AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. April 07 Part 2)

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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 2)

 

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

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

There are some who are born to lie down on grassy ground. Is perumAL in that

category?? tRNa Sayane anucite sahoshitAbhyAm (bAla.22.23) – both lied down

together. vISvAmitrar looked. He felt very bad.

 

[To make them feel comforted] kuSika suta vaco’nulAlitAbhyAm – viSvAmitrar

keeps saying many words. After all, he is an old man. Old folks in those

days used to keep on telling stories. They would neither forget, nor stop.

When they told stories, they would go non-stop. No matter to how many people

they narrated the story, they would say the same way. Not even a single word

would change. That too, if their own glory was involved, they would narrate in

a superb way. What did they narrate? tiruma`ngai AzhvAr says –

 

paNDu kAmar AnavARum pAvaiyar vAi amudam

uNDavARum vAzhndavARum okka uraittu irumi

taNDu kAlA UnRi UnRit taLLi naDavA mun

vaNDu pADum taN tuzhAyAn vadari vaNa`ngudumE ! (periya tirumozhi 1.3.5)

 

(He says ”Go to badrikASramam before you are afflicted with old age”).

 

What do old folks narrate? paNDu kAmar AnavARum – ”Do you know how I was in

those days? Do not ignore me because I am an old person now! I was like

manmathan in those days. Even manmathan would have accepted defeat by looking

at my handsomeness. How handsome I was! Do you know how strong I was? I used

to jump from SrI ra`ngam rAmar sannidhi into the candra pushkariNi. During

padineTTAm perukku, I used to jump into kAveri river. Yesterday was padineTTAm

perukku (the day AcAryar blessed us with this was upanyAsam was August 3,

1972). You have to see this in Srira`ngam. It will be very exciting. ‘paNDu

kAmar AnavARum pAvaiyar vAi amudam uNDavARum’ – Do you know how much I was

enjoying family life? vAzhndavARum – Do you know about my times? Paddy! I

had built 15 granaries for storing paddy for selling! I had 15 open-roof carts

each drawn by 2 bullocks fitted with bells on their feet [a sign of prestige in

those days], I owned forest lands [where different varieties of lentils etc.

could be grown]”. Even as this was being narrated, there won’t be enough

strength to complete it, and the old man would start coughing. vAzhndavARum

okka uraittu irumi – suddenly the cough would start, and would drain the life

out of him for 15 minutes. Would he stop saying his story at least then? No!

okka uraittu irumi – he would continue to narrate the story with that cough.

There would be so much coughing; shouldn’t he say “nArAyaNa! vAsudeva!” at

least at that time? As soon as the cough stops temporarily, he would start

continuing the story from where he left. taNDu kAlA UnRi UnRit taLLi naDavA

mun– before one starts walking unsteadily; tiruma`ngai AzhvAr says: vaNDu

pADum taN tuzhAyAn vadari vaNa’ngudumE ! Let us go and pray to badri

nArAyaNan, who is wearing the tulasi garland from which the humming bees drink

honey.

 

kuSika suta vaco’nulAlitAbhyAm – viSvAmitrar narrated beautiful, ancient

stories in such a way that they (the boys) would not feel any strain from

walking, or from lying down on the grassy ground. As he was narrating

stories like that, the night passed in a fraction of a second. kshaNamiva sA

vibabhau vibhAvarI (bAla. 22.23). They fell asleep. Some people will sleep

only if some story is told. Some will sleep only if they keep talking.

 

They slept. The princes slept. viSvAmitrar also lied down. The dawn arrived.

It was four o’clock. viSvAmitrar woke up. He looked at the princes. They

were lying on the grass. It was early morning.

 

prabhAtAyAm tu SarvaryAm viSvAmitro mahAmuni: |

abhyabhAshata kAkutstham SayAnam parNa samstare || (bAla. 23.1)

 

kausalyA suprajA rAma ! pUrvA sandhyA pravartate |

uttishTha naraSArdUla ! kartavyam daivam Ahnikam || (bAla. 23.2)

 

viSvAmitrar calls very nicely –

 

kausalyA suprajA rAma ! pUrvA sandhyA pravartate |

uttishTha naraSArdUla ! kartavyam daivam Ahnikam ||

 

vAlmIki composes the Sloka-s. He composes superbly. viSvAmitrar calls out -

kausalyA suprajA rAma! One may ask the question, why it is like that. He

awakens rAman. He did not awaken lakshmaNan. Isn’t he a prince also? He is

also a prince, right? He is also from the same superior family lineage, right?

