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

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

 

The explanatory footnotes by SrI nATTEri svAmi are indicated by “fn” followed

by a number.

 

SrImad ANDavan tiruvaDi,

kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

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

An elderly couple had no son. Once, an ascetic came to visit them. He said he

was hungry. That elderly person fed him. After eating, that ascetic asked:

“Tell me what problems you have”. “Oh, nothing; the only void we have is that

we have no son”. That ascetic gave the couple two medicine balls and asked

them both to eat them, and said they will get a son. He then left. The man

gave that ball to his wife. The wife said, “You are old now; still desire

hasn’t left you! Throw that pill in the wall closet. What is your age and

what is my age? Will a child be born at this stage?”.

 

This is not like that. He (daSarathar) did yAgam with great faith in SAstram.

A divine person came and gave pAyasam. Let the age be anything. If there is

bhagavAn’s blessing, wouldn’t a son be born even at the age of 100? BhagavAn’s

blessing alone is required. So, vAlmIki said “sammAnam menire sarvA:”. So

vAlmIki bhagavAn showed that for any benefit or fruit that is needed, faith in

SAstram is very essential. There is no use if there is no faith.

 

Faith is needed even for prapatti (surrender). So vAlmIki showed that aspect

here.

 

evam visRjya tAn sarvAn rAjA sampUrNa mAnasa: |

uvAsa sukhita: tatra putrotpattim vicintayan || (bAla. 18.7)

 

 

He (daSarathar) was very happy feeling that he will definitely attain the fruit

(of his yAgam). What else? Even then, once in a while he will have a thought.

putrotpattim vicintayan – he will worry about that a lot on these lines – he

gave pAyasam; even though we got the pAyasam, still, it has been a long time

since he married his wives. “Let us hope that the children will be born okay.

It will be difficult if surgery is needed”. It would be nice if the child is

born soon after the wife comes to live with the husband. Wouldn’t it be

difficult birth if they are born after 10 or 12 years? No? vAlmIki says

“vicintayan”. Ten months had passed, and the child could have been born.

Eleven months passed. Baby was not born. putrotpattim vicintayan – daSarathar

started worrying. The divine person had said a baby would be born; pAyasam has

been taken. Eleven months have passed now. Still no baby. devatAs’ words

will not fail. Rshis have said “sarvathA prApsyase putrAn (bAla. 8.12) – you

will get a ‘son’ (they have used masculine gender). It is generally said that

if it takes longer months, then the baby would be a ‘girl’!

 

It happened like that in some place, do you know? It happened in vaSishTar’s

story [fn1] we will come to that later. So, vAlmIki says vicintayan.

 

tata: ca dvAdaSe mAse caitre nAvamike tithau |

nakshatre aditi daivatye socca samstheshu pa’ncasu ||

graheshu karkaTe lagne vAkpatau indunA saha |

prodyamAne jagannAtham sarvaloka namaskRtam ||

kausalyA ajanayat rAmam sarva lakshaNa samyutam | (bAla. 18.9-11)

 

vAlmIki is talking about perumAL’s avatAram here. Wonderful!

 

tata: ca dvAdaSe mAse – He was in the womb for 12 months.

After 12 months, kausalyai gave birth to bhagavAn as a baby who had divine

characteristics. What is the special count of 12 months? It means, there is a

SAstram there. Isn’t 10 months enough? Was He born after 12 months because He

wanted to take His time?

 

There was a person by name Svetaketu. He learned all the SAstra-s and went to

visit a pA’ncAla king named pravAhaNan.

 

That king posed 5 questions to Svetaketu (chAn. 5.3.2, 5.3.3).

King: You said you have read everything. When this jIvan departs from its

body, do you know what is the place it goes to after that?

Svetaketu: I do not know that.

King: Those who go return back; do you know what is involved in that?

Svetaketu: I do not know that.

King: For those who go, it is said that there are two paths – devayAnam and

pitruyAnam; have you heard about the differences?

Svetaketu: I do not know that.

King: Do you know about those who do not go to the upper worlds?

Svetaketu: I do not know that.

King: When the jIvan goes to the higher worlds and comes back, he is offered

Ahuti (oblation) in five places. Do you know that? vettha yathA pa’ncamyAm

AhutAvApa: purusha vacaso bhavantIti (chAndogyam 5-3-3). Four months back,

this came in nRsamhapriyA magazine.

 

deSikan has written about what happens when a jIvan goes from here and then

comes back; it is called dhUmAdi mArgam. He comes back with puNyam and pApam

both mixed. dhUmAdi mArgam means – the path that has dhUmam (smoke, mist) as

the first part.

