AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. April 07 Part 1)

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SrI:

SrImate ra’ngarAmAnuja mahA deSikAya nama:

SrImate SrInivAsa rAmAnuja mahA deSikAya nama:

SrImate vedAnta rAmAnuja mahA deSikAya nama:

SrI ra’nganAtha divya maNi pAdukAbhyAm nama:

 

AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. April 07 Part 1)

 

English 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

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

bhagavAn’s nAma will be sweet no matter who experiences it. Look at how

toNDariDippoDi AzhvAr enjoys –

 

iccuvai tavira yAn pOi indira lOkam ALum

accuvai peRinum vENDEn ara’ngamA nagaruLAnE! (tirumAlai 2).

 

“All His divine names are sweet; I call the name acyutA, I call the name

‘amarar ERE'!, ‘Ayar kozhundE’! I am not thinking of the meaning conveyed by

the nAma. I am not calling these names because I feel that the meaning is

good! It is the sheer delight of the sound of His nAme - ‘Ayar kozhundE’!

ennum iccuvai - just the “Sound”. Let the meaning be anything. Just the

sound of the tiru nAmam alone creates honey-like taste in the mouth. Are You

asking me to forego this and accept moksham instead? No way! I do not want

moksham ever in its place”. If You tell me that moksham also will be good,

that is only ac-cuvai! - That is invisible. Is that right in front of me? I

have to fly like a crow to go and get it”.

 

perumAL says that He will give moksham to him now. AzhvAr says – ‘peRinum

vENDEn’. “Leaving what I am enjoying now, You are offering something that will

come in the future; I do not know how it will be; So I do not want it”.

 

“The tirunAmam I am saying now – this ‘ic-cuvai’ itself is sweet”. That is the

kind of greatness that nAma samkIrtanam has.

 

kASin vAi karam viRkilum karavAdu mARRili SORiTTu

dESa vArttai paDaikkum vaN kaiyinArgaL vAzh tirukkOTTiyUr

kESavA! purushOttamA! kiLar SOdiyAi! kuRaLA! enRu

pESuvAr aDiyArgaL em tammai viRkavum peRuvArgaLE!

 

(periyAzhvAr tirumozhi 4.4.10)

 

periyAzhvAr is enjoying the essence of bhagavan nAmam. “Whoever calls

tirukkOTTiyUr perumAL as “keSavA! purushottamA! kiLar SOdiyAi! kuRaLA!” etc,

can sell me to anybody in return for cash. I am ready. I will be that

subservient to them.” That is what deSikan says about the disciples of

bhAshyakArar – “kraya vikrayArha daSayA samindhate” (yatirAja saptati 18) [The

disciples of bhAshyakArar are so subservient to each other that they feel they

can be traded by each other for money – as slaves are traded] . Like that,

AzhvAr declares: “If I am sold to someone for ten thousand rupees, I will go

and work for the buyer. This person who uttered those bhagavan nAmams can

enjoy the wealth he received by selling me.” periyAzhvAr says he will become

subservient to the person who utters the sweet bhagavan nAmam – that is the

extent of his taste for the nAma-s. Who are these people that he is referring

to? Those who reside in tirukkOTTiyUr.

 

What is the greatness of tirukkOTTiyUr?

 

kASin vAi karam viRkilum karavAdu mARRili SORiTTu

dESa vArttai paDaikkum vaN kaiyinArgaL vAzh tirukkOTTiyUr.

 

There was a severe famine. For a handful of coins, one would get only a

handful of rice paddy. Even in those of days of famine, if some guest arrives,

people would not step back from entertaining the guests; “mARRili SORITTu dESa

vArttai paDaikkum”; they will host them and feed them –Adityam – they will have

a feast for them. Not only that, they will give mARRillAda SoRu [expecting

nothing whatsoever in return]; there is ‘mARRu uLLa SORu’ also . mARRili SORu

is like the food that mother gives. tirukkOTTiyUr people will give festive

food. What is mARRu uLLa SORu [expecting something in return]? Look at the

notices.

 

‘Half a meal is eight aNA-s [50 paise]! Quarter meal is six aNA-s! Full meal

is one rupee!’. It is unclear what the terms ‘half meal’ and ‘full meal’ mean.

This is not like that. mARRili SORiTTu dESa vArttai paDaikkum vaN kaiyinArgaL

vAzh tirukkOTTiyUr – those who call the name of perumAL who is in tirukkOTTiyUr

where such generous people live; by the tiru nAmam-s - kESavA! purushOttamA!

kiLar cOdiyAi! kuRaLA! enRu pESuvAr aDiyArgaL; em tammai viRkavum peRuvArgaLE!

