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

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AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. October 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

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

 

rAj~no daSarathasya tvam ayodhyAdhipate: prabho |

vishNo putratvam Agaccha kRTvA AtmAnam caturvidham || (bAla. 15.20)

 

daSarathan desires to have a son. perumAL also desires for a father. The two

wishes came together. perumAL has this difficulty; He is looking for a father.

daSarathan is doing penance for a son. perumAL is doing penance for a father.

The two wishes came together. Two kings went for hunting. They went in their

own chariots. For one, the horse died. For the other, the chariot got burned.

The two joined together. The king whose horse died joined with the king whose

chariot had burned. One had the chariot. The other one had the horse. So both

of them were out of their inconvenience now. nashTa-aSva dagdha-ratha nyAyam –

that is what this is called. Both of them came back to their places. You can

assume they went their separate ways after that!

 

daSarathan wished for a son. perumAL wanted a father. The two wishes

coincided. That is what it is. What is the benefit of listening to rAmAyaNam?

Don’t just listen to the story and go. In addition to our wish, we need

perumAL’s blessing also. We have to strive for that. It is not enough if we

just have one. It is not enough if we just decide something; we need ISvara

sa’nkalpam. The two came together here. daSarathan is wanting a son; perumAL

is doing penance for a father. He thought for a moment - pitaram rocayAmAsa

tadA daSaratham nRpam - perumAL thought for a short time. Who can I get as a

father in the Earth? He thought about daSarathar. That is what His penance

is. If we do penance, we have to do it for thousands of years. ki’ncit

j~nAnam – we are ones without knowledge. We have to do penance for many, many

years. He is sarvaj~nan – All knowing. For Him, tapas involves thinking for a

moment - a kshaNam. If He has to think for long, how can there be

sarvaj~natvam? sarvaj~natvasya hAni: - that is why, for Him, thinking for a

kshaNam is His great penance. We, who do not have any knowledge, have to do

penance for hundreds of years.

 

pitaram rocayAmAsa tadA daSaratham nRpam (bAla. 15.32)

 

As soon as He thought for a moment, He desired that daSarathar should be His

father. He told the devas that He will bless them as they desired –

 

hatvA krUram durAtmAnam devarshINAm bhayAvaham |

daSa varsha sahasrANi daSa varsha SatAni ca || (bAla. 15.29)

 

I will kill the evil rAvaNan and live in the earth for 11,000 years – vatsyAmi

mAnushe loke (bAla. 15.30).

 

mAnushe cintayAmAsa janmabhUmim athA`tmana: |

tata: padma palASAksha: kRtvA`tmAnam caturvidham |

pitaram rocayAmAsa tadA daSaratham nRpam || (bAla. 15.31,32)

 

He determined that He would be born as four sons to daSarathar.

 

sa cApi aputro nRpati: tasmin kAle mahAdyuti: (bAla. 16.9)

 

vAlmIki shows here beautifully that our desire and bhagavAn’s blessing must

come together by establishing that daSarathar longed for a son at that time,

and perumAL also looked for a father.

 

It is said in bhAgavatam – people say, ‘I suffered; I earned money. I came to

this city with one garment. See how much I have earned. See how I am riding in

a car.’ Another one suffered. Will everyone succeed? He suffered; he set up a

factory, and lost everything. If people ask: “You had lot of money. You had

two factories, and now they are all gone. What happened?”- his response is:

“It is all bhagavad sa’nkalpam”. If he earns, it is all because of his effort;

but, if he loses, it is all because of Him! (AcAryar laughs softly). When

something is negative, he will blame perumAL.

 

Just as perumAL says in gItai: I am the elephant - airAvatam; I am the horse -

ucchaiS-Sravas etc., in bhAgavatam, He gives an upadeSam – ‘people say it is

because of bhagavat sa’nkalpam when they lose, but; they do not say it is

because of bhagavat sa’nkalpam when they get.’ In bhAgavatam 11th skandam,

when He imparts instructions to uddhavar, He advises uddhavar to be aware of

this. That is what vAlmIkI shows here – that ISvara sa’nkalpam is required for

anything to happen – He is showing that meaning of the SAstram here.

