Kirtanas of Sadasiva Brahmendra

T. R. RAJAGOPALA IYER

History

If any saint walked straight out of the Bhagavatapurana into actual life and history, it was Sadasiva Brahmendra of Thiruvisalur. The village some four miles down from Kumbakonam along the Cauvery is the most representative of the Tanjore delta, and Sadasiva was the flower of its genius. Indeed, tradition ascribes him to be an Avatar of Suka. The saint lived in the first half of the 18th century. His contacts with the Raja of Pudukkotai took place in 1738. He was a brilliant and conscientious Sanskrit scholar and has written some summaries which are vade mecum for students of Vedanta. Apart from this, he had a flair for poetry and music. His Kirtanas have been published by the Vani Vilas Press of Srirangam, with which I propose to deal in this article. Says T. K. Balasubramania Aiyar in his introduction to the Brahmnsutra Vritti of our Sadasiva: “He (Sadasiva) soon found his preceptor Paramasivendra Sarasvati (better known as Upanishad-brahmam) and began under him his apprenticeship in Yoga. He made great progress alike in his studies and in his practise. It must have been during this period that he wrote the works and Kirtanas that are now left behind to remind of his mighty personality. His Kirtanas or songs are sweetly lyrical and breathe a lofty idea. They show the trend his thoughts were now taking and show his ear for music!

Poet-Musician

The songs of Sadasiva are those of a poet-cum-musician, rather of a pure musician. They are cast in the earlier simpler mould. About half a century later, four great musicians appeared in South India, who were to recall and evolve subtler and more complex harmonies and raise carnatic music to its pinnacle of glory–Muthuswamy Dikshitar and Narayanatirtha in Sanskrit and Tyagaraja and Shyama Sastri in Telugu. In the Kirtanas of Sadasiva, there is a Pallavi, and Charanas follow, which are regular and short in length; there are no Anupallavis. The defect of poem-songs is that if they are long, they tend to become monotonous. Sadasiva was saved from this by the shortness of his poems, their naturalness and genuine lyrical feeling. They are also interesting as they are autobiographical and record the impressions of a great soul. The outburst lasted only for a shortwhile and then became lost when the singer came into contact with the great flute-player, the Nadabrahmam.

Division of Songs

Only 19 short sweet songs redolent of the fragrance of the highest Upanishadic realisation alone remain. They fall into six categories: (1) Praise of the Ganges (2) Respective states of the spiritual and the unspiritual (3) Postulation about Brahman and the world (4) Praise of the two Avataras–Rama and Krishna (5) Tribute to his Guru (6) Realisation.

Mother Ganga

Everybody born in India will bless his birth in that country for two things–the Himalayas and the Ganges. Song 19 is a tribute by one pure soul to the greatest purifying agency. There is a lilt in this concluding para on Ganga Maye:

“Hail mother Ganga! Victory unto thee of swelling waves! Thy holy waters purify this shell of the earth fashioned by Brahma.

Thou art the keen sickle that cuts asunder all the loads of men. Thou washest away the sins of all the generations of men! The three primal gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva each bow in reverence unto thee.

Daivasmpat and Asurasampat

During his spiritual apprenticeship, the difference between the conditions of the spiritual and the unspiritual forcibly impressed itself on the mind of Sadasiva Krishna has devoted a whole Adhyaya of His Gita, Canto: 16, to point out in sharp outline the vast difference between those endowed with Daivasampath or spirituality and Asurasampat or worldliness. Songs 13 to 15 bear on this point. “No cares or miseries of any kind assail them–those who have got complete control over their senses and mind; who’ve pity towards all, who are fond of the company of the holy Sadhus; who have conquered lust at all times; and who are mad after the bliss that is Brahman.” Song 15 states with a slight difference: “They have no doubts or apprehensions of any kind–they who contemplate on the supreme Brahman, the peace that passeth understanding, who cast off all distresses manifold; who sing the songs sung by Paramahamsaguru, containing the quintessence of the Vedas.” Who is this Paramahamsaguru? Has his own Guru composed Vedantic songs, and did Sadasiva himself follow his preceptor’s footsteps? Or is it Lord Krishna who sang the song of songs, the Gita? Or does it refer to the greatest of Paramahamsa who sang the Vedas? Song 14 declares the pitiable condition of the unspiritual: “They have no firm foothold or permanence–they who are pulled up by pride and egoism; whose minds are bound up by desires; who are obsessed by false knowledge; and heed not the teachings of the Paramahamsa, God.”

