Dear BahkthAs:
I am so delighted to know about the monograph on Saint AnnamAchArya,
whose Jayanthi was celebrated recently at Sri RanganAthA temple, Pomona, NY.
Sriman Ananthapadmabhan (alias Sri Anand) has so kindly brought
to the attention of the release of this monograph and has
provided a very valuable review on the contents of
this book with excerpts. This posting appeared on
another list , where I am priveleged to be a member.
Inview of the wide interest in Saint Annamayyaa and
His devotion for His AchArya and Lord VenkatEsA of
Thirumalai, I am sharing this informative posting
with You all .
DaasOham , SaThakOpan
Date: Sat, 08 Jun 2002 16:34:53 +0530
Subject: Re: Tallapaakkam Annamacharya , the Divine Bard
SrI:
SrI PadmAvati SamEta SrInivAsa ParabramhaNE namaH
SrImatE rAmAnujAya namaH
SrImatE nigamAnta mahAdESikAya namaH
SrI AadivaN SaThakOpa yatIndra mahAdESikAya namah
SrI nArAyaNa yatIndra mahAdESikAya namaH
namO nArAyaNa!
Dear all,
Thanks to SrI Sadagopan for sharing the information.
TTD ,Tirupati funded book "Spiritual Heritage of Annamacharya"
by the authors Prof.Dr. M.Narasimhachary (ex- HOD, Dept of
Vaishnavism,University of Madras) and Dr.Miss. MS Ramesh (Retd IAS)
is a good book to be read by those interested in the sankIrtanas
of AnnamAchArya.
Details: TTD Religious Publications Serial No.617; Pub: 2001.
approx. 155 pages, size of magazines like Nrusimha priyA,
written in English.
Ch One : Life History of AnnamAchArya ; pgs 1-21.
Ch Two : Annamayya and the Alvars; pgs 22-57.
Ch Three : Songs of AnnamAchArya (25 songs); pgs 58-152.
Few excerpts :
1. From the back-cover :
"....His adhyAtma SankIrtanas are an eloquent tribute to
the concept of Prapatti emphasised by Sri Vedanta Desika
and Ramanuja."
"The present book...make an indepth study of his adhyAtma
SankIrtanas with special reference to twenty-five select
songs of the saint-poet."
Note: AnnamAchArya's songs are classified into two varieties
viz. Sri~ngAra (nAyikA bhAva) and adhyAtmika (other bhakti
bhAvas + songs with philosophical bent).
2. From Preface by Dr. NaramimhAchAry :
" Presented in this volume is a collection of twenty-five
adhyAtma sankIrtanas of the nenowned "Padakavita-PitAmaH"
SrI TAllapAka AnnamAchArya. This selection bears upon
concepts of the Supremacy of Lord VishNu (paratva), His
easy affability (saulabhya), His being inseparably associated
with SrI who is the Mother of the creation and the mediator
(purushakAra) between Him and the rest of creation, His
being the inner-controller of all the living beings
(antaryAmitva), His being the soul of the entire Universe and
its being His body (SarIra-SarIrI bhAva), the efficacy of
Loving Devotion (Bhakti) and whole-hearted surrender
(Prapatti) as the means of liberation, the catholic outlook
that all without the distinction of caste and community
are the children of God, and the glorification of 'SankIrtana'
Or Singing the holy names of the Lord as the easiest way of
crossing the ocean of worldly existence".
" AnnamAchArya, who was initiated into the Sri VaishNava
tradition by SrI AdivaN SaThakOpa JIyar, the founder of the
Ahobila Matha (A.D.1398), naturally became an eloquent
advocate of the SrI VaishNava religion and the ViSishTAdvaita
Philosophy propounded by Sri RAmAnuja."
" We have also tried to compare wherever possible, some striking
ideas and expressions of AnnamAchArya with those of the
scriptures like the Upanishads and the GItA, the SrI VaishNava
mystics called AzhvArs and the celebrated AchAryas like YAmuna,
RAmAnuja and VEdAnta DESika. We have also tried to highlight
some similarities with other well-known Telugu poets like
Potana,Vemana and BhadrAchala RAmadAsa."
3. From Ch.1 :
"The SankItanas of AnnamAchArya are famous not only for the
excellent, eloquent language but also for the soul stirring
beauty of its music. It is no exaggeration if it is said that
AnnamAchArya's SankIrtanas were the forerunner for the kritis
of the great musical trinity, viz. TyhAgayya, MuthuswAmi
DIkshitha and ShyAma SAstry. The trinity also adopted in toto
AnnamAchArya's format and style where the beginning two lines
viz. Pallavi, the central theme of the song is enunciated.
This is followed in the subsequent verses with supporting
illustrations and elaborate analogies or telling homely
popular local sayings. This format became the familiar
structure of all Kritis composed by later musicians".
"AnnamAchArya was also the pioneer in adopting the 'bhajana
paddhati' in the songs. No wonder that many say that
AnnamAchArya was in more ways than one a pace setter, nay a
trend setter in the realm of formalized music. Thus, his
service to Bhakti Sangeetha are unique and unparalleled.".
" 'annam BramhEti VyajAnAt' is the Sruti. It means - 'He
realized that Food is God'. NArAyaNa SUri in keeping
with that Sruti named his son 'annamayya' ".
