Gayathri Girish and Nadha Upaasana at Tatvaloka Hall

[kvchellappa]

This was picked up from FB. Scintillating it must have been - heard the khamas item (available in FB - tahhed to Gayathri Girish)

Tranquil Turf with Gayathri Girish and Nadha Upaasana at Tatvaloka Hall.
Chennai ·

22nd May 2016 – evening 6PM – 8PM – Tatvaloka Hall @ Eldams Road – Smt.Gayathri Girish's Lec Dem on the topic – “ Aadi Sankara – a Musical Homage – a Multimedia Presentation” . Was an apt event to offer our anjali to MahaPeriyava on his Jayanthi day and also to contemplate on the greatness of Jagat Guru Aadi Sankarar.

She was accompanied by - Km. Vishruti Girish on Vocal, Shri. Ananta Krishnan on Violin, Shri. Kumbakonam Swaminathan on Mridangam , and Smt. Vijayalakshmi on Thambura

Highlights of the LecDem :
• Highlighted upon very less heard compositions on Jagatguru by his sishyas and by contemprory Vagyakaras, Composers, Saints and Seers. Was a soul elevating feel to hear the songs sung by her.

• A beautiful multimedia presentation, with a well defined structured visuals of carefully selected pictures.

• References from works prior to his period , which tells in advance about Sankara Avataram –
o Bhavishyottara Puranam,
o Siva Rahasyam
o Vayu Puranam – all 3 saying “ Sankara will take avatar along with 4 sishyas” was so heartening to see. (In the grand design, God has hisown plan to protect Sanatana Dharmam when ever there was a threat )

Ref about the Jagatguru – after his period
o Thiruvilayadal Puranam – emphasising he was Dakshinamurthy avatara swaroopam.
o “ Maadhaveeya Sankara Viajayam” composed by Shri. Vidyaranya Swamikal (Shringeri Saradha Peetom - 1380–1386) also touches upon the point that the Jagatguru was Dakshinamurthy avatara swaroopam.

• Very inspiring to see it again in slides about his divine life. Mastering Vedas, Sanskrit, Grammar, Puranas..by 5, Upanayam by 5, Aapat Sanyasam by 8, Soul realised / God realised Sishya even before meeting his Guru, completing translations of major works by 16, Vyasa Darshan that put him on to the next 16 years of his life time doing Dig vijayam and winning over 72 schools of philosophies and establishing Shan-matham , panchayatna puja , Advaita Vedanta, establishing Mutts across the country, Kshetraadanam to all major temples and the respective coimpositons in the repective temples were fully covered.

• The slide on Kadapayadi sankya – on the name and tithi matching for Shankara was awesome.

• He was so sweet a Guru that he wrote bhashyam for the works of one of his own disciple – ( bashyam for “ Hasthamalakeeyam” written by his disciple ‘ Hasthamalaka acharya ‘ ( who became the 1st Acharya of Dwaraka Mutt).

• Compositions done by Jagatguru that were rendered in the LecDem are as follows. She explained the context behind the creation / purpose of writing those composition in each cases.
o Ganesha Pancharatnam – full
o DASA SLOKI ( Nirvana dasakam)
o Kanaka dhaara sthothram ( Slokas 1, 11, 16, 18)
o Bhaja Govindam (stanzas 1,2,20, 29)
o Shivananda Lahari (Stanzas 1,50,100)
o Soundarya Lahari (stanza 1, 42)
o Subrahmanya Bhujangam (1,3,25)
o Nirvana Shatkam. – all 6 stanzas

• The compositions done by various Vagyakaras, Seers, Composers, Sishyas were also very well selected and rendered as follows. ( Happy to see visuals of all the composers )

