AcArya rAmAmRtam - Jan 06 - 2

[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 - Jan 06 - 2

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)

 

The footnotes are indicated by the letters “fn”

followed by a number.

 

SrImad ANDavan tiruvaDi,

kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

 

 

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SrI:

AcArya rAmAmRtam

SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam by SrImad tirukkuDandai

ANDavan

 

vAg-vidAm varam – nAradar will talk only about

bhagavAn. He does not talk about anything else

muni pungavam – manana Sileshu pu’ngava:, SreshTha:,

nArada bhagavAn. How is he?

tapasvI – While vAlmIki attributes three specialties

to nAradar, he calls himself just tapasvI. nAradar

has niyatAhAram, he does kAya kleSam and knows vedam

and teaches the meanings of vedam [Refer to the

write-up for December, 05 – Part 05-3]. vAlmIki has

the characteristics of a Sishyan. First vAlmIki talks

about nAradar and teaches the characteristics of an

AcAryan; and then, with the use of the word ‘tapasvI’,

he teaches about the characteristics of a Sishyan.

tapa: is j~nAnam; yasya jn~Anamayam tapa: One who has

j~nAnam – knowledge.

 

Sishyan asked a question of his AcAryan in the first

slokam. [fn1]

 

What did he request to his AcAryan?

 

konvasmin sAmpradam loke guNavAn kaSca vIryavAn |

dharmaj~naSca kRtaj~naSca satyavAkyo dRDha vRata: ||

(bAla kANDam 1.2)

 

He lists 16 such characteristics.

 

Oh, nArada: I am asking you; please tell me. Who is

the one who has these 16 characteristics in this

world? I will meditate on him. I would like to get

mukti from that meditation.

 

asmin loke sAmpratam, guNavAn: You should not name a

person who had these sixteen guNa-s or attributes last

year or in the last yugam. This person should be

living currently; I should be able to see such a

person and prostrate; who is like that?

 

nAradar says: “Why are you asking me? I do not know.

There are so many other Rshis”. vAlmiki says: “You are

the one who is roaming around all over the places

without any house for your own. That is why I am

asking you”. nAradar does not have his own house. No

address (audience laughs). The reason why he does not

have an address is because of the curse of daksha

prajApati. The latter had 1000 sons; nAradar taught

them all in the West ocean front and they all became

saints without getting married and left the place. In

those days, sanyAsam was a requisite. Who will be

willing to become a sanyAsi these days? Then another

1000 sons were born. We do not know how their mother

gave birth like that (laughter in the audience).

nAradar instructed them also to become saints. daksha

prajApati cursed nAradar: “You should be roaming

around always with no house or wife”. When he got

cursed thus, nAradar became happy: “Those who get

married are all suffering; I will just keep meditating

on bhagavAn and keep roaming; I will not need to have

a house or getting loans etc.”

 

Then daksha prajApati had 60 daughters. Through those

girls only, there was progeny. There were no sons;

girls will be born sooner (audience laughs).

 

“So, you are roaming around everywhere. You would

have met a person who has all the good

characteristics. That is why I am asking you”, said

vAlmIki. One should ask a person who would know the

answer; our sampradAyam is like that.

 

You may all know the upanishad called kaThOpanishad.

There is an interesting question there. The father is

doing yAgam. What yAgam? What was the dakshiNai (gift)

given? He gave as gift all the wealth he had. He

started the yAgam and then it was over. In those days,

wealth was considered to consist of only cows. People

used to have lots of cows. He gave away all his cows.

His son saw this; he went and asked his father: “You

are giving away all your cows. Even if one or two of

them are not good, you will attain sin. You can give

some other gift! What else is there to give? I am

here; kasmai mAm dASyasIti kasmai mAm dASyasIti - To

whom are you going to give me? To whom are you going

to give me? I am ready to go. Your yAgam must be

completed with success”. He was a good boy. When he

asked two or three times, his father got angry and

said: “I will give you to yaman – mRtyeva tvA

dadAmIti”. Immediately, that son said: “I will do as

I am told. Bhava satya pratiSrava:” He left for

yamalokam He went and stood in front of yaman’s

palace. Yama dharma rAjan was not there. He had gone

camping; he goes camping too! (audience laughs). He

had gone to supervise everything in narakam (hell).

