TALLAPAKA ANNAMACHARYULU
285 ఏలొకో కర్మమా యిందుకుఁ బాలైతిని
(ēlokō
karmamā yiṃdukuṃ̐ bālaitin)
INTRODUCTION
In this simple and straightforward poem, Annamacharya speaks about śaraṇāgati — surrender — with striking clarity. He acknowledges that it is solely by the Lord’s grace that he has been granted a direct experience of Truth. From that state, he points us toward the essence of surrender: a movement that is non-verbal, non-symbolic, and effortless — the inner openness that alone allows divine grace to descend.
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అధ్యాత్మ కీర్తన
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Philosophical Poem
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రేకు: 355-5
సంపుటము: 4-325
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Copper
Plate: 355-5 Vol:
4-325
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ఏలొకో కర్మమా యిందుకుఁ బాలైతిని పాలుపడిన యీ జలభ్రమణమువలెను ॥పల్లవి॥ ధరలోఁ బుట్టినప్పుడే తలఁచ నీ యాత్మ మరుగఁడు పరమైతే మరచీఁగాని అరిది దుర్భాషల నలవడ్డనాలికె హరినామములయందు నలవడదు ॥ఏలొ॥ జవకట్టి పూర్వవాసనల సంసారమే చవియే తాఁగాని ముక్తి చవిగాదు భువిఁగల విషయాలఁ బుంగుడయ్యీఁగాని మతి వివరించి దైవమును వెదకలేదు ॥ఏలొ॥ శ్రీవేంకటేశుకృపచేత నింతేకాని వావాత నివి గైవశము గావు భావమిప్పుడితని పాదాలు చేరికాని యేవుపమలనుఁ గాన మిన్నాళ్లును ॥ఏలొ॥
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ēlokō karmamā yiṃdukuṃ̐ bālaitini pālupaḍina yī jalabhramaṇamuvalenu ॥pallavi॥ dharalōṃ̐ buṭṭinappuḍē talaṃ̐ca nī yātma marugaṃ̐ḍu paramaitē maracīṃ̐gāni aridi durbhāṣala nalavaḍḍanālike harināmamulayaṃdu nalavaḍadu ॥ēlo॥ javakaṭṭi pūrvavāsanala saṃsāramē caviyē tāṃ̐gāni mukti cavigādu bhuviṃ̐gala viṣayālaṃ̐ buṃguḍayyīṃ̐gāni mati vivariṃci daivamunu vedakalēdu ॥ēlo śrīvēṃkaṭēśukṛpacēta niṃtēkāni vāvāta nivi gaivaśamu gāvu bhāvamippuḍitani pādālu cērikāni yēvupamalanuṃ̐ gāna minnāḻlunu ॥ēlo॥
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Details
and Discussions:
Chorus (Pallavi):
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Telugu Phrase
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Meaning
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ఏలొకో
కర్మమా యిందుకుఁ బాలైతిని
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(Annamacharya
addressing himself as Karma) O Karma! Why did you get trapped
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పాలుపడిన
యీ జలభ్రమణమువలెను
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Like this water swirl, get engaged in cyclic work
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Literal Meaning:
(Annamacharya
addressing himself as Karma) “O Karma, why have you dragged me into this?” Life
feels like a whirlpool, keeps winding me deeper into it with every turn.
Interpretative Notes:
Life feels
like a whirlpool — once touched, it pulls deeper and deeper. Every action creates a new turn, every turn binds the mind a little more. Just
as a swimmer caught in a vortex cannot steady himself, the soul caught in
cyclic doing cannot find firm ground. This is not despair — it is the moment of
awakening, the clarity that precedes release.
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Telugu Phrase
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Meaning
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ధరలోఁ బుట్టినప్పుడే తలఁచ నీ యాత్మ
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When I took
birth on this earth, I never thought of Lord Srihari
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మరుగఁడు పరమైతే మరచీఁగాని
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Neither this
entity acknowledges Lord’s name; For sure, it forgets the other world
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అరిది దుర్భాషల నలవడ్డనాలికె
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The tongue gets used to foul language
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హరినామములయందు
నలవడదు
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It never
gets accustomed to recite the names of Lord Hari
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Literal
Meaning:
“When
I was born into this world, I never turned my mind toward the Lord. Immersed in
earthly concerns, this being forgets the higher realm completely. The tongue,
trained by daily struggle, becomes coarse and unrefined; it easily absorbs
harsh speech but refuses to settle into the sweetness of Hari’s name.”
