Thyagaraja Kriti - Nee Bhakti - Raga Jaya 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

nI bhakti-jayamanOhari

In the kRti ‘ nI bhakti bhagya sudhA’ – rAga jayamanOhari SrI tyAgarAja defines the purpose of life.

P nI bhakti bhAgya sudhA
nidhin(I)dEdE janmamu

A bhU-bhAramu kAni sura
bhU surulai ¹janincina (nI)

C vEd(O)ktambau karmamu
veta galgu ²gat(A)gatamau
nAd(A)tmaka tyAgarAja
nAth(A)pramEya sadA (nI)

Gist
O Embodiment of nAda! O Master of this tyAgarAja! O Immeasurable Lord!
Always swimming the fortunate nectarine ocean of Your devotion is indeed (the purpose of) human birth.
Otherwise, even if one is born as a celestial or brAhmaNa, it is indeed a burden on the Earth.
The path of rites as propounded in vEda results in distressing cycle of birth and death.

Word-by-word Meaning

P Swimming (IdEdE) the fortunate (bhAgya) nectarine (sudhA) ocean (nidhini) (nidhinIdEdE) of Your (nI) devotion (bhakti) is indeed (the purpose of) human birth (janmamu).

A Otherwise (kAni), even if one is born (janincina) as a celestial (sura) or brAhmaNa (bhU-sura (surulai), it is indeed a burden (bhAramu) on the Earth (bhU);
swimming the fortunate nectarine ocean of Your devotion is indeed (the purpose of) human birth.

C The path of rites (karmamu) as propounded (uktambau) in vEda (vEdOktambau) results in distressing (veta galgu) cycle of birth and death (gata Agatamu) (gatAgatamau) (literally going and coming);
O Embodiment (Atmaka) of nAda! O Master (nAtha) of this tyAgarAja! O Immeasurable Lord (apramEya) (nAthApramEya)!
always (sadA) swimming the fortunate nectarine ocean of Your devotion is indeed (the purpose of) human birth.

Notes –
Variations -
¹ – janincina – janmincina.

References –

Comments -
² - gatAgamau - SrI tyAgarAja states that the karma gati (performance of vEdic karma without surrendering the results to the Lord) always results in repeated births for enjoying or suffering the results of puNya and pApa earned thereof; but these merits and demerits never get exhausted by following the path.
The great telugu composer and devotee of Lord venkaTESvara – annamAcArya, in his kRti ‘nAnATi batuku’ says - tegadu pApamu tIradu puNyamu – meaning ‘the sins cannot be rent asunder and the merits would not be exhausted’. For the complete song, please visit the web site - http://www.karnatik.com/c1508.shtml

In this regard the following verse from SrImad- bhagavad-gIta, Chapter 3 is relevant –

yajnArthAtkarmaNO(a)nyatra lOkO(a)yaM karma bandhanaH
tadarthaM karma kauntEya mukta sangaH samAcara 9

“The world is bound by actions other than those performed for the sake of yajna; do thou, therefore, O son of kuntI, perform action for yajna alone, devoid of attachment.” (Translation by Swami Swarupananda)


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. नी भक्ति भाग्य सुधा
निधि(नी)देदे जन्ममु

अ. भू-भारमु कानि सुर
भू-सुरुलै जनिञ्चिन (नी)

च. वे(दो)क्तम्बौ कर्ममु
वॆत गल्गु ग(ता)गतमौ
ना(दा)त्मक त्यागराज
ना(था)प्रमेय सदा (नी)


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. நீ ப4க்தி பா4க்3ய ஸுதா4
நிதி4(னீ)தே3தே3 ஜன்மமு

அ. பூ4-பா4ரமு கானி ஸுர
பூ4-ஸுருலை ஜனிஞ்சின (நீ)

ச. வே(தோ3)க்தம்பௌ3 கர்மமு
வெத க3ல்கு3 க3(தா)க3தமௌ
நா(தா3)த்மக த்யாக3ராஜ
நா(தா2)ப்ரமேய ஸதா3 (நீ)

உனது பத்திப்பேறெனும் அமிழ்தக்
கடலினை நீந்துவதே (நிசப்) பிறவியாகும்

புவிக்குச் சுமையே யன்றி, வானோராகவோ
அந்தணராகவோ பிறந்தாலும்,
உனது பத்திப்பேறெனும் அமிழ்தக்
கடலினை நீந்துவதே (நிசப்) பிறவியாகும்

மறைகள் பகரும் கருமங்கள்
துயரளிக்கும் பிறப்பு-இறப்புச் சுழலாகும்;
நாத உருவினனே! தியாகராசனின்
தலைவா! அளவிடற்கரியனே! எவ்வமயமும்
உனது பத்திப்பேறெனும் அமிழ்தக்
கடலினை நீந்துவதே (நிசப்) பிறவியாகும்


Telugu Version

ప. నీ భక్తి భాగ్య సుధా
నిధినీదేదే జన్మము

అ. భూ-భారము కాని సుర
భూ-సురులై జనించిన (నీ)

చ. వేదోక్తంబౌ కర్మము
వెత గల్గు గతాగతమౌ
నాదాత్మక త్యాగరాజ
నాథాప్రమేయ సదా (నీ)


Kannada Version

ಪ. ನೀ ಭಕ್ತಿ ಭಾಗ್ಯ ಸುಧಾ
ನಿಧಿನೀದೇದೇ ಜನ್ಮಮು

ಅ. ಭೂ-ಭಾರಮು ಕಾನಿ ಸುರ
ಭೂ-ಸುರುಲೈ ಜನಿಂಚಿನ (ನೀ)

ಚ. ವೇದೋಕ್ತಂಬೌ ಕರ್ಮಮು
ವೆತ ಗಲ್ಗು ಗತಾಗತಮೌ
ನಾದಾತ್ಮಕ ತ್ಯಾಗರಾಜ
ನಾಥಾಪ್ರಮೇಯ ಸದಾ (ನೀ)


Malayalam Version

പ. നീ ഭക്തി ഭാഗ്യ സുധാ
നിധിനീദേദേ ജന്മമു

അ. ഭൂ-ഭാരമു കാനി സുര
ഭൂ-സുരുലൈ ജനിഞ്ചിന (നീ)

ച. വേദോക്തമ്ബൌ കര്മമു
വെത ഗല്ഗു ഗതാഗതമൌ
നാദാത്മക ത്യാഗരാജ
നാഥാപ്രമേയ സദാ (നീ)

Updated on 06 Jan 2009