"Mari mari ninne"- Part2: The story of Gajendra, the elephant

In the last post, we saw that Tyagaraja referred to 4 devotees in his kriti "Mari mari ninne" who earned the grace of Lord Vishnu. We also saw the various facets of the term "sarvaantaryaami" used in this kriti.
In this post, we want to spend time on one of the devotees: Gajendra, the elephant. This episode is described in detail in the Bhaagavatam, popularly known as the "Gajendra moksham" section.

Tyagaraja says in the anu-pallavi:

kari mora vini saraguna chana neeku
kaaranam emi sarvaantaryaami

kari- elephant in general, but referring to Gajendra here. mora-  entreaty. vini- on hearing. saraguna-  immediately. chana- to proceed. neeku- for you.
kaaranam emi- what is the reason? sarvaantaryaami- O indweller and controller of everyone.
The running meaning is:
O sarvaantaryaami, what is the reason You chose to proceed immediately (and help Gajendra) on hearing his entreaty?
It has to be connected to the pallavi.. "mari-mari ninne moralida...."
whereas I plead to You repeatedly and you ignore me, with no compassion whatsoever (daya raadu).

Similarity with Mysore Vasudevacharya's brochevaarevarura:

Mysore Vasudevacharya lived after Tyagaraja and has borrowed the same idea in his famous Kamas raaga kriti "brochevarevarura".

"naa moralanu vinaraadaa
bhaasuramuga kari raajunu brochina vaasudevudavu neevu kadaa"

The words are the same. naa- my.  moralanu- pleading, same as Tyagaraja's moralida above. vinaraadaa- You do not hear, much like Tyagaraja's daya raadu.
But you heard "kari raaju"- the elephant king (Gajendra).
"Aren't you that Vasudeva who heard the lamentation of Gajendra and protected (brochina) him? How can you then turn a deaf ear to my pleading?" asks Vasudevacharya in this kriti.
Kamas is a janya raaga of Hari Kambhoji. Kambhoji, Tyagaraja's choice for "Mari mari ninne" is also a janya raaga of Hari Kambhoji. Both are related raagas in many ways- both admit the same "anya swara" (foreign, alien note-a different "nishadam" ) in certain passages making them "bhaashaanga raagas".
Tyagaraja's "mari mari ninne" influence on this kriti is unmistakable.

Mari mari ninne and "aarta traana paraayana stotra":

It is likely that Tyagaraja himself was influenced by the "aarta traana paraayana stotra" for this kriti. "Aarta traana paraayana stotra" is an ashtakam (8 verses) found in Vaishnava sampradaya. It is attributed to Kuresha, who was a disciple of Ramanujacharya.
In this ashtakam, 6 examples are taken to show how Lord Vishnu helped his devotees in distress. The examples are: Gajendra, Prahlada, Dhruva, Vibhishana, Ahalya and Draupadi. One verse is dedicated to each devotee. It has an introductory verse and strangely, an extra verse for Draupadi- making it 8 verses in all. There is a concluding, phala shruti verse as well.

All of Tyagaraja's examples in this kriti are found in one place- this stotra. One may argue that Vibhishana is not quoted by Tyagaraja; Tyagaraja only mentions Sugreeva. Curiously, the stanza on Vibhishana found in this stotra mentions Sugreeva as well.

Aarta- a person in distress. Traana- the one who protects. Paraayana- One who is an adept, an expert. Lord Vishnu is the "aarta traana paraayana"- the one who never fails to help a devotee in distress.

Each example in this stotra ends with the refrain- "aarta traana paraayana sa bhagavaan Narayano me gatih"- My refuge (me gatih) is that Narayana, who never fails to help the afflicted.
Note that Lord Rama is also praised as "aartaanaam aartihantaaram" in another shloka. He too alleviates the pain of an aarta bhakta.