o The 1st was a kriti composed by Shri Maha Vaidyanatha Shivan in ‘ Nagaswarali ‘ragam – ‘roopaka’ thaalam “ Shri Sankara Guruvaram Chinnthayaami bhavaharam”.
o The next kriti that she sang was a composition by Harikesanallur set in Attaanaa ragam – “Jagatguro Dhayanidhe”.
o “ Aadhi Shankara paadham pottruvom” – set in ‘Poorvi kalyani’ and roopaka thaalam. The lyrics were emphasising the avatara mahatmiyam of Shiva in the form of Sankara
o Shri Bharathi Theertha Swamikal of Shringeri Sharada Peetom – “ Bhajare Loka Gurum Manuja Bhajare Loka Gurum “ set in Kamaas ragam, aadhi thaalam.
o Swarna Venkatesa Deekshitar’s “Om Namah Shivaya Shiva Guru nandanaaya ‘ set in ‘ Hindolam ‘ ragam ‘ and in ‘ thisra Ekam ‘ thalam .
o Paapanaasam Shivan’s composition “ thiru kumaranaai avatharithhaai ” set in ‘Shankaraabharanam’ ragam
o Papanasam Shivan’s daughter Smt. Dr. Rukmani Ramani – “ Satguru Paathamey Saranam “ set in Hamir kalyani ragam and aadhi thalam.
o Shri Bharathi Theertha Swamikal of Shringeri Sharada Peetom. “ Shri Sankaraacharyam Bhajare Maanasam” set in Mohana ragam.
o Thotaka ashtakam - composed by his sishya – Thotakacharya – all 8 stanzas
o The Lecdem reached its conclusion with the rendition of the 1st 2 stanzas of ‘ Sankaracharya Bhujanga prayata stotram’ composed by Shri Sachidananda Abhinava Nirusimha Maha Swamikal of Shringeri Mutt.
o Being the Jayanthi day of MahaPeriyava , based on the request from the audience she sang “ Mythreem Bhajata” composed by MahaPeriyavA.

• Then she discussed about his works – the Prasthana thrayam , the 18 main bhashyams. The list of 22 prakarna granthas , 72 Stotrams . Total 114 works were listed down by her with names in 3 slides.

His Dig vijayam and kshetradanam and the various Slokas composed were discussed
o Madurai (Meenakshi pancharatnam )
o Thirupathi Thirumala (installed Jana aakarshana yantra, composed Vishnu Paatha aathi kesam stotram )
o Puri ( Jaganatha ashtakam),
o Ayodhya (Ramar Bhujangam
o Thiruvaanaikaa ( SLOKAM and taatanga pradhishtai to Akilandeswari ),
o Thiruvidai maruthur ( he prays in front of Mahalinga swamy and asks whether his works and advaita Vedanta are right? The Shrine shiva lingam develops a limb, rises it and confirms ‘Advaitam Satyam’ .
o 12 Jyotir Linga temples and composes ‘Dwadasa Linga stotram’.
o Kollur Mookambika and does Srichakra pradhishta.
o Mathura Vrindavan and composes Govinda ashtakam, Krishna ashtakam
o Srirangam – Ranganatha ashtakam
o Kanchipuram – Srichakra Pradhishtai
o Badrinath - installed the deity and instructed puja. He gets the darshan of Govinda Bhagavad pada and Gowda pada, and hence composes Dakshinamurthy Stotram. Then Shatpadi sloka on Vishnu.
o Varanasi he composed ( Vishwanatha ashtakam, Kaala bhirava ashtakam, Maneesha panchakam, Annapurna ashtakam, Ganga ashtakam)

• The ppt was very well structured. Consistency in presentation visuals and its layouts kept the audience stay fully focused

• Felt the voice of Dr.M.S.S amma felt present in her rendition in 3 occasions – start = Ganesha Pancharatnam , mid – Kanaka dhara stotram, Conclusion – Maithreem . . i think fellow audience would have felt the same in these 3 instances.

• Mahavidvaan Shri.Neyveli Santhanagopalan , address us. He was just telling the words which ofcourse almost all of us would have felt, in praise of Guru parampara and the great efforts taken by Smt. Gayathri Girish in giving such a beautiful form, shape, color and texture to this Sangeeta anjali to Jagatguru. He also complimented the performance of violin and mridangam accompaniment, with specific references to their performances in select parts of their performance.

• A very blessed scene to see Km.Vishruti Girish joining her Mother and extending Vocal Support. Namaskarams to her entire family members, for taking all efforts to continue the lineage of dedication and devotion towards our Carnatic Music. .

• Shri Anantha Krishnan in violin made a brilliant accompaniment all across the event, and Shri Kumbakonam Swaminathan’s support on the Mridangam was equally class and innovative.

• All this came in just 2 hours – between 6PM TO 8pm @ Tatvaloka. The hall was full.

