AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. May 06. Part 1)

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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 - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. May 06. Part 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

 

brahmA blessed vAlmIki that the latter would know the whole sItArAma caritram

(the whole history of sItA rAman). Would he know everything?

 

“hasitam bhAshitam caiva” – “You will know even the times when they (sItA and

rAma) had private conversations with laughter. “rahasyam ca prakASam ca” –

”You will know all the secrets and public happenings also”.

 

yatvRttam tasya dhImatah - ”You will verily see rAman laughing!” vAlmIki can

see even when He laughs. vAlmIki has written about that.

 

In citra kUTam, perumAL is taking a private walk with sItai along the banks of

the mandAkini river. As He was walking like that, rAman laughed. sItai also

laughed. He will laugh and She will laugh! Can we ask the reason for why they

are laughing?

 

asmin mayA sArdham udAra SIlA

SilAtale pUrvam upopavishTA | (AraNya kANDam 63.12)

 

Both of them sat down. The river water is flowing near by. sItai asks: “You

laughed! Why?” rAman says: “When we were coming, a swan came in front of

us. It had a beautiful walk”.

 

annavaDivAL aSaiyum anna naDaiyAL

uyarum anna varaSu Eri varuvAL (meyvirata mAnmiyam – svAmi dESikan )

 

It is said of womenfolk. Their gait is like that of the swan.

 

rAman says – A beautiful swan came. I was watching it. It kept staring at you.

Immediately, it went back to the river and hid its head behind a lotus leaf

and tried to hide. After we left that place, it came back out of the water to

the shore. That is why I laughed.

sItai: Why do You have to laugh for that?

rAman: It looked at your gait. Your gait was prettier than its own gait. It

felt it should come out after you left that place. It felt very shy that

womens’ gait is compared to its walking. I felt happy that my wife has such a

great gait and felt like laughing. I laughed when the swan hid like that.

 

peDaiyODu annam peyvaLaiyAr tam pin SenRu

naDaiyOdu iyali nANi oLikkum naRaiyUrE! (periya tirumozhi 6.5.5)

 

Why did you laugh?

sItai: When we were coming, an elephant was coming at a distance.

 

kaimmAvin naDaiyanna mennaDaiyum (perumAL tirumozhi 9.6)

 

gaja simhagatI vIrau SardUla vRshabhopamau (bAla kANDam) – men should walk like

elephants. It is said that they should wear majestic shirts when they come.

When a husband comes home, whether he brings home a lot of salary or not, his

boots should make a lot of noise; otherwise he will not get any respect!

(laughter in the audience) SAstram has said that. Which SAstram?

 

e`ngum adirap puguda kanAk kaNDEn tOzhI nAn”

 

“cadiriLa maDavAr tAm vandu edir koLLa

mathuraiyAr mannan ADinilai toTTu

e`ngum adirap puguda” – (nAcciyAr tirumozhi 6.5)

 

ANDAL says – adirap puguda. If the husband walks like a cat, wife will make a

chilly paste and apply on his head (laughter in the audience).

 

Menfolk should walk with the majestic gait of an elephant.

 

sItai says: “An elephant came in front of us. It stopped for a while and looked

at You. It felt ashamed when it sawYour walking style. With great shame, it

hid its head in a big banyan tree. I saw that and I laughed”.

 

hasitam bhAshitam caiva – vAlmIki has written about when they laughed, when

they talked, everything. Sometimes they will talk fast, right! Sometimes when

they have an argument, they will talk with a raised voice, as they spoke when

they were preparing to go to the forest, right! - He has written about all

that.

 

brahmA blessed vAlmIki with the idea that everything should be visible to

vAlmIki’s eyes as they were.

 

taccApyaviditam sarvam viditam te bhavishyati || (bAla. 2.35)

 

na te vAg anRtA kAvye kAcit atra bhavishyati | (bAla. 2.36)

 

“You will know even information that is not known so far. You will know

everything. There will be no falsity in your kAvyam. You will know things

that were taught to you by nAradar. Let there be no untruthful sayings in your

composition. You will clearly realize even information that has not been

revealed to you by nAradar. There won’t be anything that is not true”. Thus

blessed brahmA and left. vAlmIki did Acamanam and sat down. He enjoyed rAma’s

history as it happened in front of his eyes, and started writing it. He wrote

24,000 Slokams. It was wonderful. He finished writing. After he completed

the work, he started looking for someone to read it. It is difficult to find

people for that. He thought what he could do. He has to teach that to

someone. To whom can he teach? What is the use of one person learning it? If

someone is not taught, somebody keeps printing it. They print and dump it on

our own heads. What is the use? Shouldn’t what is written be read? Shouldn’t

it be memorized? rAmAyaNam is very beautiful. That too, it will be very nice

if a person who can sing reads it. He looked to see whom he could call. He

called all his Sishya-s. There are the sons of other Rshi-s. Nothing

materialized that was interesting there. There are two young boys who were

kshatriya-s. Who were they? kuSan and lavan. He told them: “Both of you

learn from me; you have melodious voice. pAThye geye ca madhuram – it is very

good, you come”..

