313 కనకము కనకమే కడు నినుమినుమే
(kanakamu
kanakamē kaḍu
ninuminumē)
INTRODUCTION
Devotion
and the devotee are not matters of ornament or mere expression. Yet they appear
so close and accessible, so seemingly effortless, that each one is led to feel,
“I am a devotee.” In this composition, Annamacharya brings out the natural
state of devotion—directly, yet with depth. He suggests that such a state
cannot be attained through outward imitation or deliberate effort. The way of
life of those established in that natural state stands apart from the life
driven by effort and intention. Action, devotion, and equanimity arise from the
same inner ground. In this way, the composition questions the unnatural
striving of man and gently turns us toward naturalness.
Core Insight
- Pallavi: Gold is gold. Devotion is
devotion. All attempts to equate them are futile
- First
stanza
→ cannot be compared
- Second
stanza
→ imitation leads to confusion
- Third
stanza
→ even the path cannot be walked through ego or assumption
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అధ్యాత్మ
సంకీర్తన
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రేకు: 221-6
సంపుటము: 3-119
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కనకము కనకమే కడు నినుమినుమే వెనక సరిదూఁగితే వెలువకు రాదు ॥పల్లవి॥ హరిఁ గొలిచినవారి కమరు నన్నిసుఖాలు గరిమతో వారల భాగ్యమే భాగ్యము తెరమరఁగుల కర్మదేహులెల్ల వీరితోడ పురుఁడు వెట్టుకోఁబోతే పోలికలు రావు ॥కన॥ భాగవతులైనవారు పట్టినదెల్లా నీడేరు చేగదేర వారలు సేసినదే చేఁత తీగెసంసారమత్తులు తెలియక వీరివలె వేగినంతా నయ్యేమంటే వెరవులఁ బడవు ॥కన॥ శ్రీవేంకటేశుదాసులు చేసినదెల్లా సృష్టి యేవంకా ధ్రువపట్టమే ఇటు వారికి కావరపు మనుజులు గతిగనేమని వారి- తోవల నడవఁబోతేఁ దూగదు తమకును ॥కన॥
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PHILOSOPHICAL POEM
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Copper Plate: 221-6 Volume: 3-119
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kanakamu kanakamē kaḍu ninuminumē venaka saridūṃ̐gitē veluvaku rādu ॥pallavi॥ hariṃ̐ golicinavāri kamaru nannisukhālu garimatō vārala bhāgyamē bhāgyamu teramaraṃ̐gula karmadēhulella vīritōḍa puruṃ̐ḍu veṭṭukōṃ̐bōtē pōlikalu rāvu ॥kana॥ bhāgavatulainavāru paṭṭinadellā nīḍēru cēgadēra vāralu sēsinadē cēṃ̐ta tīgesaṃsāramattulu teliyaka vīrivale vēginaṃtā nayyēmaṃṭē veravulaṃ̐ baḍavu ॥kana॥ śrīvēṃkaṭēśudāsulu cēsinadellā sṛṣṭi yēvaṃkā dhruvapaṭṭamē iṭu vāriki kāvarapu manujulu gatiganēmani vāri- tōvala naḍavaṃ̐bōtēṃ̐ dūgadu tamakunu ॥kana॥
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Details
and Discussions:
Chorus (Pallavi):
కనకము కనకమే
కడు నినుమినుమే
వెనక సరిదూఁగితే
వెలువకు రాదు ॥పల్లవి॥
kanakamu kanakamē kaḍu ninuminumē
venaka saridūṃ̐gitē veluvaku rādu ॥pallavi॥
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Phrase
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Meaning
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కనకము కనకమే కడు నినుమినుమే
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Gold is Gold. Any amount of Iron is iron only.
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వెనక సరిదూఁగితే వెలువకు రాదు
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Any attempt to equate them, nothing ever gets revealed. |
Literal Meaning:
Gold is Gold.
Iron is Iron. Nothing gets revealed on any attempt to equate Iron with God.
(such efforts remain futile)
Interpretative Notes:
Iron is
best when it remains iron; to make it equal to gold is but a vain pursuit. Both
iron and gold are born of nature. To turn away from one’s own nature and strive
to become another is the beginning of the unnatural. To abide as one is—that
alone is the highest offering. Naturalness is not attained through effort; it
reveals itself of its own accord.