 

dhUmam rAtrim ca paksham timira kalushitam dakshiNAvRtti mAsAn

paScAt lokam pitRRNAm gaganamapi mRta: candram abhyeti karmI |

pratyAvRttau candrAt gagana satatagau dhUmam abbhram ca megham

vrIhyAdIn yAti retassicamatha jananIm yAtanA cakravartI ||

 

Very interesting Slokam. It is adhikaraNa SArAvaLi (276).

 

He has written the Slokam for those who go in the arcirAdi mArgam. He has

listed agni, daytime, Sukla paksham, uttarAyaNam etc in the order [as the

description of different steps encountered in arcirAdi mArgam].

 

jvalana divasa jyotsnA paksha uttarAyaNa vatsarAn

pavana tapana prAleyAmSUn kramAt aciradyutim |

jaladharapatim devAdhISam prajApatim Agata:

tarati virajAm dUre vAca : tata : param adbhutam || (gati cintanAdhikAra :

Srimad rahasyatraya sAra : )

 

He has said about going to vaikuNTham via arcirAdi mArgam also. He has written

about the same in tamizh pAsuram also.

 

dhUmAdi mArgam – ‘pratyAvRttau candrAt’ – first, jIvan becomes soman after he

is offered in agni. The second agni is parjanyam – the clouds. He is offered

as the homam there and becomes varsham – rain. The third agni is pRthvI –

earth. He is offered as the homam to pRthivI and he becomes vRIhi – grains. The

fourth agni is purushan/man. From man’s stomach, he goes to the woman’s

stomach; woman is the fifth agni. He is born from the woman. This is how we

are all born. Even though we may not know, this is how we are considered to be

born. He gets passed through five places. dyulokam is one agni; parjanyam is

one agni; he falls out as rain drops and then comes in the grains. From a man’s

stomach, goes to woman’s stomach. That is why it is established that there are

five agnis and he is in five places; is it clear?

 

How many days does the jIvan stay in each place? “ato vai khalu

durnishprapataram’ (chAndog. 5-10-6). It takes time to get out of the vrIhi –

dAnyam or grain. The stays in the rest are short. He will come out faster. He

comes in the rain; goes to the grain. vrIhi refers to rice in our side; wheat

in the north side. Like that. People eat the grains; if one eats kezhvaragu

pudding, for example, the jIvan goes to the man’s stomach. That is where the

difficulty arises. That grain (rice for example) is first grown; the jIvan that

is in that rice kernel has to come to our house with the rice kernel stock. It

should not be spilled over when it is being brought in a cart to our house.

When that kernel is being husked and rice is taken out, it has to go into our

pot. When that rice is being washed (before cooking) in water, it should not

be in the one that is thrown out with the washed water. And then it has to get

into the vessel where rice is cooked. It has to come to his plate when he is

eating. Sometimes, when rice is cooked, the top portion (which seems uncooked)

is thrown out and the next portion will be fed to sambandhis [in-laws];

sometimes the top portion is not thrown out. It has to go to the man’s stomach

and then to the woman’s stomach. That is what you know. It is said that the

jIvan stays in the man’s stomach for 3 months and in the woman’s stomach for 9

months. Thus, he is born only after he stays in stomach/s for 12 months – 3

months in man’s stomach and 9 months in woman’s stomach. These rules are only

for karmi-s like us who do puNyam and pApam. When perumAL makes His avatAram,

they do not apply for Him.

 

rAvaNan has got a boon that death should not come to him from others. For him,

death is from a manushyan – man. If it is a man, he should come from the womb

(of a woman) – 3 months (in man’s stomach) and 9 months {in woman’s womb); only

then he (rAvaNan) can be killed. Otherwise, he cannot be killed. So, He

(perumAL) looked. Why worry about man, woman, etc.? Let Me stay for 12 months

in one place. tata: ca dvAdase mAse – rAvaNan cannot be killed if He is not in

the womb for 12 months as a man. So, he (vAlmIki) says – “ tata: ca dvAdaSe

mAse caitre nAvamike tithau” when he talks about rAman’s avatAram.

 

========

Fn 1: vaivasvata manu requested his priest, vasishThar to perform the

“maitrAvaruNa ishTi” so that he can beget a son. In that ishTi (yAgam), manu’s

wife secretly requested the hotA priest [chief priest, associated with Rg

vedam] to chant the mantram for a baby girl. Contrary to manu’s wish, a baby

girl was born. Then, manu felt very sad and did penance on the banks of the

yamunai river for a hundred years and got 10 sons - ikshvAku etc – so says the

description in bhAgavatam 9th skandam.

 

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To be continued …..

 

 

 

 

 

 

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