The verse on Gajendra in this stotra reads as follows:

nakragrasta padam samuddhrta karam brahmaadi deveshvarau
maampaatityati deena deena karunaad deveshu shakteshu cha
maa bhaiksheeriti raksha nakra vadanaat chakraayudha shridharau
aarta traana paraayanah sa bhagavaan naaraayano me gatih

When a crocodile grabbed the leg (of Gajendra) and when he (Gajendra) raised his trunk and implored to Brahmaji and all the devas.... (line 1)
"Please save me" he implored in utter helplessness to the devas... (Finally it was..) (line 2)
Shridhara (Lord Vishnu) who said "Don't fear" and used his chakra to extricate Gajendra from the crocodile.. (line 3)
That bhagavan Narayana is my refuge, who is ever ready to help a devotee in distress (line 4).

One last point before we focus on the story of Gajendra:
The "aarta traana paraayana stotra" itself seems to take ideas from the Gajendra moksham verses of the Bhaagavatam. The refrain found in this stotra is present in the Bhaagavatam. Please check the concluding line of Gajendra Moksham, verse 7. It says-
"bhutaatma-bhutaah suhrdah sa me gatih".

Like this, we can go on- finding similarities and parallels across the canvas!

The story of Gajendra:

Indradyumna was a Pandya raja, in "dravida desha". He was a great bhakta. In a particular context, however, Sage Agastya thought that he was arrogant and cursed Indradyumna to be reborn as an elephant.

HuHu was a Gandharva who once misbehaved with the Rishi Devala. He caught hold of the Rishi's leg when the Rishi entered the water where the Gandharva was having some fun. The rishi cursed him to be reborn as a crocodile...an animal whose vocation is to pull others' legs!

The elephant Gajendra entered the lake where the crocodile was living. It caught hold of the elephant's leg. Other elephants tried to help Gajendra, to no avail. When all the local methods failed, Gajendra prayed to Lord Vishnu, the only refuge, through a set of 30 verses, famously known in the Bhaagavatam as the "Gajendra moksham" verses.

Lord Vishnu immediately rushed to the elephant's plea. As soon as Gajendra saw Lord Vishnu, he used his last bit of strength to pick up a lotus and offered it to Lord Vishnu... with his raised trunk. Lord Vishnu used his discus to sever the crocodile's neck and freed Gajendra. Lord Vishnu indeed is the "aarta traana paraayana".

Some interesting facts related to this story:

Though not found in the Bhaagavatam, there are some interesting ideas connected to this story.

1. It is said that Lord Vishnu still retains the lotus that Gajendra gave him. Guruvayurappan, Lord Vishnu's divine form at Guruvayur holds a lotus. That lotus is the one that Gajendra gave him. Doesn't Lord Krishna say:
"patram pushpam phalam toyam yo me bhakyaa prayacchati
tada aham bhaktya upahritam ashnaami ashnaami prayataatmanah" (Geeta Chapter 9).

2. Lakshmi devi wanted to know the reason Lord Vishnu was in such a tearing hurry to leave Vaikuntha. Lord Vishnu answered, "gajam traatum" (to protect an elephant). He said "ga" when He was in Vaikuntha. By the time He said "jam", he was already in front of Gajendra on the earth! Even now, in local parlance, in Tamil, when someone lands up... with a certain quickness and style, we say- "jamnu vandu nirkaraan!" The usage is from this incident.

3. Lord Vishnu wasted no time to leave Vaikuntha upon hearing Gajendra. He may be "alankaara priya", one who loves adorning himself, but now was not the time. He forgot his uttariyam (upper cloth) and grabbed whatever he could get hold of. It was when he wrapped Gajendra's wounds with his upper cloth, after killing the crocodile, that he realized that he had worn Lakshmi Devi's sari as his upper cloth!

4. He got his ornaments all wrong and ornaments which were to be present on one part of the body, were actually found on another. Such was his haste!

5. He appeared before Gajendra with 8 arms (ashta bhujah). However, the weapons did not exactly match with the arms on the opposite side. Instead of holding the bow (Shaarnga) in one hand and the arrow in the matching hand on the other side, they were both found on the same side! Same with the sword (Nandaki) and the shield. They were again found on the same side. There was no time to even align the weapons!

