In the part 1 of the Post - we explored the 2 devotees of Lord Shiva - Singer (Sambandar) and Musician (Thiru-Nilakantha Yalpannar Nayanar).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambandar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiru_Nilakanta_Yazhpanar
Those who have not read part 1 of the post, here is the Link!
https://coolvidya-pillai.blogspot.com/2020/07/yazh-muri-nathar-part-1.html
In Retrospect in continuation to Part 1 - When Sambandar sang a tongue twister to which Thiru-Nilakantha Yalpannar Nayanar was not able to tune in the Veena, he got upset and he decided to break the Veena.
Lord Shiva immediately appeared and played veena for the Tounge Twister and told Thiru-Nilakantha Yalpannar Nayanar that:
“Devotion cannot be contained in any musical instrument”
“Devotion
cannot be contained in any song or dance"
“A devotee is a basis of devotion and devotion is contained in the heart. Once your heart is filled with devotion whatever activity you do - will automatically become spiritual”.
The temple where this event happened is called as "Yazh Moori Nathar Temple" dedicated to Lord Shiva located in Pondicherry.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharumapuram_Yazhmoorinathar_Temple
Thereafter the hymns of this pair Nilakantha Yalpannar Nayanar and Sambandar came to be known as Thevarams/Tevarams.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tevaram
Thevarams are the most important part of the Bharatanatyam Syllabus. I very much wanted to dance for this song and then post the part 2 of the Blog post along with my dance but since my bharatanatyam theory exams are on sept 30 2020 - From a few weeks I have been focusing more on theory as I have 6 more months for practical exams. Hence i decided to post part 2 of the post without any dance steps.I want you all to read the Spirituality of Thevaram from Sadhguru.
https://isha.sadhguru.org/mahashivratri/thevaram/
I want you all to listen to the Spirituality of Thevaram from Sadhguru. Sadhguru’s daughter has completed the 4 year degree in Bharatanatyam from Kalakshetra University and they now have a Fine Arts School in the campus.
If you want to take away something from this post.
Nadopasana means leveraging music to invoke Devotion
inside your heart, mind and soul. If you leverage your JOB/OCCUPATION to invoke devotion
inside your heart (Devotion = Dharma), then you will become a KARMA YOGI.
When i decided to invest HONESTY, SINCERITY, INTELLECTUAL AND IMAGINATIVE capabilities at work, i did it for the love of Dharma. Yes, iam a KARMA YOGI.
But a Narcissist's Love for his Significant other ended me up having no access to the supply of RESOURCES.
Your significant other's passion to win without having any experience is marked not only with GLORY but also with a primitive danger of EXTINCTION - "Meaning people like you and your significant other will become extinct very soon because of your PRIMITIVE NATURE".
I want to introduce you all to Kavuthuvams/Kauthukam which is also a very important part of the University syllabus.
Kavuthuvams are specific to a particular God/Deity, residing in a particular temple.
When the Deity of that temple is taken out of the Temple for procession/festival Kavuthuvams are performed.
Kappu means Black, tying a black thread around wrist to ward of evil is called Kavuthukam/Kauthukam.
Kavuthuvam is performed in front of the Deity to ward off evil.
Iam introducing you to a Kavuthuvam specific to Lord Nataraja located at Chidambaram Nataraja Temple in Tamilnadu. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nataraja_Temple,_Chidambaram
This dance
is performed every year during the annual dance festival - procession conducted at Chidambaram Nataraja temple to ward of Evil-Negative energy.
To my “Prana Priya Kannada followers” next week we will explore a Kannada Keerthanam of Purandaradasa along with a few dance steps.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purandara_Dasa
Purandara Dasa is known as the "Father of Indian Carnatic music”.
When people accused Purandara Dasa as being a Vaishnava who will never be able to Praise Hara, he wrote a Keerthanam praising Lord Shiva and he also composed a beautiful Ragam and Talam for this Keerthanam.
This Keerthanam became a PRANA PRIYA KEERTHANAM for every
Vaishnava in Karnataka. This Keerthanam which is dedicated to Lord Shiva is sung in all Vaishnava Temples.
Let’s explore this next week.
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