 

kuSI lavau tu dharmaj~nau rAjaputrau yaSasvinau |

bhrAtarau svara sampannau dadarSa ASrama vAsinau || {bAla 4.5)

 

They are two in number. They were residing in the ASramam. They had superb

voices. It will be melodious even when some people cry. In the music world,

some say ‘brothers’, ‘sisters’. That will be very nice. If during singing,

one does not sound good, the other can adjust (a mild laughter in the

audience). “Good voice. Great knowledge about svarams. You know the sapta

svarams. You can sing well. So you go ahead and sing [the rAma caritram]. So

saying, vAlmIki taught them.

 

Since it was all about bhagavAn’s kalyANa guNams, “vAco vidheyam tat sarvam

kRtvA kAvyam aninditau” (bAla. 4.12)

 

They memorized all the 24,000 Slokams and repeated.

 

Why did he teach them like this?

 

“vedopabrhmaNArthAya tau avagrAhayata prabhu:” (bALa. 4.6)

 

In order to explain and clarify (upabRhmaNam) the inner meanings of the vedam,

he taught them to his two Sishya-s. Whatever is declared in the vedam is what

vAlmIki has conveyed through the 24,000 Slokams. He taught this to the two

disciples, so that they could in turn propagate it to the rest of the world,

and thereby make everyone a follower of the dhArmic path and be prosperous -

(vedopabrhmaNArthAya tau agrAhayata prabhu: ). As soon as they were taught,

they performed SARRumaRai – [offering honors to AcArya-s at the conclusion].

All the Rshis will call these two Sishya-s and ask them to sing (so that

everyone can hear rAmAyaNam). There are lots of trees in the forest. There

are holy rivers. They ask them to sit on the banks of the river and recite.

Imagine how fulfilling it will be! All the Rshi-s will sit and listen. mArga

vidhAna sampadA – says vAlmIki. The Sishya-s had good knowledge of svarams.

It was enchanting. They will recite rAmAyaNam till early morning. One Rshi

will say “AhA! rAmAyANam is very good” and give them a garment made of tree

barks and bless them (the garment made of tree barks is in the place of dhoti).

Another Rshi will give kRshNAjinam (a covering made of deer skin); another one

will give a kamaNDalu (a small vessel made of wood to hold water) for

performing sandhyAvandanam. It is a very important activity, right? So, he

will give wooden kamaNDalu for sandhyAvandanam. Another one will say – “I have

pooNal (sacred thread); it was not made in ashTami; it was not done in

caturdaSI; it is a beautiful sacred thread. It is not a fake thread. It is

real sacred thread”. Look at the sacred thread nowadays; it is absolutely

amazing. You don’t know where it was spun; you don’t know whether the

pratishThA was performed. But it shines as it hangs from the shoulder.

(audience laughs). What the Rshi gave was not like that. He gave it

declaring that it is the best sacred thread. Someone gave the akhsa mAlA

(rosary beads) for use in performing meditation. Thus each one blessed them.

Another Rshi who did not know what to do, gave a lot of blessing “ASIrbhi:

pUrayitvA ca”. They (the two children) are reciting like that. What is the

use in reciting in the forest? What is the use in reciting on the banks of a

river? It will be nice only if it is recited in the city. Who listens if it

is recited on the river bank in SrIra`ngam? So, the Rshi-s told the children:

“Go to the city and recite all you want”. The two children left the place.

They were all saying that the children will go to ayoddhi and sing in the

presence of rAman.

 

veda upabrhmaNArthAya tAvagrAhayata prabhu: How does rAmAyaNam convey the

meaning of vedams? The explanation of that one Slokam alone will take up the

whole day tomorrow.

 

(On 28th July 1972, which was the 3rd day of the upanyAsam, SrImad ANDavan

completed the upanyAsam at this point; the next day, on 29th July 1972, he

started again with dhyAna Slokams)

 

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To be continued………