294 చాటెద నిదియే సత్యము సుండో
(cāṭeda nidiyē satyamu suṃḍō)
INTRODUCTION
Bhakti is not a transaction like,
“God, I remain Your servant; please protect me.”
Rather, it means being naturally immersed
in devotion,
and accepting whatever unfolds thereafter exactly as it is.
Annamacharya’s Bhakti hinges on this point.
All other viewpoints inevitably
lead to entanglement in the tree of samsāra.
God does not seek any service from human
beings.
The Supreme has no need of service whatsoever.
Moreover, to serve God, one must come close to Him.
That is, only by crossing the sense of ‘I’
does one become fit for service.
Hence, the small word “sevā” carries
an exceptionally deep and subtle meaning.
In this kīrtana, when Annamacharya says
చేటు లేదీతని సేవించినను
(“There is no harm in serving Him,”)
Why is he offering reassurance?
That is the central question that
demands reflection.
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అధ్యాత్మ కీర్తన
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Philosophical
Poem
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రేకు: 138-5 సంపుటము: 2-164
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Copper Plate: 138-5 Vol: 2-164
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చాటెద నిదియే సత్యము సుండో చేటు లేదీతని సేవించినను ॥పల్లవి॥ హరినొల్లని వారసురలు సుండో సుర లీతని దాసులు సుండో పరమాత్ముఁడితఁడె ప్రాణము సుండో మరుగక మఱచిన మఱి లేదిఁకను ॥చాటె॥ వేదరక్షకుఁడు విష్ణుఁడు సుండో సోదించె శుకుఁడచ్చుగ సుండో ఆదిబ్రహ్మగన్నాడతఁడు సుండో యేదెస వెదికిన నితఁడే ఘనుఁడు ॥చాటె॥ యిహపర మొసఁగను యీతఁడె సుండో వహి నుతించెఁ బార్వతి సుండో రహస్యమిదివో రహి శ్రీవేంక మహీధరంబున మనికై నిలిచె ॥చాటె॥
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cāṭeda nidiyē satyamu suṃḍō cēṭu lēdītani sēviṃcinanu ॥pallavi॥ harinollani vārasuralu suṃḍō sura lītani dāsulu suṃḍō paramātmuṃ̐ḍitaṃ̐ḍe prāṇamu suṃḍō marugaka ma\racina ma\ri lēdiṃ̐kanu ॥cāṭe॥ vēdarakṣakuṃ̐ḍu viṣṇuṃ̐ḍu suṃḍō sōdiṃce śukuṃ̐ḍaccuga suṃḍō ādibrahmagannāḍataṃ̐ḍu suṃḍō yēdesa vedikina nitaṃ̐ḍē ghanuṃ̐ḍu ॥cāṭe॥ yihapara mosaṃ̐ganu yītaṃ̐ḍe suṃḍō vahi nutiṃceṃ̐ bārvati suṃḍō rahasyamidivō rahi śrīvēṃka mahīdharaṃbuna manikai nilice ॥cāṭe॥
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Chorus
(Pallavi):
చాటెద నిదియే సత్యము సుండోచేటు లేదీతని సేవించినను ॥పల్లవి॥cāṭeda nidiyē satyamu suṃḍōcēṭu lēdītani sēviṃcinanu ॥pallavi॥
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Telugu
Phrase
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Meaning
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చాటెద నిదియే సత్యము సుండో
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I declare this alone to be the truth.
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చేటు లేదీతని సేవించినను
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(చేటు= harm,
destruction, death) When you serve this one (Lord
Venkateswara), no harm befalls.
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Literal Meaning:
When one serves this One, no harm befalls. This
alone I declare as truth.
Interpretative
Notes:
చేటు లేదీతని సేవించినను
(“When one serves this One, no harm
befalls.”)
As stated in the introduction,
such reassurance cannot be casual.
There must be a strong reason behind it.
What is the risk inherent in service itself?
Let us now unravel it.
First
Stanza:
హరినొల్లని
వారసురలు సుండో
సుర
లీతని దాసులు సుండో
పరమాత్ముఁడితఁడె
ప్రాణము సుండో
మరుగక
మఱచిన మఱి లేదిఁకను ॥చాటె॥
harinollani
vārasuralu suṃḍō
sura lītani
dāsulu suṃḍō
paramātmuṃ̐ḍitaṃ̐ḍe
prāṇamu suṃḍō
marugaka
ma\racina ma\ri lēdiṃ̐kanu ॥cāṭe॥
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Telugu
Phrase
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Meaning
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హరినొల్లని వారసురలు సుండో |
Those who do not recognise Hari, know that their nature is
demonic that is, rooted in ignorance.
