Jagannātha Aṣṭakam Blog by Swamini Atmaprajnananda SaraswatiWe need not be particular on ''who'' is the composer, let's focus on ''what'' the content, and its beauty and it's effect on the readers.

in shankaras expression i find mostly abundance of ''unmanifest'' in his stuthis on devi devathas, a freedom, a relief from the ''manifest'', a liberation, and a finality, nothing more to aspire..... all in the state of advaitic , kaivalya, union 

in this jagannath astakam i find the proportion of ''manifest'' is more than the ''unmanifest'', and leads us to be in the glories of manifest , rather , in a sweet bondage in the rasa aspect, tyet wanting to be in the quest of ''object'' as per this prayer ''Oh! Lord! Jagannātha! May you be (bhavatu) the object of my (‘me’) vision (nayanapathagāmī), indicative that he is yet to reach him 

and the followers, like ISKCON are more intent on the nama roopa guna s , where as lord has said one has to reach his transcendental divinity, not be on the relative level, in the duality of '' me and thou '' however glorious the duality may be 

that is how i perceive that this astakam is from chaitanya only 

this is just my feeling, truth remains what ever it is , god knows

Thanks on details, on sunanda,and chaitanya 

i liked this rag , even from child hod, '' vande mataram'', and later the national song desha raga, ''miley sur..mera tumhara....''

''//He reportedly composed it instantly when He first saw Lord Jagannātha in the Temple//

rather he must have sung it too spontaneously in some appropriate raga , overflowing in bhakthi.towards the beloved lord

this feature of saints choosing the medium of sangeeth , and krishna with his venu gana , and saraswathi being veena pani might be due to the power of sangeeth ,

"Shishurvethi, Pasurvethi, vethi Ganarasm Phani ''., who said this,/ when/ not known, but it has a healing power, it can even help in growth of crops , it must be working deep in the being at their gandharva level

krishna swayed the cows became the gopala , and swayed the gopis, became the gopijana vallabha 

Dance, drawing and sculpturing are all forms of art. 

However these forms do not possess the power to entertain all the living beings equally. 

Sad people forget their sorrow on hearing music and babies calm down and sleep on hearing lullaby. due to the mystical power music has. The birds becoming still on hearing to music is also due to the power of music.

apart from reading, the importance of reciting / listening aspect of vedas must be due to this power of music 

other art forms take the aalabana of form / movement/ postures/ color etc

but music is just sound beyond these aalambanas

//He reportedly composed it instantly when He first saw Lord Jagannātha in the Temple//

rather he must have sung it spontaneously in some appropriate raga , overflowing in bhakthi.towards the beloved lord

this feature of saints choosing the medium of sangeeth , and krishna with his venu gana , and saraswathi being eena pani might me due to the power of sangeeth ,"Shishurvethi, Pasurvethi, vethi Ganarasm Phani hi" (From animals to kids anything on this earth can enjoy music.)., who said this when not known, but it has a healing power, it can even help in growth of  crops , it must be working deep in the being at their gandharva level

krishna swayed the cows became the gopala , and swayed the gopi jana, became the gopijana vallabha 

Dance, drawing and sculpturing are all forms of simple art. 

However these forms do not possess the power to entertain all the living beings equally. 

Sad people forget their sorrow on hearing music and babies calm down and sleep on hearing lullaby. due to  the mystical power music has. The birds becoming still on hearing to music is also due to the power of music.

reminds me  “reportedly”. kalidasa , though earlier was a illiterate moorkha,  he by the grace  of kali sang ''manikya veena mupalaalayantheem ....'' his first stuti on saraswathi reportedly”. kalidasa , though earlier was a illiterate moorkha, he by the grace of kali sang ''manikya veena mupalaalayantheem ....'' his first stuti on saraswathi extempore, 

//not an oral tradition unlike the Vedas (Samhita).// i understand

in classical renderings , lyric is just a thin minimum fabric , and most of the time is'' left '' and music flows in aalaap , taane etc 

a song stays with us more by its enchanting flow of raaga and relevant rasa than by lyric 

in fact lyric gets enriched greatly by them

yes, lyric helps in recalling the flow o sa re ga ma 's

also we remember certain songs by the tune, and certain tunes by by lyric, 

power of words is limited, hence support of sageeth is taken 

//Whose feet are worshipped by Ramā (Lakṣmī), Śambhu (Śiva), Brahmā, Amarapati (Indra), and Ganeśa, Oh! Lord! Jagannātha!//

yes, no doubt , here, chaithanya has gone deeper in his krishna to the level of jagannatha , jagadguru, the supreme , brahman , before whom/ which all devi devathas ,''yadwaare nikhilaanilimpa parishath sidhim vidhaththenisham srimath sri lasitham jagadguru padam nathaathma thrupthim gathah '

for every bhaktha, his istadevatha is the door'passage to go beyond and reach that supreme brahman 

the nam roopa mahimas of istadevatha , here krishna, are just initial steps, an he soon ascended and transcended, and so his astakam has endured decades and centuries , will stay on'//He, who sometimes out of great joy fervently plays His flute on the banks of the Kālindi (Yamunā),//

it's pure sangeeth , ''venu'' gopal's , he did not choose to sing, a lyric'/ sahithya 

thanks, shortly i shall read the blog on sidhartha in odissi

incidentally, we must learn more languages , each language opens the relevant culture'/ethos of that area

//not an oral tradition unlike the Vedas (Samhita).// i understand

in classical rendeings , lyric is just a  thin minimum fabric , and most of the time is''  left '' and music flows in aalaap , taane etc 

a song stays with us more by its enchanting flow of raaga and relevant rasa than by lyric 

in fact lyric gets enriched greatly by them 

yes, lyric helps in recalling the flow o sa re ga ma 's

also we remember certain songs by the tune, and certain tunes by  by lyric, 

power of words is limited, hence support of sageeth is taken 

//Whose feet are worshipped by Ramā (Lakṣmī), Śambhu (Śiva), Brahmā, Amarapati (Indra), and Ganeśa, Oh! Lord! Jagannātha!//

yes, no doubt , here, chaithanya has gone deeper in his krishna to the level of jagannatha , jagadguru, the supreme , brahman , before whom/ which   all devi devathas ,''yadwaare nikhilaanilimpa parishath sidhim vidhaththenisham srimath sri lasitham jagadguru padam nathaathma thrupthim gathah ''  

for every bhaktha, his istadevatha is the door'passage to go beyond and reach that supreme brahman 

the nam roopa mahimas of istadevatha , here krishna, are just initial steps,  an he soon ascended and transcended, and so his astakam  has endured decades and centuries , will stay on 

nice to read and understand thru translation 

 it's a great joy added listening to sunanda patnayak's rendering set to  basic teen tal 

Nice to read and understand thru translation , good effort 

it's a great joy added listening to sunanda patnayak's may be from puri, rendering set to basic teen tal in raag desh 

divine glories in sanskrit and in sangeeth bring in a greater feel , in addition to reading and knowing .

chaitanya has brought krishna down on earth and made him to stay in puri for ever

Posted by vd views at 06:07