AcArya rAmAmRtam - Nov 05 - 1

[Guest guest]

SrI:

SrImate ra’ngarAmAnuja mahAdeSikAya nama:

SrImate SrInivAsa rAmAnuja mahAdeSikAya nama:

SrImate vedAnta rAmAnuja mahAdeSikAya nama:

SrI ra’nganAtha divya maNi pAdukAbhyAm nama:

SrI ra’ngarAmAnuja mahAdeSika divya pAdukAbhyAm nama:

 

AcArya rAmAmRtam - Nov 05 - 1

Translation of

SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam in tamizh by SrImad

tirukkuDandai ANDavan

 

As published in SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA by

SrI U.Ve. nATTeri kiDAmbi rAjagopAlAcAriyAr (Editor

of SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA)

 

SrImad ANDavan tiruvaDi,

kalyANi krshNamAcAri

 

 

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SrI:

AcArya rAmAmRtam

SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam by SrImad tirukkuDandai

ANDavan

 

Today Governor SrI K.K.Shah has come. I have heard

about him. He is the regional Governor. He came and

talked. He spoke beautifully. Because he spoke in

English, I didn’t understand a little. Even so, when

the others laughed, I watched them and laughed along

with them. (noisy laughter in the audience). I have to

admit that I don’t understand, right? He is a very

learned person. He quoted two or three samskRt verses.

They were very good. I will tell you about “AtmAnam

mAnusham manye” tomorrow. He should be blessed with

all the prosperity. I do not know how to do AsIrvAdam.

Because, I have become a vaidikan. How can a vaidika

person who does not know the world give any AsIrvAdam?

 

 

I will share some information with you. “pratyakshe

gurava: stutyA:” One can praise the AcAryan right in

his presence. A Sishyan must not be praised face to

face. Very important – one should not praise a Sishyan

with the words “ there is no other smart person like

you”. If he is praised like that, he will think - “I

am smart! Why do I need the book”, and will start

sleeping. What if the AcAryan closes the book when he

is praised as an intelligent person? I will tell you.

 

There was a small town. There was a ‘first class

magistrate’ in that town. He had a priest; a

vaidikar; he did not know anything, just like me. He

educated his son. The magistrate gave that boy a job

with typing. The son got his first salary. The father

has to say ‘thanks’ (to the magistrate), right. He got

a plate of fruits – mangos, apples, seedless grapes

etc. He asked his son to prostrate before the

magistrate and said “Only because of you, my son got

the job. You should be blessed with more and more

prosperity. You should move to the level of a second

class magistrate from being a first class magistrate”

(audience shaking with loud laughter). That vaidikar

knew that his son studied; that he went from first

class to second class; from 2nd class to 3rd class

etc. Thinking about that, he blessed thus. The

‘magistrate’ knew. He laughed to himself. “Alas, he

does not know; his heart is good; but, he is saying

this without realizing what he is saying”.

 

I also do not know anything. What if I say something

inappropriate like this for AsIrvAdam? I do not know

what post comes after this (governor) post. What if I

say something and that post happens to be something

below his current post? (again, audience bursts into

loud laughter). That is why I do not know how to

bless the governor. I pray to bhagavAn that he should

be blessed with a position that is above his current

position.

 

Next day (after invocatory Slokams):

 

kaRpAr rAmapirAnaiyallAl maRRum kaRparO

puRpA mudalAp pul erRumbu Adi onRinRiyE

naRpAl ayoddhiyil vAzhum carAcaram muRRavum

naRpAlukku uyttanan nAnmuganAr peRRa nATTuLE.

 

tapas svAdhyAya niratam tapasvI vAg-vidAm varam |

nAradam paripapraccha vAlmIki: munipungavam ||

 

Yesterday, SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyasam was duly

inaugurated. Today, we are inaugurating the grantham

itself; first Slokam. AcAryan blessed Sishyan;

SAstram says that with AcAryan’s blessings, a lot of

meanings will become clearer. Following this dictum,

vAlmIki bhagavAn sought an AcAryan, asked him

questions and obtained his blessings – that is what

the first Slokam deals with, and that is what we are

talking about now.

 

It is said that this rAmAyaNam is a superb mahA

kAvyam. It is also called itihAsam. There are

itihAsams and then there are purANams. itihAsam has

its own characteristics. If one reads alankAra

SAstram, one will find the unique identifying

characteristics for kAvyam, gadhya kAvyam, dramas,

itihAsams and purANams described there.

 

SrImad rAmAyaNam and mahAbhAratam are called

itihAsams. At the time of commencing SrImad

rAmAyaNam, it will be described as the best itihAsam.

When SrImad mahAbhAratam is the topic, that will be

described as the best itihAsam. Both are equally

great. In SrImad rAmAyaNam, which is the best

itihAsam, bhagavAn’s history is described.

 

kAvyam rAmAyaNam kRtsnam sItAyA: caritam mahat |

poulastya vadhamityeva cakAra bhagavAn Rshi: ||

 

When rAma is discussed, rAma is considered as

bhagavAn. However, there are some who opine that He

is not bhagavAn, but human. There are some who feel

that even if he is only a human being, still we can

still enjoy the story as it is, and there is no

problem with that. The evidence they quote in support

of their position is that rAma Himself declares –

“AtmAnam mAnusham manye rAmam daSaratAtmajam”; when

all the devatA-s came and praised Him, He Himself says

that He was only a human being; He did not say that He

was divine. Their argument is that when He Himself

declares that He is only a human being, why do you say

that He is a divine being?

 

 

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To be continued………