It was a beautiful Athma saadakam – with the 3 initial processes – a blend of Sravanam, Mananam and Nidhidhysanam, as we all listened to various Compositions, tried to memorise / take notes of very rare less known compositions and the entire essence of the Lec Dem, Get fully absorbed into the spiritual essence of the compositions. That way it was a real Athma Nivedanam that we all offered to Maha PeriyavA and Aadhi Sankarar by virtue of being in the Lec Dem.

We owe our heartfelt Thanks to Smt. Gayathri Girish.

Jaya Jaya SankarA ! Hara Hara SankarA !!

[rajeshnat]

Tranquil Turf with Gayathri Girish and Nadha Upaasana at Tatvaloka Hall.
Chennai ·
...
...
o “ Aadhi Shankara paadham pottruvom” – set in ‘Poorvi kalyani’ and roopaka thaalam. The lyrics were emphasising the avatara mahatmiyam of Shiva in the form of Sankara
...
• A very blessed scene to see Km.Vishruti Girish joining her Mother and extending Vocal Support. Namaskarams to her entire family members, for taking all efforts to continue the lineage of dedication and devotion towards our Carnatic Music. .

Thank you KVC and also Tranquil Turf.

Aaadhi shankar paadham pOTruvOm is by Periasami thooran.

Best wishes to next gen -Vishruti Girish.

[arasi]

Yes, more power to her!

Gayathri Girish is Gayathri Girish. Her imaginative and intellectual expressions in music are something we rasikAs admire.

[CRama]

Thank you tranquil turf and kvchellappa for your postings. I attended this programme and had started making the write up in my usual pattern. You have made my job easier as most of the points have already been covered. I am giving some more points in respect of the above programme.

Gayathri Girish has already won over the hearts of rasikas with her research oriented approach, musical excellence, dedication and presentation skills many times during the last few years in the Myriad Forms of Siva series as well as in many other thematic programmes. This programme is also the result of her deep research into the biography of Sankara, his Advaita philosophy, his compositions, scouting for kritis on Adi Sankara by various vaggeyakaras, and presenting the entire programme of two hours plus without a second of sag. She had used the PP media very effectively for displaying the lyrics of the stotras, songs, visuals and other details about Adi Sankara through aesthetically crafted slides. Gayathri Girish needs to be complimented for her virtuosity in music, handling of laptop, lucid communication and singing- simultaneously managing all the areas single handedly. In this respect she stands tall among her peers. In today’s programme, from start to finish, Gayathri’s voice was melodious and rich in timbre. She eschewed manodharma aspects though. She presented lucid account of the avataram of Adi Sankara, his biography (wherever authentic information was available), his works, important incidents in his life, Shanmatha thathvam, establishments of Mutts etc and sang compositions on Adi Sankara by eminent vaggeyakaras.

The programme commenced with the rendering of Ganesha Pancharathnam following the version of MS Subbalakshmi. The programme contained some of the stotrams popularised by MS such as Kanakadhara Stotram and Bhaja Govindam (selected stanzas only). Kanakadhara Stotram was composed by Sankara at the age of 7, his first stotram. Being the birth day of Kanchi Maha Periyavaa, the programme concluded with Maithreem Bhajatha- again the one popularised by MS. As such it turned out as a homage to MS also in her centenary year. Right from the Ganesa Pancharathnam, there was an aura of divinity that engulfed the entire auditorium.

• In the Tiruvilayadal Puranam, Paranjothi Adigal has mentioned about the Avataram of Dakshinamurthy as Sankara in a Brahmin house in Kerala desam with four sishyas who will enlighten this world. The slokam Kallaalil Pudayamarnthu was melodiously sung in a fitting Sankarabharanam. In the Bhavishyottara Puranam, Siva Rahasyam and Vayu Puranam there are references to the avataram of Dakshinamurthy as Sankara.

• Since there are divergent views about the period of Sankara, Gayathri Girish skipped the year of birth of Sankara. However, as per Wikipedia, Sankara was born in 788 AD and attained mukthi in 820 AD at the age of 32.