Brahman, Jiva and Ishwara

Wordsworth complains in a sonnet that the heart of that man is dead who looks upon the world as inanimate matter. How does the world appear to one who gains spiritual insight, and God and man? The first chord struck by Sadasiva echoes the opening of the Isavasya Upanishad: “Whatever is in this world–movable or immovable, should be covered over with the thought that it is all Isa, divine;” and the Upasana in the Chandogya. “As a matter of fact, all this world is Brahman, for have not all things emanated from it, exist in it and attain dissolution in it? Hence contemplate Brahman in peace inculcates the same. “Sadasiva’s song declares: “Ah! All that exists is veritably Brahman. What is there to state or not, to write or not. Oh man, contemplate everywhere and at all times on the Hamsa (God) (or I and He), for, that alone leadeth surely to Mukti or beatitude.” Vyasa also proclaimed in his Mahabharata: “Verily I have gone through all the Sastras repeatedly; I have discussed the matter again and again and weighed it; and this is my firm and final conclusion–Narayana should be contemplated, upon always.” But, then, it may be asked, is not Jivatvam, the sense of mortality and limitation inherent in and concomitant with man? Can man be ever freed from his inborn Upadhi? Yes, says the Vedanta and Sadasiva: “Brahman is the only Reality and Jivatvam, the sense of mortality is illusory an superimposed like the reflection of the moons in water, snake in rope and silver in naeve and the other usual Vedantic examples. But it needs a Guru, and I have been initiated into Advaita Vidya, which sees the one Reality, and consequently spurred Maya Vidya which creates the sense of Jivatvam and shows the world as manifold.” What is the relation of God to the universe? Song 8 describes it: “Bhagavan the supreme Lord disporteth Himself in the macrocasm and in the microcasm, in the universe and in individual man. He playeth saying “I am the Hamsa, I am the Hamsa (pure spirit or knowledge), I am Brahman, I am perfect; I am the elements, the senses and the mind. I have created Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.”

Rama and Krishna

The fourth group consists of his songs in praise of the two Purna or full-fledged Avatars–Rama find Krishna. They are some of the most tender and popular of his Songs; they show that one can be a Parama Advaitin as well as a Parama Bhakta at the same time. Songs 2, 9, 11, 16 and 18 relate to Krishna and 10, 12, and 19 to Rama. Many of these are addressed to the mind or the tongue. Song 2 begins with “Oh mind of mine! Wander thou in Brahman.” It then proceeds to identify Brahman with Him who sported with the Gopis, who was adorned with a peacock’s feather on his head and who plays on the flute. Song 9 is in a similar vein: “Oh mind! Think often and often of that son of Nanda, who wandered about Gokul and Brindavan; whose sport is in creating, preserving and destroying the universe; who is the parrot that resides in the heart-cages of the Paramahamsas.” Song 11 says: “Oh mind! Worship Gopala who is the source of the three worlds; who is the essence of the Vedas, and sought by Yogins.” Song 16 counsels the tongue to take and utter the sweet and holy names of Mukunda, Radharamana, Hare, Rama and the pure Hamsa. Song 18 implies a question as to where Krishna is to be found, and answers, “He who weareth the Vanamala garland, always loves to sport in the company of those who contemplate the one Brahman in quietitude. They are the great Bhaktas like Prahlada, Parasara, Jambavan, Hanuman, etc.”