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సుర లీతని దాసులు సుండో
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In truth, all the gods themselves are His servants.
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పరమాత్ముఁడితఁడె ప్రాణము సుండో
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Know that He is the indwelling Self;
He alone is life itself. |
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మరుగక మఱచిన మఱి లేదిఁకను
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One who no longer clings to life or body,
who abandons the urge to preserve and protect them,
does not return to birth again—such a one becomes deathless. |
Literal Meaning:
Know this:
Those who do not recognise Hari
remain in a demonic state —
that is, a state of ignorance.
In truth, even the gods are His servants.
Know that He is the indwelling Self.
He alone is life itself.
One who does not become accustomed to the body,
who no longer clings to body or life,
who abandons the urge to preserve and protect them,
does not return to birth again —
such a one becomes deathless.
Interpretative Notes:
హరినొల్లని వారసురలు సుండో
(Demonic Nature)
Here, the Acharya leaves no room for neutrality.
The state of not knowing Hari lowers awareness to subhuman inner states.
It is not mere ignorance, but a diminished inner
condition.
సుర లీతని దాసులు సుండో
(Gods are his servants)
Those who accept Hari
move into refined and elevated states of awareness.
The contrast with the earlier line is deliberate
and sharp.
Yet Annamacharya does not allow us to settle here
either,
for even recognisable divine states are transitional.
పరమాత్ముఁడితఁడె ప్రాణము సుండో
(He is Life)
The prāṇa within us is none other than Lord Hari Himself.
To live without recognising this prāṇa
is to live a careless and inattentive life.
Here, the poet moves from transient positions
to the only known permanent position —
that is, the direct knowing of oneself.
Poet appears to say
If we do not know what constitutes our very life,
what value does such a life hold?
మరుగక మఱచిన మఱి లేదిఁకను
Without becoming habituated to bodily existence —
its pleasures and its apparent solidity —
if one turns attention away from sense-based awareness
and looks beyond it,
Hari becomes visible.
From that point, there is no return to birth.
Core Insight
Annamacharya is revealing the unique status of
human birth:
From
demonic awareness to deathless clarity —
this entire movement is possible within this very life.
Why settle
for less and trapped in a circular mode of existence?
What we
cling to is not a wise chice.
It is rooted in ignorance.
Hari is the
prāṇa in all the beings
Service (sevā)
to Him means
to abandon attachment to this habitual bodily
existence.
Why this Sevā?
Sevā means knowing Hari directly — nothing
else.
One may ask:
“only to know, why a drastic action
like body renunciation is necessary?
Annamacharya’s warning is subtle but firm:
If nothing is done,
we do not remain as we are.
We decline.
Degeneration – Natural Law
Prāṇa is not an object.
It is a continuous flow.
The body constantly pulls this flow
toward lower and denser states.
Degeneration to lower states is the natural
order.
A Parallel from Physics
The body is material in nature.
Every material follows its innate law.
In physics, entropy refers to the gradual
loss of usable energy.
If a system is left unattended,
it naturally degenerates from order to disorder,
from higher availability to lower states.
Likewise, human life too tends to sink into
lower states of consciousness.
(Annamacharya’s Insight)
That is why Annamacharya says:
దిబ్బలు వెట్టుచు దేలిన దిదివో ।
ఉబ్బు నీటిపై నొక హంస ॥
“Struggling through obstacles, a swan floats upon
swollen waters.”
We are not crows.
We are swans.
Not caterpillars —
we are butterflies.
The caterpillar stage itself is reached through
struggle.
From there, only one step remains — transformation.
Caterpillar to butterfly is a natural transformation.
However, man’s main problem
is meddling with the transformation process
without knowing.
Transformation is the breaking of conditioning —
not its continuation.
If we remain complacent,
we sink into worse states still,
quietly, automatically, unnoticed.
That silent downward slide
Therefore, performing sevā is not a choice,
but an inner necessity.
(Anyone can notice this constant downward slide of this world we live)
Therefore, to define Seva is very daunting task.
Degeneration to lower states is the natural order.
Being aware of this subtle movement is Knowledge.
There is nothing we can hold permanently.
Awareness alone is possible.
Hence, awareness itself is crucial.
We based
on our deeds, slip into any of 31 states of Consciousness.
Renouncing rigid judgments of “this is good” and
“this is bad”
— and remaining aware —
that itself is intelligence.
