I pause to appreciate ...

This post is about a song Bhavayami Gopalabalam by MS Subbulakshmi which completely owns me everytime I listen to it. It is as if someone has hit a PAUSE button on me that I completely stop everything I do to listen to it.

I heard the song countless times and i find a deep sense of involvement appreciating the rythm, the gamgams(subtle variations while signing...). I did not know what the lyrics meant because it is in Sanskrit..I was very curious to know the meaning of the song so got the help of my friend Shencottah to get the translation. When I heard the song after knowing the meaning my appreciation now is at a new level...

I am not going to give the translations here but paint a little picture of what the lyrics mean. The song is composed in Yamuna Kalyani one of the soothing and melliflous raagams. The song "Yamunai aatrile" - Dalapathi is composed in the same raagam.

This song is composed by a saint Annamacharya, who is an ardent devotee of Krishna. He has written a lot of songs in praise of Krishna.

Bhavayami Goplabalam is about the grace of a young radiant toddler who is learning to walk. The toddler is none other than infant Krishna. He is wearing jewellery which has a lot of tiny bells which produces jingling sounds each time he takes a step. The kid takes unsteady steps each and every time and which inturn produces pleasant sounds from his ornaments. His unsteady steps is full of grace and reminds one of gentle dance moves. It is divine to watch the young radiant kid doing this act.

When I hear the song with this picture painted in my mind my invovlement in other things I do while listening to this song approaches "zero" and i totally stop to appreciate this song..

I think the beauty of "more than usual" gamagams in this song actually symbolizes the unsteady walk that kid might take. The part where MS extends the gamgams in this particular line "caTula naTanA................... " is mind blowing.

Is the divinity in the song due to the Kalyani (base) in the song or is it the voice of MS or the lyrics? It is hard to answer !

Here is the link from music india online incase you want to listen.