• Sankara met his Guru Govinda Bhagavatpada at the banks of Narmada. The verses of his introduction to his Guru is termed Dasa sloki which was presented in a lilting Shanmugapriya. While introducing himself he does not speak about his parents or village, but conveys the essence of Advaita philosophy. The first stanza of the Dasa sloki is given below.
Na bhoomir na thoyam na thejo na vayu,
Na Kham nendriyam vaa na thesham samooha,
Anaikanthikathwath suspthyeka siddha,
Thadekovasishta Shiva kevaloham

• During the period prior to the avatara of Sankara, Hinduism was afflicted by divergent views, quarrels and disturbances among 72 schools of philosophy. Sankara won over those schools by logical debates and brought about renaissance in Sanatana Dharma by dispelling ignorance among the masses. He established six schools of worship known as Shanmatha thathvam- for the workship of Vinayaka, Surya, Siva, Ambal, Vishnu and Murugan and composed lot of slokams on these dieties.

• Adi Sankara composed Subramanya Bhujangam in Tiruchendur. When Sankara got some serious ailment because of black magic done by an opponent in a debate, he prayed to Lord Subramanya in Tiruchendur and got rid of the disease. In this stotram, he mentions about the Patra Vibhooti prasadam of Tiruchendur which is capable of removing many chronic diseases. Gayathri Gireesh rendered select verses from this stotram in Kanada.

• Saundaryalahari- When Sankara went to Kailas, Lord Siva handed over 100 slokams and five lingams to Sankara. Nandi who was standing in the doorway tried to snatch these from Sankara. In that process, Sankara got only 41 slokams (the first 41 in the Soundaryalahari). These are called Anandalahari. The rest 59 slokams are composed by Adi Sankara in the Tayumanavar temple in Trichy. Two stanzas were rendered in Hameerkalyani and Hamsanandi.

• Sivandandalahari was composed by Adi Sankara in Srisailam sitting inside a cave. Three slokams from this stotram were rendered in Saveri, Kapi and Kalyanavasantham.

• Sankara had the darsan of Veda Vyasa also. Vyasa came in the form of a Veda panditar and had debate with Adi Sankara on the Bhashyam of Brahma Sutram written by Adi Sankara and showered his blessings on Sankara.

• In the year 1947, Swarna Venkatesa Deekshitar came for the inauguration of Sankara Gurukulam in Abhiramapuram. As per the request of Thethiyur Subramania Sastrigal to compose a kriti on Adi Sankara, SVD composed nine kritis on Adi Sankara in different talams. The kriti in Hindolam, Om Namasivaya was rendered by Gayathri. KVN has popularised this song.

• Nirvana shatkam stotram was rendered in Panthuvarali devoid of gamakams which gave a different colour of the ragam and which was most appropriate to the Chidananda Roopam hailed in the slokam. The first stanza of the stotram is given below.
mano buddhi ahankara chittani naaham
na cha shrotravjihve na cha ghraana netre
na cha vyoma bhumir na tejo na vaayuhu
chidananda rupah shivo’ham shivo’ham

Neyveli Santhanagopalan attended the programme and at the end he very much appreciated and lauded the efforts of Gayathri Girish in scouting for the relevant information from varied sources and also for introducing many unheard kritis on Adi Sankara. He added that this has posed a challenge for him to learn these rare kritis. He very much appreciated the accompanists also who played with great understanding. Gayathri’s daughter Vishruti provided excellent vocal accompaniment for all the rare songs. Well done Vishruti. It was a heartening sight to see after the programme, many in the audience going upto Gayathri Girish and complimented and thanked her for the wonderful programme.

[rshankar]

Thank you for your inimitable report!
I am sure the concert was a one-of-a-kind wonderful experience for the ones lucky enough to attend!
A big thumbs up to Kum. Vishruthi!

[rshankar]

One very interesting thing I picked up from a DD program on Adi Sankara was that he was probably the first person in the world to seek peer-reviews! He had most of his writings reviewed by his peers before he 'published' them, from what I understood!!

[Sivaramakrishnan]

Was Maneesha panchakam discussed?

[CRama]

It was just mentioned among the works of Adi Sankara. But due to paucity of time the story behind that was not elaborated. You can give it now.

[Sivaramakrishnan]

The story roughly goes thus:
Once a Chandala came in the way of Sankara whom he ordered to move away. The Chandala asked in reply, whom he is ordering to go away - the person or the spirit? The divine revelation prompted Sankara to come out with Maneesha panchakam wherein each of the 5 stanzas end with the statement "chandalo(a)sthu dwijo(a)sthu sa gururityeshaa maneesha mama".