When asked when he will come back, he was told that it

will be known only when he comes back. So, the boy

lied down in front of the palace; yaman came after

three days, and found his guest lying there and

waiting. He said: “I have not taken care of you for 3

days; all my aiSvaryam will be lost now. In order to

protect my wealth etc., please ask for three boons!”

What was the first boon that he asked? The first one

was: “My father and my mother should not feel any

sorrow because they gifted me”. The second boon was:

“Teach me an agni vidyA that can be a means to

moksham”. Third boon was: “Tell me where the people go

after dying; I want to know”.

 

yeyam prete vicikitsA manushye

astItyeke nAyam astIti caike |

etat vidyAm anuSishTas tvayAham

varANAm esha vara: tRtIya: || (kaTho. 1.20)

 

yeyam prete – those who start from this world on a

particular journey without giving a camp date. You

all know what this journey is that we are talking

about.

astItyeke nAyam astIti caike- Some say that his AtmA

continues to live, and only the body gets destroyed.;

others say different things. What is the deal? Only

you will know – said the boy.

 

Yaman says: Why are you asking me? And the boy

responds: “Because you are the one who takes away the

people and probably keep them with you. That is why”.

 

=======================

 

fn1: In his earlier life, SrI vAlmIki was a dangerous

hunter. With the blessings of the saptaRshi-s, he

started chanting ‘marAmarA’ continuously, and became a

tapasvI with his continued meditation without even

moving. While he was in deep meditation thus, mud

covered his body over a period of time. As he was

incessantly meditating on ‘marAmarA’ inside the

anthill, he had the darSanam of sItArAman and became a

paramaRshi.

 

varuNan has another name, pracetas. He rained

profusely and dissolved the mud hill that covered SrI

vAlmIki; so the latter came to be called ‘prAcetasar’;

he was also called ‘vAlmIki’ because he was exposed

from the anthill (vAlmIkam). Even before SrI rAman

took His incarnation in this world, Sage vAlmIki was a

supreme devotee of Lord rAma - a devotee of sItArAman.

SrI vAlmIki and Sri Anjaneyar come to mind foremost as

devoted rAma bhakta-s par excellence.

 

Man should lead his life without a single defamation;

he should live his life very carefully and be a great

man. The world should be taught this lesson. Man

should not ignore ignominy and lead a life of

happiness. SrI rAman wanted to demonstrate this to the

world, and so lived His life separated from sItai who

was dearer to Him than His soul itself. Words cannot

describe the deep respect and immeasurable love that

He had for sItai. SrI sItAdevi, for Her part, led Her

life with the motto that She should live only per SrI

rAman’s will; whether it was living together or being

separated, She wanted to follow whatever was in the

mind of SrI rAman who was the personification of

dharma. This is Her pati-bhakti. She is SrI rAman’s

sahadharmacAriNI.

 

Her life was dedicated to being supportive of SrI

rAman’s dharma anushThAnams. As a great pati-vratai,

She fully supported His conduct of life that ensured

that ‘a man should live avoiding any and all infamy,

and that was the proper way to lead life that is

superbly commendable’. Thus, She lived a life of

supporting His life and assisting His principle by

leading a life of separation from Him – that was the

mahA pati vratai that She was.

 

But, where could She live after being separated from

SrI rAman?

 

Among the supreme devotees of rAma, valmIki was by far

the best protector for sItA. sItai blessed SrI

vAlmIki by staying in his ASramam in return for the

SrI rAma bhakti that he had for several eons.

 

vAlmIki was overwhelmed by this great blessing

showered on him by his daivam searching for his hut

and coming and staying there. He was bubbling with

happiness like an ocean. He was totally flabbergasted

and confused; he sobbed and cried and did not what to

do and how to react.

