AcArya rAmAmRtam - Feb 06 - 2

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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 - Feb 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 “fnâ€

followed by a number.

 

SrImad ANDavan tiruvaDi,

kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

 

 

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SrI:

AcArya rAmAmRtam

SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam by SrImad tirukkuDandai

ANDavan

 

vibhIshaNan comes. He looks at rAman for the first

time. vibhIshaNan belongs to rAkshasa jAti. He

descends from the sky, and looks at rAman; “aRam

niRam karidO enRAn†says kamban; vibhIshaNan

exclaims: “I do not know if the color of dharmam is

black; He is dharma svarUpi; His color is that of the

dark cloudâ€.

 

rAvaNan who came to the battle for the first time, saw

rAman. He thinks aloud: “What did sItai call me?

‘tvam nIca SaSavat’- you are a rabbit with

infected skinâ€. In other words, She called him

“hey, you dogâ€. rAvaNan got very mad; he took his

dagger and went to use it on Her. His wife was

dhAnyamAlini. She prevented him from hurting sItA. He

was mad from that day onwards because She had called

him a dog. His grandfather was mAlyavAn. rAvaNan

tells him – “Yesterday, we had a battle. Oh, how

rAman shoots the arrows; what a surprising use of

arrows; no one has ever witnessed such a marksmanship

of arrows; In addition, only yesterday, I saw rAman

very well. sItai called me a dog. What She said it

really true. Not only me; even that manmathan, who is

supposed to be more handsome than everybody else, is

also just a dog. I am also a dogâ€. kamban says in

kamba rAmAyaNam – that is what rUpam (form) is.

kaScaika priya darSana: daSarathan likes Him; when

the country folks look at Him, they like Him. Forest

folks also like Him. If He goes to the rAkshasan’s

city, there also, He is priyadarSana:; if He goes to

the place of the monkeys, there also, He is priya

darSanah. tArai says:.

 

“tvam aprameyaSca durAsadaSca jitendriyaSca uttama

dhArmikaSca

akshayakIrtiSca vicakhsaNaSca kshiti kshamAvAn

kshatajopamAksha: “ (kish. 24.32)

 

sItai asks A’njanEyar: Why did you come this long

distance of 1000 miles crossing the ocean? He says

that He came being involved in the beauty of rAman’s

eyes.

“rAma: kamalapatrAksha: sarva sattva manohara:†-

sarvasattva – all beings; manohara: - vAnarasya

mamApi manohara: (rAman is a beautiful person who

attracts the minds of all beings; even a monkey like

me).

 

“Who is the one who has 16 such characteristics?

You have to tell meâ€, said vAlmIki bhagavAn to sage

nArada. I will tell you tomorrow who has these

characteristics.

 

(upanyAsam ends with ma’ngaLa Slokams; the next day,

SrImad ANDavan starts with AcAryar’s taniyan and

ma’ngaLa Slokams)

 

Yesterday, we started rAmAyaNam saying: SrI vAlmIki

bhagavAn asked nAradar: “Who exists in this world

with all16 divya guNams? I would very much like to

know. I have to meditate on such a person; tell meâ€.

What did nAradar say?

 

“………….SrUyatAm iti cAmantRya prahRshTo

vAkyam abravIt

bahavo durlabhA: caiva ye tvayA kIrtitA guNA: |

mune vakshyAmyaham budhvA tai: yukta: SrUyatAm nara:

||†(rAma. bAla. 1.6,1.7)

 

nArada bhagavAn was very happy – what an excellent

question; this is the way to ask sat-vishayam. He is

asking a question that will be beneficial to the whole

world. So, he answers happily.

 

bahavo durlabhA: caiva ye tvayA kIrtitA: guNA: -

vAlmIki! Out of the several divya guNams that you

mentioned, it is very rare even if a man has one or

two of those. Even the one or two characteristic/s

will be present in a man to a very small extent. They

may be present sometimes; they may not exist other

times. Only evil guNam will persist. bahava: You are

listing a lot of good traits and asking who has all of

these good traits.

 

In this Slokam, there is a samskRt word ‘eva’ -

bahavo durlabhA: ca eva – if we pay attention, we

will see – ‘ca’ eva’ – just like letters are

added when there are not enough letters, it says here

‘caiva’; isn’t it enough to say ‘bahavo

durlabhA:’. Only people who do not know how to

compose poetry will add more letters to make the meter

match. They will say if letters are less, the meter

will not be right. vAlmIki says those who know

samskRtam are evil. He gives a title to these

vidvAns; what title? “vidvAmso brahma rAkshasA:â€

(audience laughs) (AcAryar asks the vidvAns who are

nearby “Isn’t this a true statement by vAlmIki? It

doesn’t mean you†(laughter in the audience).

 

“chidram hi mRgayante~tra vidvAmso brahma rAkshasA:

“ (bAla. 8.17) [fn1]

 

When we do aSvamedha yAgam, we should be very careful.

Many vidvAns would come; they will look for faults.

(daSaratha maharajA tells amAtyas – his minister-s).

