Monday, May 2, 2011

With time, everything Physical turns into sorrow.....



" Jananam Sukhadam Maranam Karunam
 Milanam Madhuram Smaranam Karunam
 Kalavashadiha Sakalam Karunam
 Samyadhipateh Akhilam Karunam"

Translation: 

Birth is joyful, death a sorrow
To consort is joyful, to be left with memories is sorrowful

In the inevitable flow of time, everything turns sorrowful, (for the
individual, not for the cosmic order)
In the kingdom of the Lord of time, the end is appropriately sorrowful.

Best Regards
A

28 comments:

  1. your translation is incorrect mate, karunam means merciful not sorrowful, you made a mockery of the whole bajan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is not malayalam. Its sanskrit. The word Karunam means compassion, in Sanskrit. In malayalam, karunam means mercy.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  2. How the heart can lament in so many different ways. How loss can be perceived with appreciation or pain. The variety of feelings within can only be expressed with the ways we know to express through language. Unfortunately language can only capture a part of what is within. As well the tone and body language can also alter meaning.

    The very words we use are just sounds that we apply meaning to. Yet we can not fully translate all language completely. We can only infer the connotations and meanings from context. So words take on different meanings at different times. How can we fully say that we know the meaning of words written so long ago. Language continually evolves as human beings need it in different ways. Through the study of etymology we can clearly see that the words of our ancestors captured meanings and feelings that were relevant to them in their times. Respectively, our words capture meanings for our time.

    Karunam has several meanings. Besides homonyms, a dictionary will cite different meanings for the same word. Meanings a matter of the moment they are uttered and received. The differing perspectives may be offered by the person who sings and received in another light by the person who receives. Such is the complexity of our expression.

    Perhaps the best way to feel out the meaning of words is to realize that it is art, which lends itself to interpretation. So the act of being open to express and witness expression may just be the way to fully invoke the essence and meaning.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Please correct your translation...

    Birth is joyful, death is compassionate
    To consort is joyful, to be left with memories is compassion
    In the inevitable flow of time, everything turns into compassion,
    In the kingdom of the Lord of time, the end is also compassion!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kundan ,
      The above translation by blogger is right , You are understanding KARUNAM as
      Compassion no no , it is not , The sanskrit word KARUN (करूण) means sorrowful and sanskrit word KARUNAA(करुणा) means compassion . please goggle

      Delete
    2. In this context it means compassion.

      Delete
    3. yes it means compassion hre

      Delete
    4. Who in the world will think karunam is sorrow in this context. Death is never sorrow for the one who is leaves. Till the moment they leave they may fear it but the moment its its over. Its freedom. Death is sorrow for the people around the one who dies.

      Delete
  4. Beautiful. I have been looking for this for ages! I always wondered what Sadhguru from Isha was singing before each speech.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Evrything connected with time yields sorrow...time is an illusion

    ReplyDelete
  6. The actual meaning by Sadguru himself is here.......
    The chant Jananam Sukhadam, Maranam Karunam
    essentially means, the beginning of life is sweetness –
    death is compassion. Immortality would be a curse
    that would be most difficult to live with. Imagine
    we could not die and had to live here for 10 million
    years! We want to live a full life, but still, the
    great compassion of life is that it will end one day.
    The greatest compassion is if one transcends the
    limitations of time and space within oneself. It is the
    burden of time what makes life into a grinding mill.
    The most compassionate way to exist is to be here
    and be above time.
    Once you enjoy the compassion of creation, you
    yourself will be compassionate. Knowingly or
    unknowingly, it is the want of human beings to
    share their present experience with everyone
    around them. If you are miserable, you try to share
    your misery. If you are angry, you will share your
    anger. If you are hateful, you will share your hate. If
    you are loving, you will share your love. If you are
    compassionate, you will share your compassion. One
    way or the other, we exude whatever is our present
    state to all life around us. The most important thing
    is to bring ourselves to ultimate sweetness within
    us, so that whatever we touch turns into sweetness.
    And that is the only thing a human being can do.

    Refer: http://www.ishafoundation.org/us/newsletter/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Isha-Forest-Flower-Mar-2014.pdf

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks a zillion for sharing Sadhguru's own words here.

      Delete
  7. I am unable to open the Isha link. Can someone try and confirm.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thank you for sharing Sadhguru's words.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Karun is compassionate, Karuna and karunam is compassion. Karun is also a masculine name in India and Karuna a feminine name. And obviously Sorrow can’t be someone’s name. That’s to that. I studied the verse in school when it took Sanskrit as a special subject. It translates as compassion and not sorrowful. Well that’s to my knowledge of this verse. Apart from that everyone to their own.

    ReplyDelete
  10. In India we even debating over is very awful we all know that death is compassion

    ReplyDelete
  11. The chant Jananam Sukhadam, Maranam Karunam
    essentially means, the beginning of life is sweetness
    death is compassion. Immortality would be a curse
    that would be most difficult to live with. Imagine
    we could not die and had to live here for 10 million
    years! We want to live a full life, but still, the
    great compassion of life is that it will end one day.
    The greatest compassion is if one transcends the
    limitations of time and space within oneself. It is the
    burden of time what makes life into a grinding mill.
    The most compassionate way to exist is to be here
    and be above time.
    Once you enjoy the compassion of creation, you
    yourself will be compassionate. Knowingly or
    unknowingly, it is the want of human beings to
    share their present experience with everyone
    around them. If you are miserable, you try to share
    your misery. If you are angry, you will share your
    anger. If you are hateful, you will share your hate. If
    you are loving, you will share your love. If you are
    compassionate, you will share your compassion. One
    way or the other, we exude whatever is our present
    state to all life around us. The most important thing
    is to bring ourselves to ultimate sweetness within
    us, so that whatever we touch turns into sweetness.
    And that is the only thing a human being can do.

    ReplyDelete
  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Good that I've habit of reading comments.. I hope the translation in original post is also altered appropriately.

    Sadhguru describes the same meaning in this interview as well:
    https://isha.sadhguru.org/in/en/wisdom/article/the-future-of-the-feminine

    ReplyDelete
  14. The birth is bliss.
    The death is thy compassion.
    Togetherness is fulfilling.
    Remembrance of it, is thy compassion

    In the course of the time all and everything becomes thy compassion.
    In this existence of thou lord of time, even the end is thy compassion.

    ReplyDelete
  15. there is no big deal about the translation ..are you all scholar of sanskrit?

    ReplyDelete
  16. People come to a page like this expect to have better understanding not mislead by broken translation. So in that sense no one is trying to prove their provese in sanskrit. People are looking for the correct meaning for the words in the chant.

    ReplyDelete