Pallavi
evaritō nē telpudu rāma nā lōni jālini | O Lord Rama! To whom shall I convey my mental agony? |
Anupallavi
1kavagoni sadā bhajana sēya kāryamulanni vērāye (evaritō) | Even though I chanted Your names always without break, all my efforts have gone awry. |
Charanam
2gaṇa nāthu sēya kōraga kaḍu vānaruḍai tīregā 3guṇa maya māyāmbuda samīra gōpāla tyāgarāja nuta (evaritō) | (It is as if) While I desired to mould (the form of) Ganesa, it ended up verily as a monkey; O Lord Gopala - the Wind that blows away the cloud of Grand Illusion consisting of three qualities! O Lord praised by this Thyagaraja! |
Commentary
- 1kavagoni – There is some doubt about this usage. ‘kava’ means ‘pair’ – in that sense, ‘kavagoni’ could be interpreted as ‘because of dvandva – pairs of opposites’. However, ‘kavalugonu’ means ‘to take up or catch up the recitation of the Veda from another person without making a break’. In the latter sense, it could mean ‘without break’.
- 2gaṇanāthu sēya - In Tamil, it is called ‘piḷḷaiyār piḍikkak kuraṅgānadu’.
- 3guṇa maya – In some books this has been translated as an epithet of the Lord – Ocean of Virtues – Embodiment of virtues etc. It is not appropriate to describe the Lord as ‘guṇa maya’ – it is not same as ‘saguṇa’. Therefore, ‘guṇa maya’ has been taken to qualify ‘māya’. In this regard, the following verse from zrImad-bhagavad-gItA, Chapter 14, verse 5 is relevant.
- Sattva, Rajas and Tamas – these Gunas, O might-armed, born of Prakrti, bind fast in the body the indestructible embodied one. (Translation by Swami Swarupananda).
- “Prakrti, Maya and Pradhana are approximate words (synonyms) and stress the material origin of life.” (explanation of Brahma Sutra - 1.1.5) - [Maya]