 

If we find that so many vidvAns have come here to

listen to the story; they have come not for the story,

but to find out what mistakes are made (laughter in

the audience). chidram hi mRgayante~tra – says

vAlmIki. It will not be wrong. Even if one letter is

too much in a Slokam, it will be called faulty.

 

nAradar says: “bahavo durlabhA: caiva ye tvayA

kIrtitA guNA: | tai: yukta: SrUyatAm nara: ||†I

will tell you who has all the guNams. SrUyatAm –

listen. (vAklmIki) asked the question only to listen;

why is nAradar ‘telling’ him to “listen�

He says: “Listen without being distracted by

anything here and there; what I am going to say now is

very important, special matter; so, do not get

distracted and listen carefully.†vykyAnam says:

“abhimukakaraNArtham†- listening with

single-minded concentration).

 

bahavo durlabhA: caiva -

 

- bahava: anavacchinnA: ittyartha: - you said 16

guNams; this is a lot; this is not simple; even if you

take each guNam separately, as ALavandAr says

“ekaikaguNavadIpsayA’ – upanishad starts with

the intent of describing each guNam completely and

fails in completing even a single guNam and declares

“aprApyamanasA saha | yato vAco nivartante†and

gives up. Even upanishad that talks about a single

guNam says it cannot do that. bahava: - you are

asking for a lot of guNams! You asked who is the one

who has all these guNams! bahavo durlabhA: caiva

yetvayA kIrtitA guNA: |

 

- durlabhA: you used the term ‘guNavAn’, and

listed one guNam - ‘sauSIlyam’. First we can

search for, and may find someone who has the

characteristic ‘sauSIlyam’. You said vIryavAn –

we can try to look for one who is a vIryavAn

(valorous). dharmaj~na: one who knows dharmam;

kRtaj~na: one who remembers the help given to him; we

can look for someone who has one of these guNams at a

time. durlabhA: We may not be able to find anyone even

with one of these guNa-s. You have listed 16

guNams.

 

- caiva – ca eva: ca – uktasamuccaya:,

anuktasamuccaya: ca – if we take everything

together, it looks like we may not be able to find

such a person. We may be able to get different

persons for the different guNams, one guNam at a time.

We have to think about this.

 

- durlabhA: ca eva – In gOvindarAjar’s vyAkhyAnam,

he said no one may be found fulfilling this criterion!

bahava:, bahava: ca, bahava: caiva, ye tvayA kIrtitA:

guNA:, durlabhA:, - cannot be found. Even if we look

for one person for each guNam, even that cannot be

found. Those guNams are that special. Those are the

guNams that are used for identifying paramAtmA. Those

are the guNams that uniquely apply to paramAtmA alone.

ye tvayA kIrtitA: guNA: - the 16 guNa-s that you

listed. Leave those 16 out, and ask for a different

set of 16 guNams. It looks like we cannot find one

with the 16 guNams you have mentioned. A lot of guNams

have been mentioned in upanishad. Even if we can find

one who has those guNams, it looks like it will be

impossible to find one who has the guNams mentioned by

you.

 

“mune vakshyAmyaham buddhvA tai: yukta: SrUyatAm

nara: |â€

 

Oh maharishi! I will find out and then come and tell

you; I will ask my father and find out and come and

tell you; Otherwise, I will ask some other teacher,

find the answer and come and tell you – said

nAradar. aham buddhvA vakshyAmi.

 

 

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fn1: In this Slokam, brahma rAkshaSAs are the main

emphasis; The word ‘vidvAns’ just further

defines the ‘brahma rAkshasa-s’. In order to

destroy our yAgams, brahma rAkshasAs will try to look

for mistakes we make in yAgams, and they will enter

the yAgam through that path and make it fail. They

cannot destroy a yAgam that does not have any faults.

A yAgam must be done very carefully without any dosham

or fault. brahma rAkshasAs know what is fault and what

is not fault in yAgam. They are well learned, vidvAns

– so warns daSarathar. Here AcAryar has made the

term ‘vidvAmsa:’ as the main subject, and the term

‘brahmarAkshasa’ as a further elaboration of

‘vidvAmsa:’ just for humor. [[ Instead of saying

‘brahmarAkhsas who are vidvAns’ (as in the

Slokam), AcAryan says vidvAns are brahma rAkshasAs, as

a joke]].

 

Those who conducted yAgams in previous births and made

mistakes in the conduct of the yAgam because of kAmam,

krodham etc. had thereby committed sin, and this

results in their being born as brahma rAkshasas. So,

they get a cruel satisfaction when they get to destroy

yAgams. In the previous births, they were vidvAns and

did yAgam; now they are brahma rAkshasas; so the term

‘vidvAmsa:’ is made the prime subject and the term

‘brahmarAkshasa’ is made a qualifier. Note the

very subtle dharma SAstram hidden in AcAryan’s

humor; AcAryan’s message is that we should not be

beset with kAmam, krodham etc when we perform good

deeds; if kAmam, krodham etc., interfere with the good

deeds such as yAgam, it will be bad even for vidvAns.

 

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To be continued………