Friday, June 5, 2009

Invocation to Lord Venkateswara

Invocation
We shall start this pious venture of trying to interpret our great saint-poet with a prayer verse offered at the lotus feet of the Lord Venkateswara seeking his approval and blessings. It is verily impossible to comprehend the beauty of the almighty with our physical equipments. Albeit, we give the name and form and description we like to conceptualize the unknown. This poem given below is adoration to the Lord of Seven Hills from tip to toe, composed in immaculate Sanskrit. This verse is simple to understand, none the less, its purport is also presented. A short video presentation of this slokam as rendered by Sri Sattiraju Venu Madhav garu (a famous Annamaacharya songster) is included at the end of this post. Please view this video.
Prardhna Slokam

శిరం వజ్రకిరీటం
వదనం శశివర్ణ ప్రకాశం
ఫాలే కస్తూరి శ్రీగంధ తిలకం
కర్ణం వజ్రకుండల శోభితం
నాసికా సువాసికా పుష్పదళం
నయనే శశిమండన ప్రకాశం
కంఠే సువర్ణ పుష్పమాలాలంకృతం
హృదయే శ్రీనివాస మందిరం
కరం కరుణాభయ సాగరం
భుజే శంఖచక్ర గదాధరం
సువర్ణ యజ్ఞోపవీత భూషణం
సర్వాంగే స్వర్ణ పీతాంబరధరం
పాదం పరమానంద రూపం
సర్వపాప నివారితం
సర్వం స్వర్ణ మయం
నామితం శ్రీ వేంకటేశం
తిరుమలేశం
శ్రీనివాసంనమామి
siram vajrakireetam
vadhanam sasivarna prakaasam
phaalae kastoori sreegandha thilakam
karnam vajrakundala sobhitham
naasikaa suvaasikaa pushpadalam
nayanae sasimandana prakaasam
kantae suvarna pushpa maalaalankritam
hridhayae sreenivaasa mandhiram
karam karuna abhaya saagaram
bhujae sakha chakra gadaa dharam
suvarna yajnopaveetha bhooshanam
sarvaangae swarna peetaambaradharam
paadham paramaanandha roopam
sarvapaapa nivaaritham – sarvam swarna mayam
naamitham Sree Venkataesam - Thirumalesam
Sreenivaasam Namaami

Purport or Bhaavam
Diamond studded crown adorns as Thy headdress
Thy face glitters as moon light
Thy forehead sports the Kasturi tilakam with sandal paste
Diamond earrings decorate thy ears
Thy nose is akin to the tender green Sampangi (Champa) flower
Thy eyes beam cool moonshine
Thy neck is embellished with a garland of golden flowers
Thy bosom is the abode of Sri Lakshmi
Thy kind and merciful hands offer unending protection
Thy shoulders sport the Conch, Discus & Club
The golden sacred band beautifies Thy chest
Thy entire persona is draped in golden colored silk robes
Thy feet are the embodiment of Bliss Absolute – annihilating every sin
Why so many words, every bit of Thine is nothing but the gold standard
Thou art the adorable Lord Sri Venkatesa – the Lord of Tirumala –
O! Sreenivasa – Our obeisance to Thee!

An important acknowledgement
In the process of writing serial posts on this blog, it is but necessary to build upon the creations, ideas and analysis that are already presented by our erudite and eminent scholars, artists and songsters in this field. Music clips, video clips, pictures, images and text from the available sources on the internet and in print may be used depending on the necessity of the context. My humble reverence to all those who are the owners of such material and I sincerely request them to grant me this implicit permission to use their material. Wherever possible, appropriate reference to the material used will be provided. Any errors of omission may be condoned as there is no commercial intent in this blog. Whatever that is excellent in these presentations, the credit goes to the forerunners and great masters. All inadvertent mistakes are mine. Nothing can be claimed to be my own creation.

Sarma Rachakonda



Thursday, June 4, 2009

An insight into the purpose

Annamacharya's Sankeertanas and his biographic sketches are available dime a dozen on the web and in the print. Many gifted musicians and singers have brought these all time melodies to our ears in CDs and in cassettes. We all owe a lot to all their marvelous efforts. The pioneering effort of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) is monumental in this task.
Annamacharya’s lyrical wealth carries a special fervor and innate beauty of Telugu, studded with innumerable idioms, colloquial phrases and usages of his time and the place of his origin (Tallapaka of Cuddapa district in A.P). A special dictionary is being conceived by the TTD to explain his poetry. The intricate philosophical truths and practical instructions for harmonious living are embedded in our scriptures – mostly in Sanskrit, a language with which many of us are not familiar. Annamacharya’s songs represent the final finished product because he churned the scriptural ocean and made it into a very tasty pudding for all of us to directly enjoy and assimilate.
These sankeertanas, though appear as simple and descriptive on the face of them, they are, more often than not, carry profound and practical messages for the mankind. The emphasis of this blog will be to bring out the purport of Annamayya's compositions, to try to unravel the hidden treasure in these songs and to delve deep into them to explain the application of his poetry to this work-a-day world. Needless to say this great master's poetry transcends time and is truly universal in its applicability. This divine saint-poet is peerless in his creativity and carved a special stature for himself in the galaxy of all time great master saints and poets.
All we attempt here is to make a humble beginning to understand and apply his teachings to make our lives and of those around us better and happier. Over the past three decades, my ardent passion towards Annamacharya's songs and the innate love towards understanding these songs from their depth prompted me to start this blog. Self satisfaction is the ultimate purpose. I urge all the learned brethren – the readers of this blog to give their valuable comments and constructive criticism to make our efforts better.
Annamacharya’s songs carry his signature in the final lines of each song with an invocation to the Lord Venkateswara. The next post of this blog will contain a prayer verse on the Lord of Seven Hills, followed by a salutation to this great saint poet, Sri Annamaacharya. From then on, we will see, one by one, some of the jewels among his Sankeertanas with explanation of the purport or bhaavam. Effort will be made to give a web link to our readers - to facilitate them to listen to the audio file of the sankeertana and wherever available to the video file for viewing.
Wishing you all the best
Dr Sarma