Second
Stanza:
వేదరక్షకుఁడు విష్ణుఁడు సుండో
సోదించె శుకుఁడచ్చుగ సుండో
ఆదిబ్రహ్మగన్నాడతఁడు సుండో
యేదెస వెదికిన నితఁడే ఘనుఁడు ॥చాటె॥
vēdarakṣakuṃ̐ḍu
viṣṇuṃ̐ḍu suṃḍō
sōdiṃce
śukuṃ̐ḍaccuga suṃḍō
ādibrahmagannāḍataṃ̐ḍu
suṃḍō
yēdesa
vedikina nitaṃ̐ḍē ghanuṃ̐ḍu ॥cāṭe॥
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Telugu
Phrase
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Meaning
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వేదరక్షకుఁడు విష్ణుఁడు సుండో
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Know that Vishnu is the
eternal guardian of dharma.
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సోదించె శుకుఁడచ్చుగ సుండో
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Know that Śuka sought Him with
absolute sincerity and attained liberation.
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ఆదిబ్రహ్మగన్నాడతఁడు
సుండో
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As direct evidence, Śuka beheld the primal
source — Ādi-Brahman.
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యేదెస వెదికిన నితఁడే ఘనుఁడు
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No matter how or where
one searches, nothing greater than Vishnu exists.
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Literal Meaning:
(In this stanza, Annamacharya presents a
living example of sevā).
Vishnu is the timeless protector of dharma — know this truth.
Śuka Mahamuni, through pure and unbiased inquiry,
attained liberation by seeking Him alone.
Through direct perception, Śuka realised the Ādi-Brahman.
O people, understand this clearly:
Anyway one finds, nothing surpasses Vishnu.
Interpretative
Notes:
సోదించె శుకుఁడచ్చుగ సుండో
“Śuka searched with inner purity”
Here, purity does not mean ritual
cleanliness.
It means a mind free from assumptions,
beliefs, and prior conclusions.
Śuka did not search with expectations.
He searched with silent, unbiased attention.
ఆదిబ్రహ్మగన్నాడతఁడు సుండో.
(“He saw the Ādi-Brahman”)
Through such untainted inquiry,
Śuka perceived the very beginning —
the root of the samsāra tree, the Ādi-Brahman.
By seeing the root,
he gained direct knowledge—
not second-hand understanding, which is how most of us operate.
To observe that root means:
to look
without exceptions,
without
preferences,
without
mental shortcuts.
The act of removing every obstruction
between oneself and truth
is knowledge in operation
That act — Annamacharya tells us —
is sevā.
Third Stanza:
యిహపర మొసఁగను యీతఁడె సుండో
వహి నుతించెఁ బార్వతి సుండో
రహస్యమిదివో రహి శ్రీవేంక
మహీధరంబున మనికై నిలిచె ॥చాటె॥
yihapara
mosaṃ̐ganu yītaṃ̐ḍe suṃḍō
vahi
nutiṃceṃ̐ bārvati suṃḍō
rahasyamidivō
rahi śrīvēṃka
mahīdharaṃbuna manikai nilice ॥cāṭe॥
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Telugu
Phrase
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Meaning
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యిహపర మొసఁగను యీతఁడె సుండో
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Know that He alone
sustains both the worldly and the otherworldly, without opposition.
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వహి నుతించెఁ బార్వతి సుండో |
Know that Goddess Pārvatī herself meditated upon
Him,
to point out a simple and approachable path for humanity.
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రహస్యమిదివో
రహి శ్రీవేంక
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O people, this is the
profound secret: Interest, intelligence, and knowledge are embodied as Śrī Vēṅkaṭa Mountain (on this
temporal world)
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మహీధరంబున మనికై నిలిచె
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That alone truly lives
and remains; everything else is transient.
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Literal Meaning:
Know that He alone causes both this world and the
beyond, without conflict.
Know that Goddess Pārvatī herself meditated upon Him
to reveal an accessible path for people.
O people, this is the hidden secret:
interest, intelligence, and true knowledge
are none other than Śrī Vēṅkaṭa Mountain.
That alone truly lives and abides.
Interpretative
Notes:
యిహపర మొసఁగను యీతఁడె సుండో
This life and the hereafter
are not fixed destinations or separate realms.
They are states of awareness and beyond that.
The one who can hold us steadily
within these shifting states —
or even beyond them —
is Śrī Vēṅkaṭapati.
The Human Condition
If we observe carefully,
we are unable to remain steady in any state.
Driven by fear, restlessness, and insecurity,
we remain absorbed merely in preserving life,
without understanding its order.
This restless condition is disorder itself.
From such a state,
the deeper rhythm of creation
that perfect order
cannot be perceived.
That inability is ignorance.
మనికై నిలిచె
“That alone abides”
Amidst everything that is changing,
decaying, and dissolving in time,
one principle alone remains living and present.
Śrī Vēṅkaṭa Mountain represents that abiding
principle.
Everything else is swept away
by the current of time,
leaving no trace behind.
X-X-The END-X-X
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