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

[V Subrahmanian]

Dear Raghav ji,

Thanks for the beautiful explanation of the letters ma and ra.

warm regards
subbu

On Mon, Oct 14, 2024 at 12:31 AM Raghav Kumar Dwivedula via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> 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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