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

 

SrImad ANDavan tiruvaDi,

kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

 

 

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SrI:

AcArya rAmAmRtam

SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam by SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan

 

AyatA daSa ca dve ca yojanAni mahapurI ||

SrImatI trINi vistIrNA suvibhakta mahApathA |…(bAla. 5.6)……….

……..

tasyAm puryAm ayodhyAyAm vedavit sarva sangraha: |

dIrgha darSI mahAtejA: paura jAnapada priya: || (bAla. 6.1)

 

samskRt is a sweet language. In no other place can you find the style of SrImad

rAmAyaNam. It is that charming. If you read rAmAyaNam four times, great

learning will accrue.

 

paThan dvijo vAgRshabhatvam IyAt | (bAla. 1.100)

 

paThan dvija: - when you read it the first time, even if you say it wrong, as –

‘tapasva adhyAya niratam’, if you keep on reading, everything will become

alright. You will acquire the ability to speak well.. samskRtam will come.

vAlmIki rAmAyaNam is like that.

 

ayodhyA is 12 yojanai-s long [a yojanA is a measure of distance approximately

equal to 8 or 9 miles, according to Apte’s dictionary], 3 yojanai-s broad.

 

manunA mAnavendreNa yA purI nirmitA svayam | (bAla. 5.6)

gRha gADhAm avicchidrAm sama bhUmau niveSitAm | (bAla. 5.17)

 

 

Houses were all close together. Not like one house in one street and another

one in another street. samabhUmau niveSitAm – will it be like Madras? Like

Bangalore? The city was on level ground. Not like Bangalore. In Bangalore

houses, the front will be located in a low area, and then the house will go a

long way, and there will be ups and downs all through, and the back side of the

house will be on another street. ayodhyA was ‘sama bhUmau niveSitAm’ – it was

located on a level ground.

 

SAli taNDula sampUrNAm ikshu kANDa rasodakAm (bAla. 5.17) – you cannot predict

how much rice there is. SambA rice – SAli taNDulam – rice of very high

quality, and in abundance. If you compare now, we will have rice for 2 ½

months; we will not get it after that. We have asked for 3 lakhs tons of rice

on loan. No one cares about the tamizh nADu. ayodhyA was not like that -

SAli taNDula sampUrNAm – it had all the rice that was needed.

 

Some places have a lot of wealth. Water will not be good. What to do? That

is fate. Only salty water will be there. People will somehow bring water from

the temple in a cart. In ayodhyA, the water was - ikshu kANDa rasodakAm – the

tIrtham was sweet like sugarcane juice all over the country. It was that kind

of ‘ayodhyA nAma nagarI – the city called ayodhyA.

 

tasyAm puryAm ayodhyAyAm vedavit sarva sa’ngraha: |

dIrgha darSI mahAtejA: paurajAnapadapriya: || …(bAla. 6.1)

 

mahaRshi kalpo rAjaRshi: trishu lokeshu viSruta: || (bAla. 6.2)

 

In that city, daSaratha mahArajA was a great raja Rshi. He was a king and also

a Rshi. He was a great proponent of dharmam. He had done veda adhyayanam. He

knew vedams completely. That great a king. sarva sa’ngraha: - there was no

one who would not want him. He was such a great dharmAtmA. Best among kings.

mahaRshi kalpo rAjaRshi: trishulokeshu viSruta: - He was a king who was well

known in all the 3 worlds. So says vAlmIki about daSarathar. He talks about

the city. The city was the best. There was no other city comparable to it.

In that city, in every house, before being cooked, the rice will be cleaned

with water. It is said that rice must be cleaned with water 3 times. The

water used for cleaning the rice will flow to wet one acre of land. So much

food was cooked to feed guests etc. There was no one who could be even

remotely called poor in that city.

 

…..narAs tushTA: dhanai: svai: svai alupdhA: satyavAdina: | (bAla. 6.6)

 

nAlpa sannicaya: kaScit AsIt tasmin purottame | …..(bAla. 6.7)

 

kAmI vA na kadaryo vA nRSamsa: purusha: kvacit |

drashTum Sakyam ayodhyAyAm nAvidvAn na ca nAstika: || (bAla. 6.8)

 

Everyone was rich. There was no greedy person. No poor person. No uneducated

person -. na avidvAn; na ca nAstika: - there was no atheist. Now you can see

boards put up by atheists in every street corner. They write in stone. In

ayodhyA, there were no non-believers - na ca nAstika:. vAlmIki says,

“daSarathan who ruled for 60,000 years, did not have the power to produce even

one atheist”. Couldn’t he have created one atheist?

 

na akuNDalI na amakuTI na asragvI na alpa bhogavAn (bAla. 6.10).

 

na akuNDalI – there was no one without ear-studs. There was no one who did

not wear diamond studs. Everyone was wearing diamonds.

 

na amakuTI – there was no one without a crown. Everyone wore turbans. Mysore

turban. It is beautiful. Have you seen teachers of the olden days wear those?

When I was reading in school, the teacher will ask the students to carry the

end of the turban ( AcAryar laughs gently). ‘makudDam’ can refer to a crown

as well as a turban. Let us just say it refers to a ‘cap’.

