெனல்
அத்துவைதம் - பரமான்மாவும் சீவான்மாவும் ஒன்றேயெனல்
சைதன்யம் - தன்னுணர்வு
ஆகாயம், காற்று, நெருப்பு, நீர், புவி - ஐம்பூதங்கள்


Telugu Version

ప. ద్వైతము సుఖమా అద్వైతము సుఖమా

అ. చైతన్యమా విను సర్వ సాక్షి
విస్తారముగాను తెల్పుము నాతో (ద్వై)

చ. గగన పవన తపన భువనాద్యవనిలో
నగ ధరాజ శివేంద్రాది సురులలో
భగవద్భక్త వరాగ్రేసరులలో
బాగ రమించే త్యాగరాజార్చిత (ద్వై)


Kannada Version

ಪ. ದ್ವೈತಮು ಸುಖಮಾ ಅದ್ವೈತಮು ಸುಖಮಾ

ಅ. ಚೈತನ್ಯಮಾ ವಿನು ಸರ್ವ ಸಾಕ್ಷಿ
ವಿಸ್ತಾರಮುಗಾನು ತೆಲ್ಪುಮು ನಾತೋ (ದ್ವೈ)

ಚ. ಗಗನ ಪವನ ತಪನ ಭುವನಾದ್ಯವನಿಲೋ
ನಗ ಧರಾಜ ಶಿವೇಂದ್ರಾದಿ ಸುರುಲಲೋ
ಭಗವದ್ಭಕ್ತ ವರಾಗ್ರೇಸರುಲಲೋ
ಬಾಗ ರಮಿಂಚೇ ತ್ಯಾಗರಾಜಾರ್ಚಿತ (ದ್ವೈ)


Malayalam Version

പ. ദ്വൈതമു സുഖമാ അദ്വൈതമു സുഖമാ

അ. ചൈതന്യമാ വിനു സര്വ സാക്ഷി
വിസ്താരമുഗാനു തെല്പുമു നാതോ (ദ്വൈ)

ച. ഗഗന പവന തപന ഭുവനാദ്യവനിലോ
നഗ ധരാജ ശിവേന്ദ്രാദി സുരുലലോ
ഭഗവദ്ഭക്ത വരാഗ്രേസരുലലോ
ബാഗ രമിഞ്ചേ ത്യാഗരാജാര്ചിത (ദ്വൈ)

Updated on 25 Nov 2008