Longing for solitude

 Longing for solitude 

Annamacharya's nanati baduku poem has been lucidly translated below.

I. The Drama of Life 

Nānaṭi baduku nāṭakamu —  
This day-to-day life is but a drama unfolding. 
Birth — inevitable.  

Death — unavoidable. 
And between the two? 
A noisy, restless play! 

Behold, before you, this grand farce of the world —  
A marketplace of laughter and tears, 
Where each of us plays our role, 
Forgetting that the curtain will fall. 

II. The Certain and the Vain 

To be born is certain. 
To die is certain. 
And all that we call “life” — the struggle, the pride, the toil —  
is mere dialogue between the two. 

Behold! Before you expands this vast, shimmering illusion, and liberation — Kaivalya — is the last thing on anyone’s mind. 

III. The Everyday Act 

Eat your rice. Dress your best. 
Walk to the marketplace of duty —  
and act! 

But remember: 
Only by crossing this daily stage, 
by stepping beyond the applause and the sighs, 
does one glimpse Kaivalya —  
utter solitude, serene and still. 

IV. The Reckoning 

Listen! Sins never seem to shrink, 
Virtues never seem to grow. 
Time smirks at us —  
scene after scene, the farce continues. 

Ah, but beyond all this 
stands One alone —  
Śrī Venkateśwara, 
beyond the heavens, beyond the skies, 
where silence reigns, 
and the play is finally done. 

 Reflection- Annamacharya’s voice here is not despair — but clarity. He strips away the ornament of hope, the comfort of illusion, and leaves us with the raw, essential truth: Life is a play. We are its weary actors. The only freedom — is to step off the stage.