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twam me aham me

From the Bhakti List Archives

M.K. Krishnaswamy • January 2, 2003 


Shri Venkata Ramanan wrote:
  "tvam me aham me" is the beginning of a very beautiful sloka composed by
  Parasara Bhattar, and is popularly known as the Tirumanjanam sloka ,if
  iam not mistaken . Could somebody please give me the entire slokam(with
  the meanings if possible).
Sri Sadagopan had published this in Bhakti-List in November '98; it is reproduced below:
Dasan
Krishnaswamy

http://www.ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/nov98/0030.html 
tvam mE aham mE kuthastath tadhapi kutha 
  idham vEdamUla pramANAth
  yEthaccha aNAdhisiddhAth anubhava vibhavAth
  tarhi sAkrOsa yEva I
  kvAkrOsa: kasya GithAdheeshu mama vidhitha:
  kOathra sAkshee sudhee syAth 
  hantha tvath pakshapAthee sa ithi nrukalahE
  mrugyamadhyasThavath tvam II

( This passage is from the Thirumanjanak Kattiyam
of ParAsara Bhattar for Sri RanganAthA . This is 
the first of the stray verses of his Kattiyam 
sung in front of Sri RangarAjA during His 
Thirumanjanam even today . This is in the form
of a captivating dialog between a stubborn chethanam 
and its Master, the Lord Himself .

The Lord of Srirangam notices the "impunity and
stubbornness " of the Jeevan , which considers itself 
to be a svathanthra purushan . The Lord in wet clothes
from His just begun Thirumanjanam reminds the argumentative
Jeevan that it is not independent and it is His property 
as attested by VedAs , GitA and men of wisdom . The Jeevan
disagrees with the Lord wearing a TuLasi garland on His 
wet body . ParAsara Bhattar reminds us that the situation
of the Lord proving His claim over His Lordship over
the protsting and deluded Jeevan is like practise of 
DivyA referred to in smr*ithi texts . Divya practise 
relates to taking an oath to give testimony . To prove
the ancient sesha-Seshi relationship between the Jeevan
and the Lord , Parasara Bhattar constructed this wonderful,
imaginary dialog :

Lord : tvam mE ( You are Mine ; I own You ).

Jeevan : aham mE ( No, I belong to myself; I am independent)

Lord : Kuthas tath? (No, How could that be possible ?)

Jeeavn :Tadhapi kutha: ? ( How about Your own claim ? )

Lord: idham vEda moola pramANAth ( My claim is based on 
the authority of the VedAs )

Jeevan : yEthacchAnaAdhi siddhAth anubhava vibhavAth
( My position however is based on my own experience , 
which is " beginnigless in nature").

Lord : Tarhi SaakrOsa yEva( But that position of yours
has alrady been repudiated )

Jeevan : KaakrOsa: kasya ? ( where and by whom was
this repudiated ? )

Lord: GitAdheeshu mama vidhitha: ( By Me , ofcourse ! 
I repudiated it clearly in GitA )

Jeevan: kOathra Saakshi: ? ( Pray , who is the witenss
for Your repudiation in GitA ? )

Lord: Sudhee: syAth ( A man of wisdom and clear mind)

Jeevan :Hantha, tvath pakshapaadheesa ( Well , well!
Then Your wise man is partial to You ).

Lord's above conversation with the deluded soul 
reminding of its eternal sesha realtionship (servitude)
to the Lord is to be remembered by us during 
the Thirumanjanam . He is attesting to that sacred
truth with wet cloth and Tulasi garland .



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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