PART-4.......THIRUTTHANI AND GURUGUHA VIBHAKTHI KRUTHIS, KALAHASTHI

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Tiruttani and the guruguha vibhakti kritis
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Sharing the secret of his inner voice with his parents, Muttuswami expressed his desire to them to visit Tiruttani. Ramaswami Dikshitar and Subbalakshmi blessed their first-born. Before long, Muttuswami was on his way to the hallowed hill shrine of Tiruttani in the company of his brothers. After having darshan of Lord Subrahmanya at the sanctum-sanctorum, Muttuswami took a vow to
perform spiritual austerities for a manDala or forty days. Every morning he took his bath at the temple tank downhill and climbed the steps to begin his tapas. His time was thus spent in worship of the Lord and practicing deep meditation.

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It was the fortieth day of his stay at Tiruttani. While Muttuswami was repeating the Shadakshari mantra, he heard a voice near him say, "Muttuswami, open your mouth". Muttuswami opened his eyes and saw before him an elderly person whose whole being was suffused with spiritual splendour. The old man asked Muttuswami to close his eyes and then he put sugar candy in his mouth. When Muttuswami opened his eyes, to his amazement, the old man had disappeared from sight. Muttuswami was stunned at first but subsequently understood that it was Lord Subrahmanya Himself who had come to bless him. His joy knew no bounds and overwhelmed, he immediately burst into song.

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The first song that he composed on the occasion was shri nAthAdi guruguhO in mAyAmaLavagauLa rAga. This composition is in praise of the concept of the Guru. Here Muttuswami Dikshitar mainly pays tribute to his Shri Vidya Guru Chidambaranatha Yogi. The Yogi�s Sri Vidya dIkSha name was shrinAtha and that of Dikshitar was 

(there  is  clear  reference  to  Lord  Guha  , being  worshipped  by  Vishnu and  other  celestials. It  is    kruthi  on  Lord  Subramanya.....rsr)

cidAnandanAtha. Dikshitar refers to both in the pallavi of this composition. Then followed seven more songs, the underlying theme of these too being the concept of Guru. The Guru is sung of as being Brahman Itself, as the Universal Consciousness. Incidentally, Dikshitar chose to compose his first song in mAyAmaLavagauLa, the rAga in which musical lessons are traditionally begun. Another unique feature of this first composition is that it starts off with the ArOhaNa and avarOhaNa of the rAga. Dikshitar's first creation is technically flawless and artistically mature and aesthetic, apart from being poetically refined, grammatically perfect and philosophically profound.

The second composition he wrote was mAnasa guruguha in Ananda Bhairavi. Here, Muttuswami Dikshitar advises the spiritual aspirant that human birth is for the purpose of contemplating on the Supreme Truth and for this purpose, the aspirant needs to always cling to the Holy Feet of the Guru, chant his name and surrender to the Guru taking him to be the sole refuge, thereby destroying the tendencies that obstruct the Truth. Each and everyone of this group of eight songs composed in the eight Sanskrit declensions speak of the Supreme Truth, of the attributes of a Guru and is a musical gem. Rare ragas like pADi, bhAnumati, udayaravicandrika and balahamsa have been handled by Dikshitar with the depth and aplomb that were to become characteristic of him.

Muttuswami Dikshitar chose the medium of Sanskrit for his compositions. The following are the eight songs composed at Tiruttani. These are known as the Guru Guha vibhakti kritis:

Composition - Raga

1. shri nAthAdi guruguhO jayati jayati - mAyAmALavagauLa
2. mAnasa guruguha - Ananda bhairavi
3. shri guruNA - pADi
4. guruguhAya bhaktAnugrahAya - sAmA
5. guruguhAdanyam najAnEham - balahamsa
6. guruguhasya dAsOham - pUrvi
7. guruguha swAmini bhaktim karOmi - bhAnumati
8. shri guruguha mUrtE - udayaravicandrika

These eight songs prove that Dikshitar had attained high maturity in his knowledge of Vedanta and had mastered the art of music even at that young age. They also show, that right from the beginning, his compositions were the outcome of his own deep spiritual experiences. They also afford ample evidence of the flowering of a rare human being whose multifaceted genius would transform the world of art in the years to come. It must be remembered that Dikshitar was only about 25 years old at this time.

The vision of Lord Subrahmanya had once and for all made Muthuswami Dikshitar resolve to take the Lord as his Guru. Guha is another name for Lord Subrahmanya. Guha also means cave. The Lord resides in the heart-cave of the devotee. This is the esoteric significance of the name Guha. 

The Sadguru is to be contemplated of as Brahman, as one's own Self. It is therefore appropriate that Muttuswami Dikshitar took Subrahmanya, the embodiment of Brahman itself, as his Sadguru and took on the mudra Guru Guha, thereby signifying that the Lord, his Guru, who was his own Self, was enshrined in the inmost recess of his heart. Another special aspect of his compositions is the raga mudra. Beginning with his first composition (mAyAmALavagauLAdidEsha), Dikshitar introduced the raga mudra wherever possible and in an appropriate manner.

His heart filled with bliss, Dikshitar left Tiruttani. One account of his life says that he went to Tirupati and Kalahasti from Tiruttani. At Kalahasti, which is one of the panchabhUta sthalas, representing the element vAyu (wind), he composed 

Sri kALahastIsha in the raga husEni and 

jnAnaprasUnAmbikE on the Goddess in kalyANi.

 After this pilgrimage, Dikshitar returned to Manali. Ramaswami Dikshitar and Subbalakshmi were overwhelmed on listening to Dikshitar's experiences. 

Ramaswami Dikshitar felt after hearing about Lord Subramanya's grace at Tiruttani that his eldest born was not an ordinary human being. Being an accomplished musician and composer himself, the father could comprehend the uniqueness of his son's works. No less happy and proud was Venkatakrishna Mudaliar, the family's patron. The brothers Chinnaswami and Baluswami learnt the compositions thus far created by their eldest brother.

The family spent a few fulfilled weeks. But Muttuswami Dikshitar's passion for Realisation of the Truth grew deeper, resulting in his yearning to perform rigorous spiritual sAdhana. He therefore increasingly felt the need for a more spiritually conducive atmosphere. Although married, that too to two wives, Dikshitar was least interested in the mundane affairs of life as has been seen before. Dikshitar also intuitively felt and resolved that his life's work was to sing of the Lord and His myriad forms and attributes. Towards this end, he felt that it was time to leave Manali. 

The memories of Tiruvarur, his birthplace constantly visited him. But it was not possible to return to Tiruvarur immediately as he wished to visit the several shrines in the Tondaimandalam region and anyway, he had to travel through several great kShEtras on the way before reaching Tiruvarur.

 Further, Upanishad Brahmendra, a great yOgi of Kanchipuram had invited the Dikshitar family to visit him. The days of their life at Manali were coming to an end. The family began making plans for leaving Manali.

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