– AzhvAr declares that those who chant the bhagavan nAma-s can dispose of him

for money. These bhagavan nAma-s are that sweet. Irrespective of who

chooses the name, it will be sweet. viSvAmitrar shows that final conclusive

position - siddhAntam here.

 

adhyardha yojanam gatvA sarayvA dakhsiNE taTe !

rAmeti madhurAm vANIm viSvAmitro’bhyabhAshata ||

 

kamalanayana! vAsudeva! vishNo!

dharaNidhara! acuta! Sa`nkha-cakra-pANe!

bhava SaraNam itIrayanti ye vai

tyaja bhaTa dUratareNa tAn apApAn ! || (vishNu purANam 3.7.33))

 

yaman orders his servants confidentially such that no one else comes to know of

it – Private Order - ‘’Keep an eye for, and don’t go anywhere near, anyone

who has called out to bhagavAn as ‘kamalanayana! vAsudeva! bhava SaraNam’ !

[Offer me Your Protection]; Leave them alone! Run away from them to protect

yourselves”. Continuing on that, our AcArya-s point out – you do not even have

to say that much; You do not have to say “vAsudeva! vishNo! bhava SaraNam”; you

can leave out bhava SaraNam; you can just call out His nAma-s, and yaman will

not come anywhere near where you are”

 

ramA-dayita! ra`nga-bhU-ramaNa! kRshNa! vishNo! hare!

trivikrama! janArdana! triyuga-nAtha! nArAyaNa! |

itIva SubhadAni ya: paThati nAmadheyAni te

na tasya yamavaSyatA naraka pAta bhIti: kuta: || (abhItistava: 7)

 

svAmi deSikan says that just reciting the nAmam itself (even without “bhava

SaraNam”), is sufficient, and yaman will not come anywhere near. What

delectable nAmam! The only one who realized the sweetness of this tirunAmam is

toNDaraDipoDi AzhvAr. He enjoys the tirunAmam.

 

namanum muRkalanum pESa naragil ninRArgaL kETka

naragamE Suvargam Agum nAma’ngaL uDaiya nambi!

avanadu Ur ara`ngam ennAdu ayarttu vIzhndaLiya mAndar

kavalaiyuL paDuginRAr enRu adanukkE kavalginREnE ! (tirumAlai 12)

 

moytta valvinaiyuL ninRu mUnRezhuttu uDaiya pErAl

kattira bandhum anRE parA’ngati kaNDu koNDAn

ittanai aDiyarAnArkku ira`ngum nam ara`nganAya

pittanaip peRRum andO ! piraviyuL piNa`ngumARE (tirumAlai 4)

 

icchAmIna ! vihAracchapa ! mahApotrin ! yadRcchAhare !

rakshA vAmana ! rosha rAma! karuNA kAkutstha! helA halin!

krIDA vallava! kalka vAhana daSA kalkin! iti pratyaham

jalpanta: purushA: punanti bhuvanam puNyaugha paNyApaNA: ||

 

(daSAvatAra stotram 12)||

 

svAmi deSikan says that it is enough if this mere sound is just uttered ; you

do not even have to pronounce it properly. Just babbling is enough. jalpanta:

- it may not come out of the mouth with the correct pronunciation, one may be

unable to utter it correctly. It is enough if one babbles the bhagavan nAmam.

That being the case, “the nAma that vasishThar has chosen out of the one

thousand nAmams is most enjoyable indeed. Even small children can say it

correctly; there are no compound letters; there are not too many letters - just

two letters; no need to worry about pronouncing the variants such as the second

‘kha’ or fourth ‘gha’. If we engage a teacher and teach the Slokam correctly,

and then examine the student in chanting the Slokam, the student still

mis-pronounces all the variants of ‘ka’ [ka, kha, ga, gha] as the same ‘ka’.

One has to instruct repeatedly saying it is the second ‘kha’ or third ‘ga’ etc.

Unlike that, the ‘rAma’ nAma consists of the letters ‘rA’ and ‘ma’, neither

of which has any complication of the ‘ka’ vargam etc. – what an excellent

nAmam! What an excellent nAmam! vasishThar has obviously chosen an excellent

name”. Thinking thus, viSvAmitrar is calling the name very sweetly

 

rAmeti madhurAm vANIm viSvAmitro`bhyabhAshata |

 

viSvAmitrar speaks thus wonderfully. It is all the result of the greatness of

rAma nAmam. His talk reflects the significance that even though the enemy

chose that name, still it is enjoyable. He is indicating that the name

perfectly fits rAman.

 

yAni nAmAni gauNAni vikhyAtAni mahAtmana: |

Rshibhi : parigItAni tAni vakshyAmi bhUtaye ||

 

It is perfect. How astonishing! Someone brought a girl with an extremely

dark complexion for samASrayaNam. When asked what the girl’s name is, the

response was ‘prabhA’! “What a nice name vasishThar has given to perumAL”!

viSvAmitrar fell into the thought about the greatness of the nAma . He had

already walked a long distance – till the sarayU river bank was reached.