Interpretative Notes:
From the moment a person enters this world, the demands of survival seize the mind — dependence, fear, hunger, comfort, and constant adjustment. The mind grasps whatever lies closest: quick emotions, convenient habits, inherited impressions.
In this rush, the awareness of the Self — which needs stillness, depth, and inward turning — quietly slips into the background. What should have naturally inclined toward the Supreme is slowly pulled outward into the noise and urgency of earthly life.
The senses adapt swiftly to the world’s roughness. The tongue, especially, learns rudeness far more easily than reverence. Crude expression becomes effortless; sacred utterance becomes strangely difficult. Not because the divine name is distant, but because the inner vibration has already been trained in the opposite direction.
Like a
person caught in a whirlpool, the mind is unconsciously drawn into patterns of
conformity — circling the familiar, forgetting the higher, and losing the
natural ease of remembrance.
Second Stanza:
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Telugu Phrase
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Meaning
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జవకట్టి
పూర్వవాసనల సంసారమే
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(జవకట్టి = by putting
together) the combination of the past and recorded experiences of this world
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చవియే తాఁగాని ముక్తి చవిగాదు
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appears tastier and the freedom distasteful.
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భువిఁగల
విషయాలఁ బుంగుడయ్యీఁగాని మతి
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In this earthly life, one gets submerged and yet his
mind
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వివరించి
దైవమును వెదకలేదు
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cannot explain itself to find God.
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Interpretative Notes:
The mind gathers past impressions and buries tendencies and stitches them together into a familiar world. This woven world—born of habit and memory—feels more tasty, more real, than the taste of freedom itself. Slowly, this familiarity becomes an island. We build it unconsciously, brick by brick, and then defend it fiercely with the six inner enemies — desire, anger, delusion, greed, pride, envy. They become the island’s walls.
Submerged in worldly attractions, the mind imagines it is safe inside this enclosure. It does not want to question its own limits. It resists the discipline of enquiry.
Thus,
it never fully articulates itself, never steps out, never turns toward the
Divine. Freedom feels distant not because it is far — but because the
self-built island refuses to dissolve.
Optional Comparative Note (for interested readers)
Those who wish to see how similar insights appear in Western mystical thought may refer to the discussion on Hilma af Klint’s Swan No. 10 (link: Annamacharya Practical Philosopher Blog).
There, the hexagonal self-structure—formed by desire, anger, attachment,
greed, pride, and envy—is shown as an artificial island floating within a vast
sea of Consciousness. Western esoteric art and Eastern philosophy converge on
the same.
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Telugu Phrase
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Meaning
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శ్రీవేంకటేశుకృపచేత నింతేకాని
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Only because of blessings of Lord Venkateswara
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వావాత నివి గైవశము గావు
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(వావాత = by myself) by myself is not possible
to harness these
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భావమిప్పుడితని పాదాలు చేరికాని
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My mind (my feelings) have now reached his feet (I reached HIS
lotus feet), however
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యేవుపమలనుఁ గాన మిన్నాళ్లును
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No one can ever reach here (the lotus feet) by staying in
verbal world of similes and symbols for any number of years.
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Literal Meaning:
Only because
of blessings of Lord Venkateswara My mind (my ideas, my feelings) have now
reached his Lotus feet. By myself is not possible to climb this high. No one
can ever reach here (the lotus feet) by staying in verbal world of symbols for
any amount of time.
Interpretative notes:
Annamacharya
is not saying
“Try harder,”
but saying
“Stop trying in the old way.”
He
hints at a non-verbal, non-symbolic, surrender-movement:
Central
Message of this poem:
Surrender
to the Lord actually, completely without a trace of self
X-X-The
END-X-X
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