Tyagaraja ....(contd...)

Tyagaraja’s Steadfast Devotion To Lord Rama

This brings us to the musical genius of Tyagaraja. It appears that although Tyagaraja took musical lessons, he did not follow the classical path of a student making a debut as a singer, then becoming a concert artist, etc. For him, music was a vehicle for communicating directly with God. However, that path opened up in a very special way. Tyagaraja’s father Ramabrahmam had been initiated into the chant of the powerful Rama Mantra. Unfortunately for Ramabrahmam, his first two sons were not up to the mark spiritually. Tyagaraja the third son seemed to be different. So the father promptly taught his son to worship Rama daily.
Like his father, Tyagaraja too was initiated into the chant of the name of Rama, and this, it appears, was done by one Ramakrishnananda Swami. Tyagaraja kept chanting the name almost non-stop, and when he crossed the ten million mark [one crore], it seems that Rama appeared momentarily and gave Darshan. An ecstatic Tyagaraja burst into song, and from then on there was no looking back.
There is another tale describing how Tyagaraja was specially chosen by the Lord to spread Bhakti through the medium of music. According to this, Tyagaraja quietly started worshipping Sage Narada in order to learn the deeper secrets of music.
As those familiar with Indian scriptures and tradition know, Sage Narada is a wandering saint, singing the glory of the Lord wherever he goes. He also described the nine ways by which humans can attain God, the famous Nava Rasa Bhakti Marga, to which Swami makes a reference ever so often. Apparently, Narada was pleased with Tyagaraja’s dedication and devotion, appeared before the devotee and gave him a Divine musical treatise containing the secret and mystery of musical notes.
Thus Tyagaraja was doubly blessed; he received the treasure of musical knowledge directly from Sage Narada and he had also been blessed by Lord Rama Himself.

Whether one believes in these folklores or not, two things cannot be questioned. Tyagaraja’s genius is literally unparalleled – he holds a position of almost unattainable eminence like Shakespeare in literature and Beethoven in Western Music. And, what is more important, Tyagaraja dedicated his music entirely to Lord Rama. Swami says that we must start the day with God, spend the day with God, and end the day with God. If we want to know how to do it, then we would do well to study the life of Saint Tyagaraja.
In the morning he would wake up Lord Rama! He would, in the course of the day, chat with Rama through his many songs. Sometime, he would praise Rama; sometimes he would make prayerful requests to Rama; sometimes he would wail to Rama about his personal difficulties and sometimes he would even complain to Rama!
In fact, if one carefully examines his life and compositions, one can, without doubt, find shades of the nine paths of devotion prescribed by Sage Narada.

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