AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. April 06. Part 3)

[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 - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. April 06. Part 3)

 

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

 

Sometimes, one will wait for homam [in the houses] saying, “brahmA has not

come”. He would have informed some person for coming as brahmA. If that svAmi

comes, people will say, “brahmA has come, brahmA has come”. Who is brahmA?

This svAmi. [but in the case of vAlmIki] The actual brahmA with four faces came

in person. vAlmIki gave Him a seat. brahmA sat down and asked vAlmIki to sit

down also. After that, vAlmIki sat down. That is the SAstram. If elders come,

we should offer them a seat, and we should keep standing. If they ask us to

sit down, then we should sit. [Generally], thinking that we may not ask them

to sit down, they themselves sit down first (laugher in the audience). We also

should ask them to sit down, right! How long can we make them stand and keep

talking? Some think it is added prestige for them to make others stand and

talk to them. I will ask people to sit down immediately. Some people feel it

is additional honor for them to make the others stand while talking to them.

In our side, do you know what some people do? In the front entrance of the

house, there will be kuRaDu (raised verandah) below the tiNNai (raised platform

usually in the front of the house). Do you know what tiNNai and kuRaDu are

(some people in the audience laugh). Oh, you do not know!

 

They will do sandhyAvandanam in the tiNNai. They will sprinkle cow dung water

around the tiNNai and kuRaDu and place a wooden slab (palagai or maNai) and sit

on it. If someone passes by in the street, they will call that person: “Come

here!” and talk about the welfare of everyone. When they do that, that person

cannot sit, because water has been sprinkled, right! People in that town will

recognize that the person who is standing while talking is a person inferior in

status, and that ‘svAmi’ is sitting and talking. (audience laughs); some

characters are like that (audience continues to laugh; AcAryar also laughs).

 

One should sit only after the elder asks one to sit down. This is the meaning

of the SAstram conveyed here. brahmA sat. He asked vAlmIki to sit also. Then He

said: “Sloka eva tvayA baddha: nAtra kAryA vicAraNA! What you composed is a

Slokam only. Don’t think otherwise.

 

macchandAdeva te brahman pravRtteyam sarasvatI |

rAmasya caritam kRtsnam kuru tvam Rshisattama || (bAla. 1.2.32)

 

brahmadevan blessed him. macchandAdeva te brahman pravRtteyam sarasvatI |

 

With my ordinance and with my blessing, sarasvatI came in Sloka rUpam through

your words! She has just placed her first step on you. What is going to

result is called Adi kAvyam in the form of Sloka-s! SarasvatI devi herself has

placed her step.

 

How is this known? nigamAnta mahAdesikan says so in pAdukA sahasram. He has

composed thousand Slokams for pAdarakshai! For the sandal worn on the foot! He

has composed a thousand Slokams!

 

He addresses the pAdukai beautifully, “ammA!

 

divyasthAnAt tvam iva jagatIm pAduke gAhamAnA

pAdanyAsam prathamam anaghA bhAratI yatra cakre! |

yoga kshemam sakala jagatAm tvayyadhInam sa jAnan

vAcam divyAm diSatu vasudhA Srotra janmA munirme || (pAdukA sahasram 4)

 

 

sarasvatI devi placed her first step. She did it only through vAlmIki

(mAnishAda pratishThAm tvam agama: SASvatI: samA: )

 

deSikan says about rAman’s pAdukai – “Hey pAdukE! Just as you placed Your step

from paramapadam (into this world), sarasvatI took her step (into this world

through vAlmIki)”.

 

“pAdukE! pAdanyAsam prathamam anaghA bhAratI yatra cakre”

 

“After this sarasvatI devi placed her step in the right place, look at how many

kAvyams, Slokams, yAdavAbhyudayam, raghuvamSam, kumAra sambhavam, campu kAvyam,

gadya kAvyam- all came into existence. The time that You placed Your first step

also is significant like that. So much prosperity came after Your pAdukai

placed its first step on this Earth. The whole world got permeated with

samskRtam. The time that You placed Your first step was an auspicious time”.

Womenfolk say: “Did you have silver vessel in your house (before I stepped into

your house)? Was there good silver cup and plate? Was there anything? Your

mother was wearing a small stem from the palm leaf (Irkkucci in tamizh) in her

ear! I placed my foot in this house. Look how prosperous it is now! How many

silver containers! How many silver vessels! How much wealth! All because of

the time at which I set foot here” (audience laughs). ANDAL says –

“aDiccelvA!”

