छतरी के नीचे भी भीगा दो, तेरी होटों की नमी से।
इक ठंडी सी आग में जला दो, तेरी क़ुर्बत की कमी से।
अपनी खोयी हुई दिल को और कहीं ढूंढो मत,
वह बरक़रार है, कभी लौटेगी नहीं हमीं से।
न जाने मेरे अंदर इतना बरहमी क्यूँ
आओ, उसे यूँ बुझा दो, अपनी शबनमी से।
मेरी इश्क़ को साथ-ही अपना लो सनम, इस
ज़ख़्मी-ए-निगाह दिल को बचाओ, और ज़ख़्मी से।
I was chanting the Mahanaranopanishad in the morning - rather, along with Challakere Bros, was busy ஒத்து ஊதிண்டு இருந்தேன். 😝
I have this bad habit always. Right in the middle of chanting anything, depending upon how much I get attracted by the PRONUNCIATION of the words, I stray away. I stray into trying to fathom the meaning of the words, when they impress me, for whatever reason. I know that it is bad to deviate from the chanting and delve into etymology and the meanings. But I am what I am.
Back to the the Mahanarayanopanishad. There is an anuvakam called Shivapasana. It goes by the following:
nidhána patayè namaha. nidhána patanti ka yà namaha. urdh va yà namaha. urdh va linga yà namaha. hiranya yà namaha. hinranyalinga yà namaha. suvarna yà namaha. suvarnalinga yà namaha. divya yà namaha. divyalinga yà namaha. bhava yà namaha. bhavalinga yà namaha. sharva yà namaha. sharvalinga yà namaha. ...... and goes on.
Note that I have highlighted two of the phrases.
First, Nidhana pataye Namah...
Challakere Brothers' diction is so damn perfect, that the moment they pronounced this phrase, it set my mind astray!
In Chaste Hindi , when someone dies, they say " unkaa NIDHAN ho gaya.." So, I immediately concluded that this phrase must perhaps mean " the Lord of Death".
But then, I wondered, would an Upnishad deliver such superficial meaning, after all? Most likely not. So, I called upon Vaman Apte, who has been helping me ( even after his Nidhan, in the form of his Sanskrit-English Dictionary) for clarifying.
Turns out that in Sanskrit, Nidhanam means " dissolution". So, Nidhanapataye namah means not just death, but a deeper "dissolution". This aligns perfectly with the the 5 jobs of Shiva - படைத்தல், காத்தல், அழித்தல், மறைத்தல், அருளல்.
Now, the next phrase - Nidhana Pata Anthika - Shiva FINISHES OFF the Lord of Death (Yama) ! Now, dont take that literally. That would be childish. To me, what this means is the following. Yama is widely considered the Lord of Death, and is expected to come riding on an எருமை மாடு and பாசக் கயிறு , and take "you" away. That is, the very thought of Yama sends shivers down the spines of people. Shiva protects us from the frightful prospect of the descent of Yama, ie, மரண பயம் நீக்குபவர். So, for this phrase , I will take the meaning at two levels, with the inner meaning of "one who removes the fear of death", as being more predominant.
Now, the third phrase - Sharvaaya namah. To be frank, until I heard Challakere Brothers chant, a few years ago, I was under the wrong impression that this was "sarvaaya namah" wrongly pronounced as Sharvaaya namah... after all, "sarvaaya namah" can easily meaning சர்வத்திலும் இருப்பவர்.
No - Sharvaa is the right way. And this is what proper pronunciation of Sanskrit can do. Bring out the correct meaning even as you mention. In this case, "Sharvaa" means one who manifests as the dissolution of the Unvierse". Again, you can choose to take the meaning in two planes. One - "he who dissolves the universe in it's curent form through a Pralayam, and then recreates a new one". The second level meaning, and I suspect this could be the real meaning from an Upanishadic context - that HE ( Shiva, aka, Brahmam) is beyond creation, and that he is NOT the object, but rather the seer. The reason I mention this is , we are told " look at the entire universe as God, there is God in everything". Fair enough. But for the seeker of the ultimate truth, which is what the Upanishad espouses, HE cannot be encapsulated in any perceptible object. Upanishads give numerous examples of how the Brahmam is beyond what the human mind can comprehend - such as, the rays of the sun can be seen in a mirror relfection, but the Sun itself is much much more... a drop of water from the ocean has all the characteristics of the ocean, but a drop is a drop etc etc..
