The Screen Within
English Voiceover
It has become a convention to address such a gathering as, “Brothers and Sisters,” though no speaker is prepared to live up to the ideal that such a form of address implies. Many such empty formalities have entered into daily conduct. For example, it was mentioned now, that today is a ‘red letter day’ in the history of Tirupati. Red letter days or days, which have to be recorded in letters of gold, are becoming quite cheap, nowadays. Only four days, remember, deserve that honour: the day, on which bhaktas (devotees) gather to sing the glow of God, the day, when the hungry are fed, the day, when one meets a great sage, and the day, on which viveka dawns on the individual. This day certainly falls in the category and so, the secretary’s description is, for once, right.
I like the work, on which this committee is engaged in and so, I hurried to this place from Bangalore, where yesterday, there was an akhandabhajan (uninterrupted singing of devotional songs) by many devotees. I like Saint Tyagaraja. My affection for him is not a matter of today. It is centuries old. And Tyagaraja and Tirupati are also attached to each other. He prayed here that the screen hiding the light that was inside him might be moved aside by the Lord’s grace. This committee has been trying heroically to erect a place of worship for the saint, a hall to celebrate the Tyagaraja festival, and encourage the study and practice of his songs. I was sorry, when I heard their report and listened to the journeys these people have made to distant places and the driblets of donations they have received so far.
The Means For Collecting Donations Must Be Pure
Though the report is evidence of their devotion and sacrifice, it reveals the false sense of values, which people are developing nowadays. 'Dabbu' (money) must also circulate like ‘blood’! Otherwise, that too will cause ill-health. There is no better method of using 'dabbu' than for promoting bhakti, for then the entire system, individual and social, will benefit by it. If money is stored and not circulated, it will cause social swellings and the swellings may become boils and burst.
I learn that the secretaries, in their despair, have thought of running a lottery for completing this structure. I am very much against this plan. A lottery attracts money from persons, who are moved by greed; it holds out the attraction of quick riches and tempts men from a wrong angle. It will be tainted money to sell lottery tickets, distribute prizes, and use the balance. Though it is for a good purpose, the means must be pure. Everyone who gives even a paisa must give it out of real devotion and knowing that the paisa will be used for the building, which he wants to get built. Do not receive money given half-heartedly, or with some other motive than devotion. Then only will the building be worthy of Tyagaraja, who spurned the nidhi (wealth) offered by the rajas of Tanjore and preferred the sannidhi (proximity) of the Lord to the favours bestowed by human donors.
It is when diseases are rampant that doctors are needed more and now, when the standard of moral conduct has fallen very much, people must turn to doctors like Tyagaraja, who dispense the drug of Ramanaama in their own sweet, palatable versions. All have equal right to share in the health-giving properties of that drug. In every linguistic group, we have great vaidyulu (doctors), who treat this bhavaroga (disease of worldly existence) successfully: Surdas in Hindi, Ramalingaswamy in Tamil, and Purandaradasa in Kannada - to give just one example in each language.
Tyagaraja’s Songs Impart Ananda
Tyagaraja is in a class by himself, not because he sang in Telugu, but because his songs are marked by the rare excellences of sincerity of devotion, poetical beauty, and musical melody. The raga (tune) suited to the emotional tempo of the idea elucidated in the song; the taala (marking of time) quite appropriate to the movement of the meaning; the words, which automatically dictate the taala and guide the musician along the notes and the entire structure of the song, helping the arousal of the yogic urge in the singer - such spontaneous mastery of the science and art of both music and sadhana is seldom found in the history of any language or country. He sang unaware, out of the fullness of his realisation and so, the songs have that strange communicative force, imparting ananda to the singer as well as the listener.
Devaki gave birth to Krishna, but the child was brought up by Yashoda in Brindavan. Yashoda had all the delight, which the child could give. So too, the Tamil devotees of music have adopted Tyagaraja and have practised his songs more than the Telugu speaking people. They are the Yashoda of Tyagaraja. The Tamils specialise in raga and taala and they sing with scrupulous adherence to these. However, since they do not grasp the full meaning of the text, distortions painful to the Telugu ear often occur. More and more Telugu devotees have to learn to sing Tyagaraja kirtis, so that the nuances of the Telugu language in the songs may not be missed. After all, the raga, taala, and the notations are to help in the more easy assimilation of the message contained in the song and in the transmission to the singer and the listener of the live emotion, out of which the song arose in the first instance. This can happen only if the meaning is clear.
Bhakti Is the Reservoir For All The Temples
Music as a vehicle of peace is universally popular; men, women, and children of all lands are amenable to its subtle influence. Even animals and plants are susceptible to music. The Lord has said, “Madbhakta yatra gaayante, tatra tishtami Narada,” “Where My devotees sing, there I seat Myself.” So, the songs of Tyagaraja, sung well and with the full realisation of the context and the meaning, are excellent media for the spread of bhakti. That is why I came today, to encourage and bless this committee, which is celebrating Tyagaraja utsavam. Three things combined to bring Me here: ichcha, shraddha, and anukoolam - their yearning, faith, and conjunction of convenience!
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam must foster the nurseries of bhakti, wherever they are found. For, it is through bhakti that pilgrims flock to the hill and pray before Venkateshwara; if the springs of bhakti dry up, with what are the minds of men to be watered? That is the reservoir for all the temples of this land. So, the Devasthanam can well come to the rescue of this committee. It is doing the work of the Devasthanam by promoting the kirtis (musical compositions) of Tyagaraja, which develop the spirit of devotion. He was Valmiki himself, come to the south of India to sing the glow of Rama and spread the Rama taraka mantram. He had always the welfare of the individual as well as the world in view. He had the experience of the constant presence of the Lord, so that Rama had to give him darshan (audience) and come to his help a number of times. His bhakti made him ever at peace and joyful.
India Is On The Threshold Of A New Era
Prayer and contrition are the two disciplines, by which the mind can be cleansed of egoism and hatred; Tyagaraja is a fine example of how this can be done. He was ever engaged in the process of examining his words and deeds and evaluating them on the touchstone of bhakti. As the bee in search of honey wanders in search of the flowers, as the creeper clings fast and fondly to the tree lest it fall, as the rill runs to the river and the river rushes to the sea, Tyagaraja pined for Rama; his songs are pure, fragrant blossoms of bhakti and therefore, immortal.
Every man seeks rest, but the dust of sense-craving accumulates on the mind, producing rust and threatening to ‘burst’ it. So, he has to test it off and on, keep it in perfect trim. To remove that rust, the music of Tyagaraja’s kirtis will be useful. Lay aside your cynicism for a while, listen to the captivating tunes, and imbibe the sense. The science of spiritual culture and of the control of the mind has been developed and practised in this country for thousands of years and that is why Indian civilisation has stood the shock of ages and the fury of typhoons that swept whole peoples off their feet. India is still green and fresh, on the threshold of a new era, under the leadership of her own ancient ideals.
The taste for good music has also gone nowadays, with the coming of catchy lilts and crooning from the cinemas and the craze has spread for imitating them even in bhajans! Sing the kirtis of Tyagaraja in the classical ragas and I am sure they will have great appeal. They are not mere paatalu (songs), they are mootalu (bundles) of precious stones; they take you along the baatalu (roads) to God. If Tyagaraja gets neglected, this holy hill will lose height, for the hill stands so high, because it rests on the pedestal of bhakti. Neglect of Tyagaraja can happen only when the people of this land become desperately worldly, deaf to the whisper of the God within.
Tyagabrahma Utsava, Tirupati, 11-7-1957