AcArya rAmAmRtam - March 06 - 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 - March 06 - 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)

 

The footnotes are indicated by the letters “fn”

followed by a number.

 

SrImad ANDavan tiruvaDi,

kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

 

 

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

SrI:

AcArya rAmAmRtam

SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam by SrImad tirukkuDandai

ANDavan

 

In SrIra’ngam, parASara bhaTTar was doing kAlakshepam.

It was bhagavad vishayam. “pattuDai aDiyavarkku

eLiyavan” – it was going very well. A huge crowd was

returning back after listening to the kAlakshepam. How

did it look? It looked like the big crowd of people

going to see periya perumAL seated in AsthAna

maNDapam. PerumAL is very lucky in Srira`ngam. When

He starts His rounds, an enormous number of people

will show up; a lot of people will come, but no money

(laughter in the sabhai). People will be going in big

lines to see perumAL.

 

There was a person in that town. The person living in

the opposite house asked him – “There are so many

people coming from even ten miles away to listen (to

the kAlakshepam); why don’t you come?” No matter how

many people come from different towns, the person from

the opposite house does not come and ask a person to

come to the kAlakshepam; but these people known to

each other – that is all. He said: “Come for sure”.

So, this person said that he would come from the next

day. He asked if the kAlakshepam is at an interesting

stage. People think there will be good parts and bad

parts in upanyAsam. What can we do! The person from

the opposite house said: ”Yes; it is in a good stage”.

The person agreed to come the next day, and he came

to the kAlakshepam. (bhaTTar) started.

 

“mattuRu kaDai veNNai kaLavinil uraliDai AppuNDu

ettiRam uralinODu iNaindirundu E`ngiya eLivE!”

(tiruvAImozhi 1.3.1)

 

“ettiRam ettiRam ettiRam” - What a great saulabhyam

(easy accessibility)! This kRshNAvatAram! What

unfairness this is!! A cowherd woman tied the great

Lord of all the devas to a mortar! How great is He!

 

 

uRiyAr`nda naRu veNNai oLiyAl SenRu

a`ngu uNDAnaik kaNDu Aycci uralODu Arkka

taRiyAr`nda karu’nkaLiRE pOla ninRu (repeat)

taRiyAr`nda karu’nkaLiRE pOla ninRu

taDa`nkaNgaL pani malgum tanmaiyAnai

veRiyArnda malarmagaL nAma`ngaiyODu

viyankalai eN tOLinAl viLa`ngu

Selvac ceRiyAr`nda maNimADam tigazhn`du tOnRum

tirukkOvalUr adanuL kaNDEn nAnE! (periya tirumozhi

2.10.6)

 

ettiRam uralinODu iNaindirundu E`ngiya eLivE!

ettiRam! ettiRam! ettiRam! He stayed tied like that.

How great He is.

 

sarvaj~nan. sarva kAman. AvApta samasta kAman. Sarva

Sakti.

 

parA’sya Sakti: vividhaiva SrUyate |

svAbhAvikI jn~Ana bala kriyA ca || (SvEtAsvatara

upanishad 6.8)

 

He is perumAL who has infinite power. What is

perumAL’s power?

 

brahmANDa laksha SatakoTi gaNAn anantAn

eka kshaNe viparivartya vilajjamAnAm |

mat-pAparASi mathane madhu darpa hantrIm

Saktim niyu’nkhsva SaraNAgata vatsala tvam ||

(SaraNAgati dIpikai - 48)

 

svAmi deSikan asks perumAL – send me Your Sakti. When

perumAL orders His Sakti to create lakhs and crores of

brahmANDams, protect them and then destroy them, it

(His Sakti) creates them in a moment and destroys and

comes and stands in front of Him. It feels ashamed

that He gave it such a menial, small job. (deSikar

says) send your Sakti to me. I will give an

appropriate work. What work is that?

 

svAmi deSikan says that destroying his sins is more

work for bhagavAn’s Sakti than creating, protecting

and destroying brahmANDa laksha, SatakOTi gaNams.

 

Don’t think this means that deSikan has committed so

many sins. He says it so that we will say so.

 

Saktim niyu’nkshva SaraNAgata vatsala tvam - “O

SaraNAgata vatsalanE! Send Your Sakti to me so that it

can eliminate all my sins”. perumAL has that kind of

power. What does yaSodA do to that perumAL? yaSodA is

an ‘abalA’. Women are called ‘abalA’ (weak); books say

so. nigaNTu says so; SAstram also says so. Even in the

bus, it is like that. We have to stand up so that

they can sit (light laughter).

 

That kind of abalai tied Him. (bhaTTar) cried saying

ettiram, ettiram . The kAlakshepam was for one hour.

It seems he said this in 5 minutes and cried for 55

minutes. So kAlakshepam was over. Everyone said

taniyan and offered prostrations to bhaTTar and left.

The person who invited the new attendee asked the

latter:

“You went to listen to the kAlakshepam. How was it?

He said, “What is this, svAmi! He said ‘ettiRam’;

then ‘ettiRam’, ‘ettiRam’. Then he cried. Those who

listened cried. They cried for one hour. Is this

called kAlakshepam? He did not say anything else”.

