Nithya PancharathnOthsavam

Dear Readers, It is my long time wish to write up on the pancharathnams of Sathguru thyAgarAja. Starting from the next post, we are going to learn, listen and enjoy the greatest of the krithis of Sathguru thyAga-brahmam , which are very appropriately named as "pancharathnams" (five gems). Now, let me introduce you all to the pancharathnams as i view them. Before presenting my view, let me quickly give a brief general introduction. The pancharathna krithis are five ghana Raga krithis( Naatai, Gowlai,Arabhi,varAli and sri) of sathguru thyAgabrahmam. The pancharathnams are not merely krithis of scinitilating vintage carnatic music that are rendered by a group of vidwAns and vidUshis on a bahula panchami day( the day sathguru attained the abode of srirAma). The pancharathnams are five sparkling gems that glitter with glory the greatness of Sathguru, his bhakthi, his jnAnam,his humility, his compassion and his respect,admiration for all the true bhAgawathAs and jnAnis who are like the honey bees relishing the honey-laden lotus flower of SreeRAmachandran. Sathguru ThyAgabrahma ArAdhanA celebrated in ThiruvaiyAru draws people from all over the world (not just india). The musical grandeur that many people enjoy a great lot (with/without knowing ) is just the result of the music produced when the gems exemplifying his greatness jingle together. It is for the sake of the future generations , our sathguru has given the shape of truly peerless musical anubhavA to represent the gem of his qualities of bhagawath and BhAgawatha bhakthi (gem1), his humility (gem2), his compassion (gem3) and the jnAnam (gem4) that he had acquired through the anugRahAs of his guru,poorvAcharyAs and all the DAsAs and his musical talents (gem5) that he again was gifted because of the other four gems and because he considered nAdha-brahmam as his prAnanAthan-SriRAmabrahmam. Just like all the true bhakthAs and bhAgawathAs worship and relish the visual form of God, sathguru thyAgabrahmam worshipped and relished the sound form of God (Naadhabrahmam). He was always immersed in the athi-ramaneeya rAma roopam and nAdham. Few knowledgeable persons of the past and the present were/are aware and have even written hundreds of pages on the thousands of upananishadic truths that are slyly wrapped outside by best of the worlds music hidden to an average "music-enthusiast".A true music admirer is a person who admires more than the music the person who created the music. Without such admiration and devotion coming right from the heart, those truths will be kept hidden. Just for the information of the reader that SriOppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri sri sadAgOpan has written a 350+ page book just on the pancharathna krithis. Unfortunately, most of the content in the book are accessible only to readers who know Tamil. So, for the benefit of everyone, I will use references from his book as and when needed. In this complex and confused world ,people are struggling to know what is TRUTH, where is eternal peace or in other words where is God. Confused by the upanishidic statements like "Tath Tvam ASi" et al that applies only to jnAnis like sukha-brahmam, some people even goto the extent by using those facts that they got to know by skimming the upanishadic translations and they engage in discussions like if god is everywhere "Why should have to worship this that et al"? Why all this is needed?. Some people are complete atheists. Of course , there are humpty number of peoples with differnet kinds of views. Another set of people are arguing upon the correctness in pronunciation of telugu, misappropriate usage of telugu words in his krithis et al . For me the kithis of ThyAgayya sound only a little bit like telugu. For me , his bhAshA is deva bAshA(whatever be the name) not really telugu. His krithis neither sound sanskrit, nor sound telugu, or any other language but a language to be used to communicate with him and srirAman. To all of them, the krithis of ThyAgayya soundly resonate in unison with su-swara sangeetham that HE (gOD) is verily right here as NAdhabrahmam coming out of true bhakthAs with satbhakthi. Again, only a few can accept it. If lots and lots of people start accepting it and following the simplest way to reach him through bhakthi and nAdhOpAsanA, then god will have to retire from the cycle of srusti and sthithi(creating and destruction). Having said all these , What other verses/slokams from other grantham/literary works other the glorious pancharathnAs need to be used for performing poojA straight from the heart with devotion not once a year amidst TV cameras and faces of hundreds of fancy dressed people but every morning before even taking a cup of milk/coffee? I will continue this post some time during this week when i will write why I consider the pancharathnams as the best and quickest way to be with ThyaGabrahmam and SreeRamachachandran and company. with sathguru dhivyakamAla pAdha and jAnaki kAntha smaranams AdiyEn thyAgayya and rAmanuja dAsan krishna sarvam sathguruprAnanAthAya seethArAmachandrArpanam