Mother sings a lullaby to comfort her child. Does the mother learn music to get qualified for it? Not really. When the heart is filled with love for the child, it pours out automatically and takes the form of a rhythm soothing the child.
An outpouring of the loving heart results in several modes of expressions. Some include tears from eyes followed by a beautiful sequence of ‘sounds’ and irresistible rhythmic movement in the body…
That beautiful sequence of words becomes a song. That irresistible rhythmic movement in the body becomes dance.
Sage Valmiki describes mother Kousalya’s movement as nruthyam, dance…
nrutyantheemiva maataram
Art is thus an expression of heart filled with love. It is not always a skill taught or learnt.
Similarly, when one realizes the upaka:ra, help, from God, their heart melts. It won’t hold still and cannot wait for expressing gratitude and devotion towards God.
What upakara did we receive from God?
At a time during pralaya, a dissolved state, when we didn’t have a form lying there in a helpless state, He took a sankalpa, a resolve, to help us with a form so we can regain the natural state of blissful existence with God. Thus, He gave the opportunity, assigning a set of parents and allowed life to take form through them. When one realizes this.., how can they hold still and not express the joy of being the recipient of the greatest help? Nammalwar, a poet-saint-devotee from thousands of years ago, sings…
onrum the:vum ulagum uyurum martrum! ya:dum illa
anru| na:nmukan thanno:du|
Everything is a blessing from God… Did you choose your parents? Did you choose a family? Did you choose the color of your skin? If you had a choice, would you have limited your choices with what you have now?
Annamayya studied acharyas’ commentaries on these beautiful outpourings of the alwar. There are 12 alwars who sang thousands of such songs and the commentaries spanned to over 36000 verses. Annamayya’s songs are a reflection from the inspiration of expressions of alwars… Today, thousands of students learn Annamayya’s keerthanas. The foundation of these keerthanas is at the heart of alwars…
– From the discourses of HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji
– 1st Dec 2023, Annamacharya Bhavana Vahini
– 40th annual celebrations