 

(The neighbor who listened to the kAlakshepam

regularly, said): “He (the upanyAsakar) is enjoying

the experience. He cannot continue when that anubhavam

comes” - mune vakshyAmyaham budhvA tai: yukta:

SrUyatAm nara: ||

 

“I am enjoying” (says nAradar). “buddhvA – When one

experiences rAma guNam-s, the tongue will lose its

stability; eyes will reel; one cannot talk. When that

experience is over, I will tell you; do not be in

haste”. He is not saying that he will learn from

someone else and come and tell vAlmIki. What he is

saying is: “I cannot say when I am immersed in this

experience. So, I will tell you after my anubhavam is

done with”. That is why he said: “I will be

‘nAradar’ and tell you; I cannot speak while

experiencing bhagavAn”.

 

Just like this, uddhavar went for tIrtha yAtrA.

vidhurar also went separately on tIrtha yAtrA.

vidhurar came to yamunA river. uddhavar was there.

vidhurar asked uddhavar about the welfare of kRshNa.

uddhavar started crying loudly. vidhurar started

suspecting if kRshNa had gone to parama padam. He

thought, “I do not understand what has happened; he is

crying.” If someone asks how somebody is and if the

person starts crying, what does it mean? He

(uddhavar) cried for 2 days. (vidhurar asked)

“svAmi, why did you cry? I will have to do snAnam; I

have moved with Him for a long time. What is the

reason for your crying?” uddhavar said: “Wait a

little. Sanai: bhagavallokAt nRlokam punarAgata:

vakshyAmi- “I will tell you. Do not hurry wondering

when I will respond to you. I have gone to bhagavAn’s

lokam. When I come to this manushya lokam from

bhagavAn’s lokam, I will tell you; you can listen.

When you mentioned the name of kRshNa, I started

having kRshNa anubhavam.” kRshNa anubhavam has been

experienced in a wonderful manner.

 

vallinuN idazhanna ADai koNDu vaSaiyaRat tiruvarai

virittuDuttu

palli nuN paRRAga uDaivAL SARRi paNaikaccundip pala

tazhai naDuvE

mullai nan naRumalar vE`ngai malar aNindu pallAyar

kuzhAm naDuvE

elliyam pOdAgap piLLai varum edir ninRu a’ngu inavaLai

izhavEnminE (periyAzhvAr tirumozhi 3.4.2)

 

barhApIDam naTavara vapu: karNayo: karNikAram

bibhrat vAsa: kanaka kapiSam vaijayantIm ca mAlAm

|

randhrAn veNor adhara sudhayA pUrayan gopa bRndai:

bRndAraNyam svapada ramaNam prAviSat gItakIrti: ||

(SrImad bhAga. 10.21.5)

 

“I am in kRshNAnubhavam. Do you know which lokam I am

in? I am in bhagavallokam”. Sanai: bhagavallokAt

nRulokam punarAgata:

 

When one thinks about bhagavAn, one enjoys that. While

in that experience, one loses control of one’s mind.

I am enjoying kaNNan right now. I will tell you

later, said uddhavar.

 

nAradar told vAlmIki, “When I become my normal self,

I will tell you the one who has the guNams you asked

about.” [fn1]

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

fn1: The reason why nAradar was immersed in rAma

guNAnubhavam and lost control of his senses is because

he fell into the ocean of vAlmIki’s rAma bhakti. The

vyAkhyAnam for tiruvAimozhi 6.5.7 pASuram has the

following phrase:

 

“avan cinnamum tirunAmamum ivaL vAyanagaL

tirundavE”

 

which has the meaning - “Sa’nku, cakkaram enbadAna

cinna’ngaLum, aravindalOcanan, dEvapirAn enbadAna

tirunAma’ngaLum – “paNDE tirundi irukkiRavai ivaL

SollappukkavARE uyir peRRIrA ninRana”. If bhaTTar

says the tirunAmam ‘azhagiya maNavALap perumAL’, it

gets a special flavor; if.sOmAsi ANDAn says the name

‘emperumAnAr’, that nAmam gets its special greatness,

and if the word ‘tiruvEnkaTamuDaiyAn’ comes from

anatAzhvAn’s mouth, it receives its unique greatness.

So also, when svAmi deSikan calls out “varada

prabho!”, the name of varada comes alive, and when

nArada saya “prabho! sItA pate!”, rAma’s and sItA’s

name get their unique luster. Similarly now vAlmIki

is asking: “Oh mahaRshi nArada! Who is guNavAn in

this world? Who is valorous? Who is the embodiment

of dharma? Who is the speaker of truth? Who is the

most determined one?” and nArada is immediately driven

to the thought of rAma. The words coming from

vAlmIki’s mouth totally drowned nArada because of

their deep significance; rAma bhakti rose in huge

waves from these words, and totally drowned nArada.

nArada forgot himself. Such was the power of

vAlmIki’s words on nArada. – ye tvayA kIrtitA guNAh.

The bhaktimAn – one who is firmly established in the

bhakti mArga, is swept by overflowing bhakti when he

encounters a devotee. “parasparam bodhayanta: (gItA

10.9) – They mutually enlighten each other in the

thoughts on paramAtmA” (Note that now we can see this

is an incident where vAlmIki becomes the principal

player in creating this rAmAnubhavam in nArada, rather

than nArada instructing vAlmIki on rAma kathA).

 

 

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

 

To be continued………