6. Lord Vishnu found Garuda to be too slow to get to the earth. At one point, instead of Garuda carrying Lord Vishnu, Lord Vishnu found it faster to carry Garuda and travel!

Informed readers can point out where these ideas are from. They don't seem to be present in the Bhaagavatam. However, they glorify Lord Vishnu's readiness to help the distressed. Hence, Tyagaraja's complaint that the Lord, who showed such alacrity to respond to a devotee, should be so indifferent to him.

Is the Lord partial?

We said in the last post that Tyagaraja seems to accuse the Lord of "pakshapaata", favouritism in this kriti. Is the Lord partial? Krishna answers this point in the Geeta (Chapter 9):

samoham sarva bhuuteshu na me dveshyosti na priyah
ye bhajantitu maam bhaktyaa mayi te teshu chaapyaham

Krishna says:
"I am the same towards all beings (samoham), there is none whom I hate, or whom I love.
But, the one to has bhakti towards me, he gets the benefit. He sees Me in him and I too see myself in him".
The devotee's attitude makes the difference.. much like the one who derives the benefit of the bonfire....by sitting close to it... to find warmth on a cold night. The fire is uniform (samah). If we sit far away from the fire and complain that it is bitterly cold, then, the grace of the fire is not for us! So too... with the Lord. His grace is available to all.
But the bhakta is able to "tap" the Lord's anugraha, His grace.

Does the Lord have to appear in person?

The Bhaagavatam tells the whole story and finally uses the expression "chandomayena garudena". Chandah- Vedic words, vedic teaching. It's as if the Lord rode on Garuda, who is personified as the vedic words. This expression is significant.
If we look at Gajendra stuti, it is extremely philosophical, packed with the teaching of the Upanishads. It is not the helpless rant of the distressed.
Hence, regardless of whether Lord Vishnu actually appeared in person before Gajendra or before any other devotee, "chandomayena garudena" lends itself to an alternate explanation.
Adi Shankara says "sarva vedanta siddhantha gocharam.. tam agocharam". The Lord may not be available directly for sense-perception (agocharam), still, He is available through the teaching of Vedanta (gocharam). Again, in another place, he says, "namo vedanta vedyaaya"- Salutations unto the One who is ever available through the teaching of vedanta.
Gajendra moksham.. has to be finally looked at from this angle. The Lord rides on the teaching of Vedanta.

Aarta to jignyaasu bhakta transformation:

If we look at the Gajendra Moksham verses, after a point, Gajendra wasn't even worried about his specific problem. He may have started as an "aarta bhakta", but soon rose above it to become a "jignyaasu bhakta"- the one who relates to the Lord primarily as a "seeker", a saadhaka. Where do we find this? In verse 25 of Gajendra moksham, Gajendra says- "jijeevishe naaham" (I don't even wish to live). His topical problem is no longer in focus. It has become irrelevant, much like Arjuna's specific problem about whether he should fight the war or not. Gajendra is in fact interested in something higher which he spells out, starting from the first verse- om namo bhagavatey tasmai yata etat chidatmakam.

Thus, some problems are directly solved. Others are solved in time. Vishnu's chakra can refer to "kaala-tatvam", as per an exponent. Kaala (time) solves problems. Thirdly, some problems are solved by rendering the problem itself irrelevant by focussing on something higher!
Arjuna's and Gajendra's topical problems were addressed using the third approach.

Let's remind ourselves that we started looking at all this because of Tyagaraja's "kari mora vini"!!
More on this kriti.... in the next post!