 

na asragvI na alpa bhogavAn – there was no one who did not decorate themselves

with flowers. Everyone wore them. Even men. They did not ‘crop’ their hair in

those days. All men had tufts. They wore flowers around their tufts. vAlmIki

describes in AraNya kANDam. He says that all the trees have flowered. Similar

to what? dAkshiNAdyA narA: iva – like tamizh deSa people. Men in tamizh deSam

wear flowers. All men had tufts; they used to wear the flowers around the

kuDumi (tuft). You can see that in kAncIpuram vaiSAkha utsavam. When perumAL

comes on a street procession around 4:30, the svAmi-s will come with flowers in

their hair and sandalwood on their body. You can keep flowers if you have hair

in the head. What to do if there is no hair?

 

na alpa bhogavAn – there was no one who was not happy. No one who did not enjoy

luxuries. It was such kind of a city in that country.

 

na asughandhaSca vidyate

 

Now, there is no hair. Where can you wear the flowers? There is banian

(under-garment) also. Shirt also. Where can you wear the sandalwood? In

ayodhyA, there was no one who did not wear good smelling sandalwood. People

who are not vaidika-s [i.e. people who do not have tuft etc., those who wear

shirt, banian etc. instead of towel etc.] do not get to enjoy these pleasures.

If you have kuDumi (tuft), you can wear flowers; if you do not wear shirt, you

can apply sandalwood. (AcAryar smiles slightly). You can have great fragrance.

 

Kamban’s descriptions are wonderful. kamban’s pAsurams are very good. What

does he say? “What svAmi! Do you know how magnificent a place koSala deSam

is? Very amazing place. Do you know any place like that? Are you asking

what is so special about this place? sarayU river alone is enough, svAmi.”

sarayU is even bigger than ga’ngai. Have you gone and seen that?

 

acalam puri aimpoRi vALiyum

kASu alambu mulaiyaver kaN enum

pUSal ambum neRiyin puRam SelAk

kOSalam punai ARRu aNi kURuvAm

 

(kamba rAmAyaNam – bAla kANDam ARRup paTalam – 1)

 

I will tell you about the sarayU river in koSalam. sarayU river looks like

kRshNAvatAram.

 

SeRi naRum tayirum pAlum veNNaiyum SErnda neyyum

uRiyoDu vAri uNDu kurundoDu marudam undi

maRi vizhi Ayar mAdar vanai tugil vArum nIrAL

poRi vari aravin ADum punidanum pOlum anRE (ARRUp paTalam – 15)

 

aravin ADum punidanum – Can you think of kRshNan dancing over the hood of

kALi’ngan? sararyU river is like Him. What did kRshNan do? SeRi naRum

tayirum pAlum veNNaiyum SErnda neyyum uRiyoDu vAri uNDu – He used to gulp down

huge quantities of yogurt, milk and ghee kept in the uRi (a container tied in a

high place). sarayU river will sometimes come in a spate. What does it do

then? It will carry away all the yogurt, milk etc. from the homes.

 

kurundoDu marudam SAittu - what did kaNNan do to marudam tree? He fell the

yamaLArujuna trees from the roots. Similarly, the sarayU river would uproot

all the trees on its path. ARRa’nkarai vAzh maram pOl a’njuginREn , nARRac

cuvai URu oliyAgiya nambI (periya tirumozhi 11.8.1)

 

sarayU would knock down all the trees on its path.

 

maRi vazhi Ayar mAdar vanai tugil vArum nIrAl

poRi vari aravin ADum punidanum pOlum anRE

 

What happened! The women folk would bring their saris for washing. When the

river flooded, all the saris would be gone. The sari worn on their body would

be the only ones left. The others would all be gone. sarayU would carry away

all the tugil (sari). What did kRshNan do? He took away all the clothes of

gopis.

 

tiruma’ngai AzhvAr looks at ga’ngai and says: “Look at how ga’ngai flows.

ga’ngai brings the saris of the devaloka apsaras women. They take bath in

AkAsa ga’ngai [ganges flowing from the deva lokam or heavenly world]. The

ga’ngai brings their saris. Their necklaces are brought too. Did you see

these in ga’ngai? We do not see anything. But AzhvAr says that ga’ngai brings

those.

 

aNi malark kuzhalAr arambaiyar tugilum Aramum vAri vandu

aNi nIr maNi kozhit tizhinda ga’ngaiyin karai mEl

vadari AccirAmattuLLAnE (periya tirumozhi 1-4-4)

 

Similarly, sarayU carries away the saris of the women. Looking at this, kamban

says – aravin ADum punidan pOlum – sarayU is like that boy who did the snake

dance.

 

mullaiyaik kuRi’nji Akki marudattai mullai Akki

pulliya neydal tannai poru aru marudam Akki

ellaiyil poruLgaL ellam iDai taDumARum nIrAl

SelluRu gatiyil Sellum vinai ena SenRadu anRE (ARRup paTalam 17)

 

says kamban beautifully. The song is full of taste. How is it? The tamizh

people divide the land into four kinds – kuRi’nji bhUmi is mountainous land.

neydal is one with water etc. What will sarayU’s flood do? It will make

mullai nilam into maruda nilam, maruda nilam into mullai nilam etc. Any of the

four kinds of lands - kuRinji, mullai, marudam, and neydal lands will be

changed into any of the other types unpredictably by the force of the sarayU

river. A mountain will rise tomorrow in the place where there is no mountain.

A flood will occur in the place where there is no water. Like that, sarayU

river flows with enormous force.

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To be continued…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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