 

Even when sItai was separated from SrI rAman, Her

rAmabhakti was at a very high level. Just as She was

immersed in love for rAma when She was together with

Him, She was immersed in the ocean of love for Him

during Her separation from Him as well. SrI rAman’s

love was flowing like ocean waves in Her long eyes, in

Her appearance, Her every breath, every single heart

beat, every single movement of Her tirumEni. For the

welfare and benefit of the world, vAlmIki was

intensely interested in communicating to the world

this great love of pirATTi to emperumAn that was

overflowing like the waves of the ocean. He felt:

“Tomorrow’s world must not talk about sItai and rAman

separately. But will the future talk about rAma and

sItA together and united, in one breath? Well, it

has to. We have to make it so. For the sake of the

good of the world alone, sItai’s rAma bhakti should be

talked about in the world. The world must praise Her

history forever. sItArAman’s tirunAmam must stay fixed

in every person’s heart. His name must reverberate in

every person’s ear. For this purpose, a kAvyam – epic

- must be created and spread all over the world!”

vAlmIki dared. An ancient epic is going to be

created.

 

It was an age when nothing other than veda-s,

upanishad-s, yAga-s, penance, anushThAnams etc. were

accepted. Only a few people had recognized sItA rAman

as lakshmi nArAyaNan and them both as divya dampati-s.

Should veda pArAyaNam be done, or should they spend

time doing parAyaNam of the new poetry that is sItai’s

own story done by a new poet, vAlmIki, who is living a

new life completely covering up his old life? This

is not the path of the veda-s. The world will refuse

to recognize the validity of doing the latter, on the

pretext that a vaidika should not ruin his vedic life

by doing pArAyaNam of the story of a woman’s life.

 

vAlmIki thought: “Who will be the person who has the

kind of authority and credibility, that if he blesses

me to create this story of sItA devi, the whole world

will recognize and treat this story with the same

respect with which the veda-s are treated? For

example, if vasishThar initiates it, viSvAmitrar may

ignore it. If viSvAmitrar initiates it, vasishThar

himself may not accept it. So this won’t work. Who

is the one great Rshi who cannot be refused by anyone

in the world? nAradar, who is the highly respected

sage from among the deva-s, is the only one who is

respected by the fourteen worlds, and who is thus

qualified to initiate this work. He was once the guru

for caturmukhan (brahmA), who is the teacher of veda-s

for all the worlds. He is well respected by everyone

including the deva-s, asura-s, rAkshasa-s etc. At

these times when only the veda-s are considered

authority, only if he initiates this kind of poetic

work, will no one will feel jealousy towards the work,

and the story of sItA devi will get equality with the

veda-s”. Having contemplated thus, vAlmIki bhagavAn

was longingly waiting for the arrival of nAradar who

was exceptionally accomplished both by way of tapas

and by way of knowledge of the veda-s, so that he can

be the upadeSa AcArya for the story of the sItA rAma

kAvyam that vAlmIki wanted to create. If that kind of

an AcAryan initiates something, is there going to be

even the slightest obstruction to his work? (sItAdevi

stayed in vAlmIki’s ASramam only to bestow this

blessing).

 

If one understands the inner significance of

declarations such as

 

“tapas svAdhyAya niratam” (bAla. 1.1.1), “sItAyA:

caritam mahat” bAla. 1.4.7), “mahat utpantam AkhyAnam

rAmAyaNam iti Srutam….. Srotavyam anasUyayA” (bAla.

1.5.4) (One should listen to this new, great rAmAyaNa

kAvyam without any jealousy), and of Sloka-s such as

 

“ittham tvameva nijakelivaSAt akArshI:

ikshvAku nAtha padapa’nkajayor ananyA |

svIyam padAvani mayA sumahaccaritram

sIteva devi sahajena kavISvareNa || “

(pAdukAsahasram –1005) ,

 

then one can understand these meanings.

 

Just to ensure that people do not go away with the

impression that Sage nArada narrated the story of rAma

to vAlmIki only because the latter asked for it

directly, vAlmIki uses the word ‘paripapraccha’ –

asking in a roundabout way, instead of ‘papraccha’

(asked), and starts with the question to nArada – konu

asmin etc.

 

 

 

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To be continued………