Sri Venkateswara Prayers
Hey Alexa, please play Suprabhatham!
The other
day on my request Amazon Music played for me Sri Venkateswara Suprabhatham [i]
by the famed M.S. Subbulakshmi. Thereafter,
it played Govinda Naamalu [ii],a
Telugu bhajan by Parupalli Sri Ranganatha.
Why, I
wondered? How did Amazon conclude that I would follow the Telugu song? Are Amazon
and Alexa snooping on me? How do they know that I know a few Telugu words: raandi,
kurchandi, chepandi, vagunnara, manchi neela, ulipae, annam, etc.?
But no, Amazon
Music and Alexa used AI and algorithm to select the Telugu bhajan for me, and
they were bang on. I had enabled ‘Auto Play’ in Settings and Amazon had picked
up a song like the one I had just played – a bhajan for Vishnu, especially for
Venkateh (Venkata in Sanskrit means hill, hence the Lord of the Hills).
Sri Venkatesa Suprabhatham
Decades ago,
I had heard Sri Venkatesa Suprabhatham for the first time, streaming from our
Telugu neighbour’s radio. I did not know the name of the singer, but knew that
it was a morning prayer for Sri Venkateswara, the chief deity worshipped by the
family. They had a framed photo of the deity who looked very different to me
from Krishna or Ram. Much later did I know that the Lord of the Thirumala
Hills is an avatar of Vishnu, and years later I got the opportunity to offer prayers
at the holy shrine.
Prabha’s
mother offered ritualistic prayer and aarati every day in the morning and
evening and their house was filled with incense smoke and tinkling of handheld
bells.
Prabha had
two elder brothers- Phani and Vasu, but we called Mrs. Rao Prabha’s mother
since she was their youngest child. I had never seen Mr Shankara Rao, my father’s
colleague, and dear friend, before the puja alcove at home. But Prabha’s mother
was deeply religious, and insisted on all her children joining in for the bhajans
and aarti. I, too, joined in on the special occasions when the deity was
offered an elaborate prasadam including delicious coconut laddus, my personal
favourite. Prabha’s mother made the best coconut laddus.
Govinda Naamalu
Naamalu in
Telugu means ‘names.’ Thus, the bhajan is about the many names of Govinda. It
is Nama Sankirtana or Nama Japa by the singers and Nama Shravan by the
listener.
After listening
to the bhajan I realised that the entire lyrics excepting the opening words
were in Sanskrit, and no knowledge of Sanskrit is needed to appreciate this song
since the many names of Vishnu are proper nouns common to all Indian languages.
Further, while
some of the names of the Lord highlight his many divine attributes, other names
are ‘word-pictures’ or miniature stories very familiar to the devotees. Examples
–Gopijanapriya, Govardhanoddhara, Dashamukhamardana, Varahamurti.
Govinda
Naamalu is a bhajan designed for participative singing with the key lines sung
by the lead singer, and the refrain sung by the followers in a chorus:
Govinda
Hari Govinda
Venkataramana
Govinda.
Who is
Govinda? Govinda in Sanskrit means a person who tends the cattle or the
Chieftain of cowherds, an epithet for Krishna. It is one of the 16 names in Vishnu
Shodashanama Stotra (duhsvapne smara Govindah - recite the name of
Govinda to ward off nightmares) and the 187th and 539th names of Vishnu in Vishnu
Sahasranamam Stotram.
There is a
myth which associates Venkateswara with Lord Krishna. As Krishna bid adieu to
Yashoda to leave for Mathura, she knew that her son would never return. She
asked for a boon that Krishna be born as her biological son in Kaliyuga which
Krishna granted. To redeem the pledge, Krishna was born as Srinivasa, son of
Bakula Devi and married Padmavati, the reincarnation of Lakshmi.
Edu Kondalavada Venkataramana
The bhajan
opens with these Telugu words. Google Assistant translated: edu is seven and kondala
is hill, thus making the Seven Hills. I sought Ramesh Ji’s help for ‘vada.’ The
phrase means the Lord and Owner of the Seven Hills, he explained, something
like zameen zaydad wala in Hindi.
Govinda Hari Govinda
The refrain recites
three names of Vishnu: Govinda, Hari, and Venkataramana; of which the third one
specifically refers to Venkatesa, the Lord of the Hills.