Tyagaraja's "Mari mari ninne" in Kambhoji raaga- part 1

"Mari mari ninne moralida...nee manasuna daya raadu" is Tyagaraja's kriti set to the raaga Kambhoji. As per traditional accounts, Tyagaraja's teacher Sonti Venkataramanaiyya wanted Tyagaraja to sing before his (Sonti gaaru's) father. That is the occasion when Tyagaraja sang this piece.
It is a piece in contrast to "Dorakuna itu vanti seva" which we saw earlier as one of the first compositions that Tyagaraja sang in public. In "Dorakuna", Tyagaraja is visibly thrilled that he has had Lord Raama's darshana, which is difficult for even munis, exalted sages. However, in "Mari mari ninne", Tyagaraja expresses an opposite reaction; he is deeply pained that despite his repeated entreaties, the Lord chooses to be indifferent and aloof while he chose to humour even elephants and monkeys! The Lord is accused of pakshapaata (favouritism) as it were!

The kriti at a glance:

mari-mari ninne moralida
nee manasuna daya raadu

Even If I entreat (moralida) you repeatedly (mari-mari), no feeling of compassion (daya raadu) enters your mind (mansuna).

Tyagaraja addresses the Lord as "sarvaantaryaami" and questions how He could be partial to some devotees. He gives four examples in this kriti- the elephant Gajendra, Dhruva, Prahlaada and Sugreeva and says that you came to their aid when they reached out to you. However, my lot is different; you totally ignore me.

Tyagaraja questions:
kaaranam emi sarvaantaryaami
What is the reason (kaaranam emi) O inner-controller of everyone (sarvaantaryaami)?

Sarvaantaryami:

The term "sarvaantaryaami" used in this kriti is a technical term found in other places in the scripture. As we said earlier, Tyagaraja is well versed in the Upanishads. Hence, these epithets are not casual references, but words which have to be analyzed with the background of Vedanta.
In this post, we will mainly look at this term.

Antaryaami as seen in the Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad:

The word "antaryaami" is synonymous with the Brihadaaranyaka Upanishad. This upanishad has a section (braahmanam) called "Antaryaami Braahmanam", a very popular part of the Upanishad comprising over 20 verses in which the concept of "antaryaami" is explained.

We can recollect a few facts from that section. Yaagnyavalkya, the celebrated sage is faced with a battery of questions in a contest, first by the lady Gaargi and then by Uddaalaka-Aaruni, another prominent sage. If he can answer all their questions, he can take the cows as prize-money.
Uddaalaka warns Yaagnyavalkya that if he pretends to be a brahmavit, a person of knowledge, but can't explain the term "antaryaami" satisfactorily, but still forcibly takes the cows away, then, Yaagnyavalkya's head will break to pieces! Some serious contest this was!! The section begins with this story and proceeds to explain the concept of "antaryaami".

Yaagnyavalkya explains the term "antaryaami" as Ishvara (Brahman with maaya shakti), God as we understand commonly. He takes examples from three different levels: (a) the cosmic elements-earth, fire etc. (b) all the living beings (c) organs in a given individual and declares that the Lord alone exists as the "order" behind everything in the creation- both in the macro-creation as well as in the micro-creation (within an individual).
There is a cosmic order, an astronomical order, a physiological order, a psychological order- everything in the creation is orderly. That Order is the Lord.
As someone observed humorously- People study "Chaos Theory". If there is "order in chaos", so much so that "chaos" is available as a "field of study", what to talk of other Sciences! Every Scientist unravels this order alone through his discoveries. That Order- whether in Geology or in Biology is the Lord, the antaryaami.

If there is one quotation that we want to remember from this Brihadaaranyaka section, it is this one, which Adi Shankara himself quotes in his Vishnu Sahasranaama bhashyam and which serves as a definition of the term "antaryaami".
"Ya imam cha lokam param cha lokam sarvaani cha bhutani yo antaro yamayati"
It defines antaryami as Ishvara, the Lord, who remains inside (antaro) all lokas (fields of experience, worlds) as well as inside the beings (bhutani) in these lokas and controls (yamayati) them.
These are the vedic statements that popular Hinduism rides on. The Lord is not outside the creation, but remains as the creation, as the very order in the creation. The ocean is the ocean due to the Lord, the banyan tree seed sprouts into a banyan tree and not into a coconut tree due to the Lord- everything is laid out.... well and perfect!