“Should I call Him by that name? Or should I call Him by a different name”?

Realizing that none of the other thousand names did justice to His rUpam, he

kept praising vasishThar with extreme happiness as he kept walking – “He has

obviously made the correct choice. He has knowledge that crosses the bounds of

the five senses”. He went till he reached sarayU river bank. He called very

sweetly, ‘rAma!’ rAmar also said, “aDiyEn”. “Let us rest here for the night.

We can wake up in the morning and go. You have come thus far with great

effort! I shall teach you two skills”. There are two mantrams called ‘balai,

atibalai’. He teaches them the two mantra-s - “tau balAtibale asau’.

 

“sUrya nArAyaNan is the devatai for these mantra-s. There is a devatai for each

mantram, right! I will give you this mantram. Do you know what the benefit is

in imparting this mantram? No matter how far you walk, you will not feel the

strain in your body. You will not feel much hunger. There will be no thirst.

Health will be good. The hue of the body will not change. You can look at

some people. “Why has your body darkened?” “I was in the city. I became dark

because of the salty air”. This person was dark even before. Does a person

become dark just by being in city? Aren’t there fair-complexioned people in

the cities? Some people say – because of exposure to sun, the body color

becomes dark. You will not have those problems. Your body hue will not change.

You will not feel any strain. No hunger. You will be healthy. I will teach

you”. rAman said: “Yes”. viSvAmitrar asked both of them to do Acamanam and

come back. They both did. He taught them the mantrams – balai, atibalai.

perumAL was the one who created these mantrams. And yet viSvAmitrar taught the

mantram to them. He showed that mantrams must be received in the form of

formal instruction from AcAryan only. Just to show us all that AcAram, perumAL

received them from AcAryan during His incarnation. They both prostrated before

AcAryan and learned the mantrams. As soon as they got the instruction, they

shone brilliantly.

 

kalaigaLum vEdamum nIdi nUlum kaRpamum SoRporuL tAnum maRRa

nilaigaLum vAnavarkkum piRarkkum nIrmaiyinAl aruL Seydu nINDa

malaigaLum mAmaNiyum alarmEl ma`ngaiyum Sar’ngamum ta’nguginRa

alaikaDal pONRu ivar Ar kol enna aTTabhuyakarattEn enRARE !

 

(periya tirumozhi 2.8.5)

 

AzhvAr has sung all this in kA’ncIpuram. He is that kind of perumAL.

viSvAmitrar gave instruction to that perumAL and felt very happy. “Let us

sleep here. We can leave in the morning”.

 

daSaratha nRpa sUnu sattamAbhyAm

tRNa Sayane anucite sahoshitAbhyAm |

kuSika suta vaco`nulAlitAbhyAm

sukhamiva sA vibabhau vibhAvarI ca || (bAla.22.23)

 

Where are they lying down? tRNa Sayane – on the bare ground covered with

just grass. vAlmIki is crying. daSaratha nRpa sUnu sattamAbhyAm – He is the

son of daSarathan; He was born as a rare child. If a person is one of seven or

eight children, he would be lying on the floor somewhere. Someone may come to

look for him only in the morning. daSaratha nRpa sUnu sattamAbhyAm – these are

daSarathan’s sons. tRNa Sayane anucite –

 

vIRRirundu Ezhulagum tanik kOl Sella vIvil SIr

ARRal mikkALum ammAnai (tiruvAimozhi 4.5.1)

 

[He is seated in parama padam, signifying that He is the Lord of all the seven

worlds; He rules over the seven worlds, being distinct from, and superior to,

everything else..].

 

savyam pAdam prasArya – in paramapadam, He is seated on the couch in the form

of AdiSeshan in the thousand pillared tirumAmaNi maNDapam, worshipped by nitya

sUri-s. He is “po’ngu Odam SUzhnda bhuvaniyum viNNulagum a’ngu Adum SOrAmE

ALginRa emperumAn” (nAcciyAr tirumozhi 11.3) – [emperumAn is the Sovereign

Ruler of this Earth surrounded by the mighty oceans, as well as of SrI

vaikuNTham, and rules all of these to the point of perfection and with

righteousness]. He came to [took incarnation in] daSarathan’s place and slept

on the best golden cot with a beautiful blanket and precious decorations –

sottaracchade (ayodhyA. 16.7), on a comfortably feathered mattress. Where is

that emperumAn lying down now? - tRNa Sayane anucite - On the ground where

grass is growing. vAlmIkI declares: an-ucite - that which is not ucitam or

proper. Is this fair?

==========

 

To be continued …..

 

 

 

 

 

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