 

ambaramE taNNIrE SORE aRam Seyyum

emperumAn nandagOpAlA ezhundirAi !

kombanArkkellAm kozhundE kula viLakkE

emperumATTi aSOdAi aRivuRAi

ambaram UDaruttu O’ngi ulagaLanda

umbar kOmAnE uRa’ngAdezhundirAi

SempoRkazhalaDic celvA baladEvA

 

aDic celvA… aDic celvA! (Repeat)

umbiyum nIyum uRangEl

 

aDic celvam refers to pAdukai. ANDAL is talking practically when she calls

bhagavan’s aDic celvam – balarAman who is the pAdukai that is AdiSeshan’s

avataram! It can be understood only if one knows women’s language. Meanings

for ANDAL’s pAsurams can be told only if one knows all the four thousand

pAsurams. Women talk very well! That too, Tanjore district women talk very,

very well! deSikan says :

 

kupyac coLI vacana kuTilai: kuntalai: SlishTA mUle!

ratnApIDa dyuti SabaLite ra’ngabhartu: kirITe

rAjanvatya: sthitim adhigatA vRttaya: cetaso me (bhagavad dhyAna sopAnam 9)

 

He (svAmi deSikan) saw ra’nganAthan’s hair. How is the hair in His head – it is

in curls. kupyac coLI vacana kuTilai: kuntalai: SlishTA mUle! When women of

cozha deSam speak, one word will have several meanings. deSikan is from

Chengalput District.

 

A wife brings and gives the baby to her husband and says: “You are late for

work. I will cook in 10 minutes. You can go after eating. Please take care

of the baby! It is hard for me to keep the baby in my hand while cooking”.

So, the husband kept the baby in the front area of the house. Wife is cooking

inside. Baby starts crying. He brings all kinds of toys, wooden dolls

(marappAcci) etc. He buys peppermint. Baby does not listen to anything. It

does not stop crying even though he plays with it. The crying grows louder and

louder. Wife comes and says: “What is this! I was keeping the baby all this

time and it was not crying. I asked you take care of the baby for a brief

interval, and you are making it cry!” Husband: What can I do? I gave so many

things. It keeps crying.

Wife: Why can’t you ask the baby what it wants and comfort?

Husband: what can I do?

Wife: Would anyone let the baby cry like this? Take the baby to the sannidhi

street where the temple is located! When you are there, go to the street shop,

buy green chillies and bring them home! I need them immediately for cooking!

(the whole audience bursts into a big laughter!) Women folk speak very smart.

ANDAL said – “aDic celvA! baladEvA! umbiyum nIyum uRangElOr empAvAi!” She said

aDic celvA; there is no other equivalent term for this. The pAda rakshai or

pAdukai is the wealth for the tiruvaDi (feet). The wealth for the ear is

diamond stud. The wealth for the neck is necklace. What is the wealth for the

feet? pAda raskhai (pAdukai) Did you know you can get pAdarakshai for 2000

rupees also?

 

nivAsa SayyA Asana pAdukA amSuka upadhAna varshAtapa: (ALavandAr stotra ratnam

40 )

 

Why is AdiSeshan called pAdukai? See how she calls balarAman as “aDic celvA”

in a roundabout way! AdiSeshan is the aDi for bhagavAn. Oh balarAma who is

the avatAram of AdiSeshan! The time you set your foot is what made

tiruvAippADi a prosperous place. See how She says this is in a roundabout way!

 

It is normally said – wealth comes only because of the time the woman sets foot

into the house. There is no use if the man sets foot. Women will say – “only

because of the time I set foot in this house, there are so many silver vessels,

so much wealth has come”. If the husband says “What to do? I have spent ten

thousand rupees”, wife will say, “What can I do for that? It is because of the

time your mother set foot here” (audience bursts into a loud laughter again)

“That is why you lost; everything that came is only because of me”.

 

“divya sthAnAt tvam iva jagatIm pAduke gAhamAnA pAdanyAsam” – “setting foot” –

here, the term nyAsam is very significant – pAdanyAsam prathamam anaghA bhAratI

yatra cakre - sarasvatI devI took her very first step in the heart of vAlmIki

mahaRshi, that had been purified by the sacred rAma dhyAnam.

 

yoga kshemam sakala jagatAm tvayyadhInam sa jAnan vAcam divyAm diSatu vasudhA

Srotra janmA muni: me! sarasvatI devi took that kind of step; “macchandAdeva

te brahman pravRtteyam sarasvatI” – and she came to you because of my blessing

(says brahmA); So he tells vAlmIki that what he spoke out was a Slokam for

sure.

 

Sloka: eva tvayA baddhah |: nAtra kAryA vicAraNA |

 

Don’t keep thinking about what it is! Why did sarasvatI devi came in the form

of a Slokam in your mouth? You have to compile rAma caritram with the same

kinds of Slokams. rAmasya caritam kRtsnam kuru tvam Rshi sattama! You should

narrate the complete history of this rAman. vAlmIki said : “For that, I need

to know rAma caritam in its entirety first” - “tat sarvam dharma vIryeNa

yathAvat sampra paSyati (bala. 3.3)”

 

Brahma said: “I have blessed you! You will realize that you know everything!”

 

 

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End of April 2006

 

To be continued………