The sense
here is not of quiet resignation, nor of settling for what is given. It is
rather a gentle turning away from imitation. Yet the human mind rarely rests
there. It is stirred by a persistent thought—that something lies hidden, within
or without—and driven by that notion, it spends itself in a ceaseless and
fruitless search.
Seen from
another angle, one is reminded of René Magritte’s The Double Secret.
Even when the face is torn open and the inside is laid bare, what appears is
only another surface—another constructed layer. Neither outer imitation nor
inward probing dissolves illusion. The suggestion of this composition moves in
that same direction.
In things,
in people, in the world at large, there lingers a quiet assumption—that
something unknown is concealed. This movement is self-born, self-sustained.
That which cannot be held is illusion; that which we seek to hold is illusion;
that which slips away is illusion still. Whatever cannot stand in itself—this
alone may be called illusion.
First Stanza:
హరిఁ గొలిచినవారి కమరు నన్నిసుఖాలు
గరిమతో వారల భాగ్యమే భాగ్యము
తెరమరఁగుల కర్మదేహులెల్ల వీరితోడ
పురుఁడు వెట్టుకోఁబోతే పోలికలు రావు ॥కన॥
hariṃ̐ golicinavāri kamaru nannisukhālu
garimatō vārala bhāgyamē bhāgyamu
teramaraṃ̐gula karmadēhulella vīritōḍa
puruṃ̐ḍu veṭṭukōṃ̐bōtē pōlikalu rāvu ॥kana॥
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Telugu Phrase
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Meaning
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హరిఁ గొలిచినవారి కమరు నన్నిసుఖాలు
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For those who serve Hari, all forms of happiness remain
available.
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గరిమతో వారల భాగ్యమే భాగ్యము
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With dignity and significance, their fortune alone is true
fortune.
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తెరమరఁగుల కర్మదేహులెల్ల వీరితోడ
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Those bound by karmic bodies, who appear and disappear upon
the screen of the world, cannot be compared with them.
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పురుఁడు వెట్టుకోఁబోతే పోలికలు రావు
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(పురుఁడు = equality) Attempts to become equal to them do not
succeed.
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Literal Meaning:
For
those who serve Hari, all forms of happiness remain arranged. Their dignity and
significance alone are marks of a true fortune. Those bound by karmic
existence—appearing and disappearing upon the stage of the world—cannot be
compared with them. Any attempt to become equal to them proves futile.
Interpretative Notes:
The
word ““పురుఁడు puruḍu”
here signifies equality (not biological generation). But such equality
is not something that can be achieved through effort; it arises naturally. The
poet suggests that imitation or deliberate striving cannot produce that state.
The
phrase “హరిఁ గొలిచినవారి కమరు నన్నిసుఖాలు = all
forms of happiness remain available” must be understood carefully. It does not
mean that they pursue pleasure. Happiness may be available to them if it comes,
but they do not seek it. For wherever pleasure is sought, sorrow follows
closely behind. Those who serve Hari do not live as we do—trying to experience
pleasure and avoid pain. For them, both pleasure and pain are equally
acceptable.
They
do not spend their lives caught in moment-to-moment choices between what is
“good” and what is “bad.” For “good” and “bad” both belong to the movement of
time; they arise, change, and pass. Growth and decline are natural to them. One
who truly serves Hari abides in a state of mind not bound by this movement of
time.
Second
Stanza:
భాగవతులైనవారు
పట్టినదెల్లా నీడేరు
చేగదేర వారలు
సేసినదే చేఁత
తీగెసంసారమత్తులు
తెలియక వీరివలె
వేగినంతా
నయ్యేమంటే వెరవులఁ బడవు ॥కన॥
bhāgavatulainavāru paṭṭinadellā nīḍēru
cēgadēra vāralu sēsinadē cēṃ̐ta
tīgesaṃsāramattulu teliyaka vīrivale
vēginaṃtā nayyēmaṃṭē veravulaṃ̐ baḍavu ॥kana॥
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Telugu Phrase
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Meaning
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భాగవతులైనవారు పట్టినదెల్లా నీడేరు |
Whatever the Bhagavatas take up comes to fruition; it is
fulfilled properly.
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చేగదేర వారలు సేసినదే చేఁత
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(చేగదేర= as if demonstration of
essence of doing) The essence of doing is demonstrated in their actions.