Let us now turn to the songs on Rama. Song 10 proclaims “Rama sporteth in my heart; He is the ferryman who leadeth one safe across the ocean of Moha; He kills the Asuras of desire and hatred; He is always accompanied by His consort of Shanti or spiritual peace; His citadel of Ayodhya is my heart where He loves to sport; He conferreth His divine empire on the Paramahamsas; His body is pure Satya, Jnana and Ananda–Reality, Existence and Bliss!” It is manifest from this and the other songs, that the Rama and Krishna mentioned in them are not the mere Avatars alone, but the Antaryami, the inner ruler immortal who resides in the hearts of all beings. Song 12 is oft-sung and one of the finest: “Oh! drink thou the nectar of Rama! That juice is far far removed from touch of sin; it yieldeth plentifully all kinds of fruits–the desires of men; it is poles apart from birth and death and fear and misery; it is the quintessence of all the Vedas and Sastras; it protects the entire universe created by Brahma; it sanctifies even atheistic creeds; the pure and holy Paramahamsas sing its praises and glorify it; it has been quaffed in delight by Suka, Saunaka and Viswamitra.” Song 17 addresses, “Oh mind! Think thou on Rama, lovely like the dark ram could. He is the lamp that illumines the hearts of Paramahamsas; His feet have removed the curse on Ahalya and restored her to positive purity.”

Tribute to Guru

Song nine is a glowing tribute to his Guru. It has become popular in the south due to its being included in the regular course of Bhajana. The Dakshanamurthy Stotra of Sankara declares that one discovers after realisation that his self, his Guru and God are one and the same; we find the same expressed by Sadasiva. It is done in two ways–one is by putting the name of his Guru as the Mudra of authorship, instead of his own to each song. The second is by proclaiming his indebtedness to his preceptor in song 2, “By the grace of my Satguru, I have become Brahman.” And he goes on to describe what Brahmanhood is. This forms a natural prelude and easily falls into the next division.

Samas of Realisation

In the main Upanishads, there are three places, where one gives expression to his feelings of divine realisation–Rishi Vamadeva in the Brihadaaranyaka, and in the Taittiriya, Trisanka, and at the end some realised soul. After repeating the words of Trisanku, the Taittiriya concludes “Iti Trisankor Vedanuvachanam” – “thus spake Trisanku after he came to know Brahman.” Sankara comments: “This means, that this Mantra seen by Trisanku with the spiritual eye, exhibits Atma Vidya, and proclaims, that like sage Vamadeva, Trisanku has fulfilled the purpose of life and attained the summum bonum. And thus unto one free from desires and intent on knowing the Parabrahman, these spiritual visions and Mantras arise.” Sadasiva fulfils all the conditions laid down herein and his utterances, like those of all mystics are Vedanuvachanas. At the end of the same Taittiriya Upanishad it describes the condition of one who has learned that the Antaryami within the sun, and within him are one and the same, and who transcends the Pancha Kosas of 5 sheaths which limit man! It says that “Etat Sama Gayan As the” – he abideth singing this Sama. The Taittiriya is a Yajur one, but the realised soul bursts out into a measured Sama song. The songs of Sadasiva are Sama in this sense; he too “Etat Sama Gayan Aseet” – he lived murmuring these melodious songs, as the cuckoos and blackbirds do.

Song 4 declares: “I am pure intelligence, full and perfect. I am above the castes and the duties enjoined upon them. Like gold, I have been shaped into all this universe. I am free from birth, or ego. The wise and spiritual worship me. I am centered in my own glory and perfection.” Song 5 runs as follows: “I am full of bliss and Intelligence for ever; I am ageless; I am the core of being; the one and only inner-self; I am the one proclaimed in the Srutis and the Tantras; I am immortal, I am the sole monarch of that vast and supreme kingdom, Moksha, the summum bonum.” We shall conclude with song 6. “I am complete in knowledge and bliss; I am perfect Sat Chit Ananda–existence, knowledge and bliss; I am Siva, the auspice of auspices; my being hath interfused into all selves; I am Nirvana Supreme without qualities, and the self of all; the great gods bow unto me; I am the hero who hath conquered lust and pride. I am the one supreme Reality. I am that boundless ocean of bliss adumbrated in the Upanishads.”

The Kirtanas of Sadasivd Brahmendra deserve to be better known in the world. They have not only the requisites of good music, but they have got an eternal value in that they confirm and validate the highest utterances of the Upanishads; they are clarion calls to mankind to attain Godhood by a life of spiritual discipline and under a Satguru; they have the haunting melody of the eternal Samas which the Atman of each man is ever singing, but to which he is deaf, but which can and should be recaptured.

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