[Advaita-l] Saint Thyagaraja's view of Sri Rama

[Raghav Kumar Dwivedula]

Namaste Subbu ji
Thank you for the post on Sri Thyagaraja Swami's music exoressing devotion
to Rama without detriment to his understanding of the truth of  Rama as
non-dual Brahman.

With a certain play on words, he says that the mantra of Vishnu viz., Om
namo nArAyaNAya if devoid of the letter 'ra'  gives the opposite sense
viz., om namo nAyanAya (I salute the One who is *not* the ayanaM ie place
of refuge).

Similarly, om namaH Shivaaya without the "ma" letter would imply a
contradictory sense, viz., om na shivaaya (lit. meaning "not to Shiva").

And Rama consists of those two important letters ra and ma from the two
mantras of Vishnu and Shiva.

No doubt this is said by him, not for doing nindA of other devatAs, but for
stuti of Rama who is Parabrahman.

Om
Raghav

On Sun, 13 Oct, 2024, 10:56 pm V Subrahmanian via Advaita-l, <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> In many compositions of Sri Thyagaraja we see that he held Sri Rama to be
> Para Brahman and did not restrict Rama to a god distinct from other gods.
> One example is the song 'Rama nannu bhrovaraa' where he says 'cheemalo
> brahma shiva keshavaadulalo' meaning You are the one inherent in all beings
> from the ant to Brahma and Shiva and Keshava, etc. Thereby he is holding
> Sri Rama as the Para Brahman whose forms are the gods and Trimurtis and
> other jivas.
>
> Here is another such kriti 'evara ni...' where Thyagaraja wonders 'How did
> the eminent persons view You - as Brahma or as Shiva or as Vishnu?'
>
>
> https://thyagaraja-vaibhavam.blogspot.com/2007/07/thyagaraja-kriti-evarani-nirnayinchiri.html
>
> SivuD(a)nO mAdhavuD(a)nO 2kamala
>
> bhavuD(a)nO para-brahmam(a)nO ninn(evarani)
>
> (What did the most Eminent people determine as to who You are, and how did
> they worship You? – whether Lord Siva or Lord vishNu or brahmA or the
> Supreme Lord?) He further says that the Shiva mantra 'namah shivaaya' has
> ma as the seminal syllable and the Narayana mantra has 'ra' and that makes
> Rama.
>
> mAdhava mantramunaku rA jIvamu(y)I
>
> vivaramu telisina ghanulaku mrokkeda
>
> vitaraNa guNa 4tyAgarAja vinuta (evarani)
>
> (For the Siva mantra (OM namaSSivAya), ‘ma’ is the soul; for the vishNu
> mantra (OM namO nArAyanAya), ‘rA’ is the soul; I salute the great
> personages who understand this detail.)
>
>
> We have seen Annamacharya too holding the Lord of Tirupati as Para Brahman
> who is looked upon by various sects as their god:
>
> Annamācārya reflects in this song:
> http://karnatiklyrics.blogspot.in/2011/06/entha-matramuna.html
>
> //The Vaishnavas worship you with reverence as Vishnu.
> The Vedic philosophers tell that you are the Supreme Consciousness.
> The Shaivas believe that you are Śiva & the Kapalikas praise you as
> Adibhairava.
> The Shakteyas consider you as the manifestation of the supreme power
> Shakti. People chant your praise in a number of ways. Ignorant people
> assume that you are insignificant.The wise recognize your infinite
> greatness.//
>
>
> [It is noteworthy that Sri Annamācārya distinguishes Vedāntins from
> ‘vaiṣṇavas’,
>
> *koluthuru mimu vaishnavulu, koorimitho vishnudani*
>
> palukuduru mimu *vaedaantulu, parabrahma anuchu*
>
>
> By ‘Vedāntins’ he obviously refers to Advaitins for they alone hold the
> Supreme Reality to be ‘Brahman’ beyond all names and forms.  Those who hold
> the highest tattvam to be ‘Viṣṇu’ (the deity identified as Lakṣmipati,
> etc.) are not vedantins as per this composer.
>
> In this kriti he says:
>
>
> Bhaavamulona .. Baahyamunandunu .. Govinda Govinda ani koluvabo Manasa ..
> Hari Avataaramule Akhila Devatalu .. Harilonidhe Bramhandambulu ..
>
> [All devatas are incarnations of Hari alone']
>
>
> Om Tat Sat
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