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తీగెసంసారమత్తులు తెలియక వీరివలె
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(తీగెసంసారమత్తులు = continuously extending the life of intoxication
like a creeper) Those caught in the unbroken intoxication of worldly life
(like a creeping vine) cannot understand them or be like them. |
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వేగినంతా నయ్యేమంటే వెరవులఁ బడవు
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If one tries to reach that state quickly, such attempts
lead to confusion and stumbling.
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Literal
Meaning:
Whatever
the Bhagavatas undertake comes to completion and is fulfilled properly. What
they do is clear and purposeful. Those who live in the continuous intoxication
of worldly life cannot be like them. If one tries to become like them quickly,
there are no such means; such attempts only lead to confusion.
Interpretative Notes:
చేగదేర
వారలు సేసినదే చేఁత “Chēgaderā vārala sēsinadē chēta” — What they
undertake is accomplished with clarity and substance. This must be understood
more carefully. The Bhagavatas do not initiate actions on their own. They
simply carry out what is naturally given to them—their svadharma. As
stated in the Bhagavad Gita, “Nimitta-mātram bhava savyasāchin”—they
live as instruments in the working of the Divine, and their life unfolds in
that manner.
This is not
our present way of living. We act according to what the mind suggests. In this
way, human beings act, and one person’s actions become obstacles to another.
The whole world thus becomes a tangled knot that cannot easily be untied. This
can be directly observed. That which does contribute to loosening these knots may
be considered true action.
Hence
Annamacharya immediately says: "వేగినంతా నయ్యేమంటే వెరవులఁ బడవు" “Vēginantā
nayyēmante veravulaṁ baḍavu” This means that the power to determine or control
action is not easly to we people. Yet the entire world is absorbed in planning
and executing actions. To estimate or assume one’s “స్వధర్మము
svadharma”, which is not truly known, is itself ignorance.
Third Stanza:
శ్రీవేంకటేశుదాసులు
చేసినదెల్లా సృష్టి
యేవంకా ధ్రువపట్టమే
ఇటు వారికి
కావరపు మనుజులు
గతిగనేమని వారి-
తోవల నడవఁబోతేఁ
దూగదు తమకును ॥కన॥
śrīvēṃkaṭēśudāsulu cēsinadellā sṛṣṭi
yēvaṃkā dhruvapaṭṭamē iṭu vāriki
kāvarapu manujulu gatiganēmani vāri-
tōvala naḍavaṃ̐bōtēṃ̐ dūgadu tamakunu ॥kana॥
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Telugu Phrase
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Meaning
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శ్రీవేంకటేశుదాసులు చేసినదెల్లా సృష్టి
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Whatever the servants of Venkatesha do is true
creation—natural and meaningful expression.
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యేవంకా ధ్రువపట్టమే ఇటు వారికి
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For them, there is a firm grounding and stability in this
path.
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కావరపు మనుజులు గతిగనేమని వారి-
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Ordinary people, driven by pride, think “we know the way.”
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తోవల నడవఁబోతేఁ దూగదు తమకును
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When they attempt to walk that path, they cannot remain
steady; balance does not hold.
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Literal Meaning:
Whatever
the servants of Lord Venkatesha do is natural and meaningful. They stand firm
in that path with stability. But ordinary people, filled with pride and the
belief that they know the way, cannot walk that path. When they attempt to do
so, they lose steadiness and balance.
Interpretative Notes:
శ్రీవేంకటేశుదాసులు
చేసినదెల్లా సృష్టి “Whatever
they do is creation” —
Here, “creation” does not mean something deliberately produced. It refers to a
natural expression that arises without effort. The devotees do not design or
initiate actions on their own; they become part of the action itself. Hence,
there is no force, no display—only a natural role being lived.
యేవంకా
ధ్రువపట్టమే ఇటు వారికి “They
are firmly grounded” —
Their stability does not come from mental decisions or chosen direction. It
arises from a revealed state. They do not walk by choosing; they are carried.
Therefore, success and failure are the same to them.
కావరపు
మనుజులు గతిగనేమని “People of pride think they know the way” —
Human beings, relying on their knowledge and effort, assume that they can
determine the path. Unable to remain between the known and the unknown, they
project from what they know and try to define what they do not. This assumption
is the real obstacle—this is pride.
వారితోవల
నడవఁబోతేఁ దూగదు తమకును “They
cannot remain steady” —
When such people try to walk the path of the devotees, they cannot sustain it.
Their balance fails, because they are still caught in choice, opinion, and
self-assertion.
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