Antaryaami seen in the Geeta:

If there is one quote that which defines antaryaami in the Geeta, it is this famous verse in Chapter-18:

"Ishvarah sarva bhutaanaam hrdeshe Arjuna tishtathi
bhraamayan sarva bhutani yantraa  rudhaani maayayaa"

The Lord is situated in the heart of all beings and animates them using his maaya shakti (power). He twirls (bhraamayan) the entire creation like the figures mounted on a machine (yantra)!

Antaryaami in Sri Rudram:

It would be incomplete if we didn't speak about Sri Rudram, the famous set of verses in the Yajurveda in the context of the term "antaryaami". In Sri Rudram, Lord Shiva is described in 3 distinct ways:
As (a) Sarveshvara, as (b) Sarvaatma and (c) Sarvaantaryaami
Of these, the set of verses in the 7th Anuvaka beginning with "namo dundubhyaaya cha, aahannyaa ya cha" etc. describes the Lord as the sarvaantaryaami, the one who guides everything, the niyanta, the controller.

Abhinava Shankara, who has written a commentary on Sri Rudram specifically mentions this fact. The examples in this section are all encompassing and drive home the concept of sarva antaryaami in both inanimate and animate life-forms.

This section says:
A drum (dundubhi) is a drum and makes its distinct sound because the Lord exists as the order in the drum! The stick (aahanana) used to beat the drum is also the Lord!
The Lord exists as the narrow trail (sruti) everywhere, as the well laid out road (patha), as the pond (kaata), as the waterfall (neepa), as the marshy land (suuda), as the lake (saras), as the river (nadi), as the reservoir (vaishanta), as the well (kuupa), as the valley (avata), as the rain (varsha), as drought (avarsha), as the cloud (megha), as the lightning (vidyut), as the autumnal cloud (eedhriya), as the sun (aatapya), as the wind, as our breath (vaata), as pralaya-kaala (reshma) and as every object (vaastava) in the creation!

Where else can we find a more elaborate list which explains the concept of antaryaami in the creation?

With this, we have covered the philosophical part of the kriti- the explanation of the term antaryaami. The rest of it should be easy on the reader!
We want to briefly look at the four devotees that Tyagaraja mentions and how Lord Vishnu/Raama readily acceded to their request.

The devotees of the Lord:

Gajendra, Prahlaada and Dhruva are popular stories in the Bhaagavata Puraana. Sugreeva is of course from the Ramayana.
Tyagaraja is fond of Prahlaada and Dhruva and mentions them in other kritis too- like the popular kriti "varaalandu kommani", set to the raaga Gurjari. This kriti is very similar to "mari mari ninne" in theme and content.

The Bhaagavata Purana itself mentions these examples while extolling bhakti in the portion popularly known as Uddhava Geeta. We can recall the following verse in which Krishna talks about his devotees who span the entire spectrum. There are asuras, animals, birds, butchers and even scripturally illiterate people- they all came from backgrounds which were not spiritually conducive, still they succeeded because of their bhakti. Tyagaraja's examples are found here:

"Vrshaparva balirbaano mayashchaath vibhishanah
sugreevo hanumaanrksho gajo..." (Uddhava Geeta, Chapter 7, verse 6).

Gaja here is Tyagaraja's "kari mora vini"- his reference to the elephant, Gajendra.

Verse 5 talks about the value of satsanga, association with saints and makes an oblique reference to Prahlaada, born in an asura family. (We can recall how Narada taught Kayaadhu, Prahlaada's mother and how Prahlaada imbibed the teaching from his mother's womb!)
In the next post, we will take up each devotee that Tyagaraja mentions in this kriti and how the Lord went out of his way to help them.

The stories should be interesting and a refresher course for those who have forgotten their Amar Chitra Kathas!!