 

In adhyAtma rAmAyaNam and vAsishTha rAmayaNam, it is said that at this time He

showed His extremely exquisite beauty to the devas; they were all utterly

spellbound; He told yes to the devas’ request.

 

Here, daSarathar is doing a great yAgam. People were all very happy. aho

tRptAsma, bhadram te iti rAghavam abruvan – “very satisfied, very satisfied.

There is no one who will feed like this. None who will donate garments like

this. Satisfied, satisfied”, said they. When he heard this, the king was very

pleased. Because - He was born in ikshvAku clan. If a king born in ikshvAku

clan became a tapasvI (doing penance and having nothing to give), still he

would give. That is how kALidAsan says the story about raghu vamSam. In

ikshvAku clan, there was a king called raghu. He did yAgam. When he did

yAgam, he gave away all his wealth as dakshiNai (fees). Later, when he left

for the forest to do penance (in his vAnaprastha ASramam), he was sitting in

the forest. There was a person by name kautsar. He had learned 14 SAstrams

from his teacher. He asked his teacher what his teacher wants for fees. His

guru said, “What are you going to give me? Go away”. Kautsar said, “Please,

you have to bless me. You have to tell me something for fees. How can I go

away without giving anything?” guru still said, “No, nothing is needed, go”.

The student persisted and forced him to say something. “nirbandha sanj~nAta

RshA” - he forced him a lot. AcAryar became angry. He said, “You want to

give fees? Give me one crore of rupees for every SAstram you have learned.”

 

He said: “Bring fourteen crores of rupees” (for the 14 SAstrams learned). What

could kautsar do? He was wearing a dress made of grass. He had kRshNAjInam

(garment made of deer skin). What could he do? Immediately, he came to see

the ikshvAku king in the forest thinking he would be able to get the amount

from the king. The king was sitting and doing intense penance, sitting on a

seat made of dharbai grass. Kautsar came there. The king welcomed him: “Please

come; I will give you arghyam – water”. He gave arghyam in a mud vessel.

Kautsar knew what was going to happen subsequently. He got the arghyam. The

king asked, “svAmi! For what reason did you come here?” kautsar told him the

reason, and said he will take leave. “Where are you going?” “I came to get 14

crores of rupees from you. You are giving arghyam in a mud vessel. What can I

ask! It looks like you lost all your wealth. I will go away.” The king

asked, “Did your teacher instruct you? Are you all done with education? Did

your AcAryan say okay for you to get into gRhasthASramam (to enter married

life)? Did he give permission? “ sarvopakAra kshamam ASramam te – kALidAsan

says beautifully as always. There is an ASramam called sarvopakArakshamam

ASramam after brahmacaryASramam. That is gRhasthASramam. The king asked

kautsar – ‘What did AcAryan ask for that?” kautsar explained what the AcAryan

had said. King raghu said, “Okay, wait for a little while.” He told kuberan, “

I will release an arrow on you”. Kuberan poured a lot of wealth. Kautsar took

only 14 crores and left the rest behind. He did not need more than that. If

it were now, everything would have been taken. But, he said, “I have 14 crores

of rupees, I do not need the rest.”. That is why, svAmi deSikan says in SrI

stuti, “ambarAt ambudher-vA, dhAra niryAntyadhikam adhikam vA’nchitAnAm

vasUnAm”. He is praying to perundevit tAyAr in kA’ncipuram. Have you seen the

pictures depicting this? A Brahmin requested money from him. deSikan praised

tAyAr through a stotram. tAyAr showered wealth. If we ask people here, they

will say it happened here. In tiruvahIndrapuram, people say that it is tAyAr

there who showered like that. People in SrI ra`ngam say that it took place in

SrI ra’ngam only. Anyway, it is true that tAyAr showered wealth. Let it be in

any place. In Sri stuti, in the place where we have “bhUmer dhanapatigRhAt,

ambarAt, ambudher-vA”, we have four different stories. One day when we talk

about SrI stuti, we will convey that. ikshvAku king will give even when he is

in vAnaprasthASramam.

------------

 

(End of translation of AcArya rAmAmRtam as it appeared in the October 2006

issue of SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA)

 

To be continued …..

 

 

 

 

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