I know this can be confusing.. but the more I dive deeper into this, the more I realize and feel humbled how little I know and much more the Upanishads have, to offer. One janma is not sufficient to learn and contemplate over this.
जाने कौन रह गया है भीगने से शहर में
जिसके लिए लौटती है रह रहकर बारिश फिर से।
हिन्दुस्तान का ज़माना आया है दुबारा , यारों
आसमान खोलकर बता रहा है गर्दिश फिर से।
कल के ख़्वाबों में आज को खोना नहीं है
आओ लपेट लें इस मौका-ए-गुंजाइश फिर से।
वक़्त की लहरें मिटा दी हैं साहिल में पहचान, देश की
अब क़दमों के निशाँ छोड़ने की है गुज़ारिश फिर से।
जय हिन्द!
कोशिश करता रहा हर रोज़, उस अम्बर तक पहुँचने की।
पर मेरी पंखुरियों में इतना ही ताक़त है पेड़ के ऊपर पहुँचने की।
उड़ते उड़ते न जाने उस गगन तक चला जाऊँगा ज़रूरर
जहां कोई गुंजाइश नहीं , किसी का खबर पहुँचने की।
अंधों के सामने दिया कुछ दिखाया न करो।
ज़ख़्मी सीने पे ख़ंजर चलाया न करो।
चिराग़ में जलने की क़िस्मत है परवाने को
उसे और जीने की इच्छा दिलाया न करो !
शिद्दत-ए-शोले -ए-जज़्बात है दिल में
इस वक़्त हवा को बुलाया न करो।
उसकी आँखों में और नमी नहीं
उसे अब और रुलाया न करो।
I came across this song sing by Dr. Balamuralikrishna, for the first time (LInk below). This is a wonderful composition of Bhadrachalam Ramadas.
I realized that this is what is called as "Ninda Sthuthi". It is a form of eulogising God by actually admonishing Him. In Tamil, this form of worship is called Asadhi Aadal ( அசதியாடல்) . Examples of this can be found in Silappadhikaaram , and also by Sundaramoorthi Swamigal, where the poet ridicules and admonishes God. St Thagaraja too has handled this.
Bhadrachalam Ramadas lived at least 150 years before the Trinity. He is most famous for being put in jail by the Mughal Qutub Shahi, for constructing a Rama temple in Bhadrachalam, allegedly with taxpayer money. He was a Vaggeyakara - one who composes both the lyrics as well as sets it to music. In contrast to someone like Poet Bharati, who was a great poet, but not a Vaggesyakara. Ramdas has composed songs in Telugu, Sanskrit as well as the occasional Tamil.
"Ikshvaku Kula Thilaka" was set to Yadhukula Kambodhi raagam.
There are about 8 charanams for this song. But of interest is one of them, and I quote:
"Charanam 06:
Nee tandri dasaratha maharaju pettena ramachandraMeaning:
O Ramachandra! Did your father, King Dasaratha, gave them (the jewels that Ram adorns, in the temple) to you?
O Ramachandra! Or, did your father-in-law, King Janaka sent them to you?
In Hindi movies, that would literally translate to " tera baap kaa maal hai kya?"
If you listen through the full song, Ramadas lists down all the jewels and "goodies" that he has given, not only to Rama , but to Sita, Lakshmana etc and everyone else around him. And then goes on to extol :" I have provided you with all this, now, it becomes your bounden duty to protect me".
NINDA STUTHI can be found quite commonly across various creations across multiple languages in India. This is part of the culture of the land - a very democratic one, which encourages aethists, agnostics etc to thrive.. so much so, that even Buddha, who rejected the core tenets, is, today, accepted as an Avatar of the very Gods he sought to discard!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4fxMrH7-Zo&ab_channel=DrM.Balamuralikrishna-Topic
हर लेन-देन में मुक्ति नहीं बंधन ही बचा है।
पर तुझे देने अब मेरा धड़कन ही बचा है।
उम्मीद की डोरी जब से बे-काबू हो गया हो
खुद के ऊपर दर्द-ए-उलझन ही बचा है।
तलाश-ए -प्यार में हर रिश्ते को ठुकराया मैंने
क्या करूँ, हर रिश्ते में शोषण ही बचा है।
इज़्ज़त और शोहरत बहुत कमा लिया हूँ, पर
दर्पन के सामने इक अभागन ही बचा है।