4. From Ch.2 :
"....If we take into account only this one feature of
Madhurakavi's compositions, viz. that it expatiates and
expresses the role of the Guru in granting realisation
and liberation, he can be compared with AnnamAchArya who
also is known for having composed quite a few songs on his
guru viz. Aadi VaN SaThakOpa. He acknowledged and proclaimed
that it was AadivaN SaThakOpa the sage who founded the Ahobila
Mutt, who initiated him into VaishNavism.
One of the songs composed by Annamayya singing the praise of
his Guru runs as follows :
'Look! He is easily approachable by all;
He is the great muni who is close to and like a shadow to Hari;
He is the one, this is the person who is the golden pathway
to kaivalya (*);
Who strikes terror among enemies;
Who is the embodiment of all that is pure;
Who is the boat to reach us to Viraja river;
Here is the person who to save us acts as a lamp of true
knowledge for these worlds;
He is the one who is the shining effulgent glory of this world;
He is the one who is the support to get rid of sins;
This is SaThakOpa Muni who is a great follower of the merciful
Lord of SrIran~ngam, Lord Varada of KA~nchi and the Master of
VEn~kaTa Hill, as also Lord Narasimha of Ahobilam".
(*): Used in the sense of moksha here.
5. From Ch.3 {kindly bear with the transliteration} :
" 'sahaja vaishNavAchAra varthanula sahavAsamE maa sandhyA
athsayamagu SrIhari sankeertana Sathathambunu maa sandhyA
mathi rAmAnuja mathamE maakunu chathuratha merasina sandhyA
paramabhAgavata pada sEvanamE saravi nenna maa sabdhyA
sirivaru mahimalu cheluvondaga vesaraka vinutae maa sandhyA
manthukekka thirumantrapatanamae santhathamunu maa sandhyA
kanthugurudu Ve~nkaTagirirAyani santharpanamE maa sandhyA'
Trans:
Having as our companions, persons who follow the VaishNava
code of conduct is our sandhyA (Twilight Prayer)!
Rendering for ever, the excellent incomparable SrI Hari
SankIrtana is our sandhyA!
Following the religious philosophy of RAmAnuja, is our ideal
knowledgeable intellectual sandhyA!
On careful reflection, we realise, that rendering service
(kai~nkarya) to the exclusively one-pointed devotees of
Lord (parama-bhAgavatas) is our beautiful way of doing
sandhyA!
Listening tirelessly and carefully to the great glories of the
Consort of SrI alone is our sandhyA!
To chant forever, the well known famous Thirumantra, is our
sandhyA!
To do those acts which please the father of Manmatha and the
Master of VE~nkaTa Hill is our only sandhyA!"
[[[ This doesn't mean that Annamayya didn't perform the
traditional sandhyAvandanam and chose to perform the
above listed things instead. It is the poetic expression
of the great importance attached to those activities ]]].
<< Similarly Annamayya has composed songs on what is "snAna"
(bath), what is yajn~a etc. In the latter, the various
accessories of normal yajn~a are mapped to "Yajn~a in the
mental plane" ie. "Jn~Ana Yajn~a" (Ex: Sacrificial Animal
is "Desire to attain worldly pleasures"; Ghee for oblation
is inner and external sense organs; Lord VE~nkaTESvara is
the Soma Juice - Meditation upon Him is the drinking of
Soma Juice; AvabhRuta snAna in hOly tIrtha is the snAna
in the Ocean of Lord's DayA etc). >>
------------------
Songs of Annamayya rendered into chaste music naturally
yields great bhagavad anubhavam. Many thanks to my mother
who forcefully made me learn violin (Carnatic style) during the
school days. It was left during my 10th std, but aDiyEn was
able to give few very short programs during my college days
apart from being the key violinist for playing the
pan~charatra kIrtanas during the SrI ThyAgarAja ArAdhana
Celebrations at BITS,Pilani. That sa~ngeeta jn~Ana is of immense
value and aDiyEn cherishes it a lot.
The rAga HindOLam is my personal favourite, which in my opinion
makes one float for ever in bhagavad anubhava Or rather suits
the way aDiyEn wishes to have the rasAnubhavam. The rAgas very
close to that of HindOLam like Suddha-DhanyAsi, BImblAs, AabEri
(Or kartATaka DEvagAndhAri) are naturally my other top favourites.
This is apart from my favourite rAgAs like Bhairavi, which are
of more gAmbheeryam.
Luckily for me, many songs of Annamayya are rendered by musicians
in HindOlam and Suddha-Danyasi. Even great upanyAsakas in aastika
world like SrI KrishNa PrEmi employ HindOLam to mesmerize the
audience through the musical rendition of Sanskrit verses, which
arises the spontaneous good enough devotional mood in everyone.
Whether one has sa~ngeeta jn~Anam Or not, bhagavad anubhavam
arising out of listening to such musically rendered devotional
compositions is beyond all the words! In this context too, we
should be grateful to AnnamAchArya, the pioneer in such field.
aDiyEn rAmAnuja dAsan,
anantapadmanAbhan alias Anand.
> SrI Sadagopan wrote:
> Dear BhakthAs of Lord VenkatEsa:
> Last weekend , SrI Ranganatha Temple of Pomona KshEthram
> celebrated the Jayanthi of Saint AnnamachArya of TaLLapAkkam .
Srimate Sri Laksminrisimha Divya Paduka Sevaka
Srivan Satakopa Sri Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:
Y
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