Govinda
refers to Krishna. Adi Shankara has composed a beautiful song Charpatapanjarika
Stotram with the following popular Dhruva pada (the prime statement which
constitutes the refrain):
“bhajagovindaM
bhajagovindaM
govindaM
bhajamuuDhamate .
saMpraapte
sannihite kaale
nahi nahi
rakshati DukRiJNkaraNe .. (1)
Worship
Govinda, Worship Govinda, Worship Govinda. Oh fool! Rules of Grammar will not
save you at the time of your death.”
Source: https://shankaracharya.org/bhaja_govindam.php
Notably,
Govinda Naamalu mentions the name of Govinda thrice in the Dhruva Pada, as in
Adi Shankara’s Stotra.
How about
Hari? Hari is a synonym of Vishnu, and also the name of Shiva, Brahma, Yama,
Indra, Agni, and Vayu. Some believe that Hari refers to Vishnu-Krishna since
the word derives from hri meaning ‘take away or remove evil or sin.’ (A
Sanskrit English Dictionary by M. Monier-Williams.)
Kaivalyastakam
is a beautiful stotra recommending meditation on Hari’s Name with the phrase ‘Harernameiva
Kevalam’ as the refrain in each of the eight couplets.
The sixth
couplet has this beautiful pada:
Kachartham
vismrutam Ratnam Harernameiva Kevalam’
Meaning: O
Fool, why have you discarded the precious jewel for the sake of a piece of
worthless glass; seek refuge in the name of Hari. The gross world is the glass,
and Hari is the Ratna.
Thus, Hari
is a generic name for God: a synonym of Vishnu, Krishna, and any other god who
the devotee believes can remove his sorrows and sins.
Devotional Songs
A Prayer is a
song to create religious fervour in the devotees and to please the deity. But why
chant the several names of God so many times, when even a single call would
reach the Divine? Chanting for 108 or 1000 times is less for the deity and more
for the devotee. So long as the chanting continues, the devotee is totally
immersed in the activity which calms the mind. Prayer is therapeutic, an
ancient psychological tool devised by all religions for stress management.
Bhajans Breach Linguistic Barrier
After
listening to Govinda Naamalu a few times, I asked Alexa to play a few popular
Tamil bhajans. I purposely chose Tamil, the only Classical language of India
not derived from Sanskrit. Amazon Music played, among other songs, the
following Tamil bhajan:
Pallikkattu
Sabarimalaikku by K.
Veeramani, Somu-Gaja, Dr. U. Shanmugham, Shivamani and Nellai Arulamani,
I do not
know Tamil, and could not comprehend the lyrics; but the bhajan touched me,
somehow breaking the language barrier. Of course, the Tamil prayers were
addressed to Lord Ayyappa of Sabarimala, Ganapathi Gananayaka, Surya Bhagawan,
and other Hindu deities; and thus, a part of the wider, shared, pan-Indian
religious culture not limited to a language.
I recalled
that I love Abida Parveen’s soulful rendition of Kabeer’s kalam and Bulle Shah’s
kafiyan even though I do not know the meaning of several Urdu words.
How was
that, I wondered? Is it the serenity in the music, or the magic in the singers’
voice, that reached out to me? Are prayers language-agnostic? Is there a unique,
intangible ‘prayerfulness’ that is not bound to words, their meaning, and a
language? Just as the music of wind rustling through the leaves or the joyous gurgling
of a mountain stream needs no language to sing its song.#
A prayer is
a song of the soul, and the lyrics and the language its apparel; and the dress
is not the song, but what lies deep within. It is a song that communicates
through the music and the singer’s voice, the tune, tone, and tempo. It charms
the singer and the listeners, both divine and human; and proceeds from delight
to joy to euphoria and ecstasy. That is why prayers are hypnotic, uplifting and
soul-satisfying.
Your
religion, language, and belief-system are personal to you and important; but a genuine
prayer soars above these narrow confines. If gods be in heaven, and the prayers
are addressed to them, the singers and listeners establish a ‘connect’ with
divinity through prayers.
Try to
listen to a few prayers in the morning or at any time of the day; you are
likely to feel better.
Prayers are
our Wi-Fi to connect with the divine.
***
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