All the four princes are great, right? He did not awaken lakshmaNan. If one

asks the question why he awoke only rAman - he called ‘rAma’ - it is because

he did not see child lakshmaNan. His presence was not obvious. In

kRshNAvatAram, akrUrar came to fetch Him; when he was going back with kRshNan,

three miles from nanda gokulam, he had a vision while standing on the banks of

the yamunA river and looking at kRshNan; viSvAmitrar had that same vision here.

That is the beauty. What is it? PerumAL gave him a vision of Him lying on

Adisesha bed. There was no lakshmaNan. If viSvAmitrar had seen him, he would

have called him also. Why? Look at how beautifully vAlmIki says: tRNa Sayane

anucite sahoshitAbhyAm - laskhmaNan first lied down with rAman. As soon as

viSvAmitrar dozed off, lakshmaNan became a snake. Otherwise, rAman cannot

sleep. Otherwise, why would viSvAmitrar call in ‘singular’ term? We all have

rough bodies. Notice some taking their bed sheet when they go to a new place

saying they cannot sleep in new places. Look at how they will stuff the bed

sheet in their bag and take it with them, whether there is space for it or not.

He has to have his own bed. Otherwise, he cannot sleep. He will pack it in

the hold-all. Notice how many different kinds of beds have been designed. In

those days, people used to use black rope and red rope to tie things. Such

things don’t exist now. There is something called ‘hold-all’ [garment bag]

now. It will accommodate everything. Very easy - you can put everything in.

Shirts can be on one side - it is so big, just amazing. In one-fourth of the

bag, two or three bags are provided. In one-fourth of that, on the long side,

the sacred thread, perumAL box etc. can be kept (the audience bursts into a

laughter); on the other side, chappal, bed sheet etc. etc., and whatever else

is needed can be kept. He spreads the bed sheet so that he can lie down on his

own bed. Otherwise, he won’t get sleep. svAmi! Can perumAL lie down on the

grassy ground? So, laskhmaNan will be close by. As soon as perumAL starts

closing His eyes, lakshmaNan will change into AdiSeshan. viSvAmitrar sees the

paramAtmA as Seshaparya’nkan (in His serpent bed). viSvAmitrar is calling that

paramAtmA ‘kausalyA suprajA rAma pUrvA sandhyA pravartate’. What a scene!

Imagine that beautiful scene! What a beauty! What a beauty! viSvAmitrar then

remembers kausalyai. kausalyA suprajA rAma! - ‘What a marvelous sight! What

a wonderful sight! I am enjoying this sight for one day. Today I am having

the blessing of this sight as I am waking up. People say that this rAman is

now twelve years old. kausalyai has been awakening this boy who is lying down,

from His sleep every day! She is blessed with this scene every day! What a

great blessed woman! She got it all! She gave birth to a good boy. She is a

blessed woman. She is the one who got a good son” – so saying, he started

praising kausalyai.

 

vAlmIki is saying: “The Rshi who came to eat forgot where his mouth was”. The

Rshi who was planning to wake rAma up, saying “rAma! Get up! We have to go a

long distance to siddhASramam; it has dawned already”, said instead, “kausalyai

is a blessed lady”. Why? ‘The Rshi who came to eat forgot the food’. The one

who came to eat forgot his mouth, the food, everything. Why? Because his mind

went somewhere else. What happened? One person went to tiruvallikkENi.

perumAL had just enjoyed Sarkkaraip (sweet) po’ngal; very tasty Sarkkaraip

po’ngal. They distributed that to everyone. He also got some; he exclaimed,

‘How tasty! How tasty!’ He asked the svAmi standing nearby – ‘Is Sarkkaraip

po’ngal offered to the Lord routinely every day, or is it a special offering

just today?’ He was told that perumAL enjoys it every day. When he heard that,

he did not praise the taste of Sarkkaraip po’ngal; he was on his way to go to

the Court; he forgot that also. Instead, he started saying: ‘Those who live

in tiruvallikkENi are very blessed indeed! (laughter in the audience), very

blessed ones’! Why? Because they are eating this every day (audience laughs).

kausalyA suprajA rAma pUrvA sandhyA pravartate! Recall peiryAzhvAr saying –

‘Uril irukkum mAniDar ettava`ngaL SeydAr kolO (periyazhvAr tirumozhi 4.4.7).

 

ahobhAgyam ahobhAgyam nandagopa vrajaukasAm (SrImad bhAgavatam 10.14.32) –

isn’t Suka brahmam experiencing - ‘I get to see paramAtmA for one day; what

good fortune did the women in nanda gokulam have! What good fortune they had!’

says caturmukha brahmA.

 

vAlmIki has written a Slokam saying rAman does not sleep if lakshmaNan is not

by His side – na ca tena vinA nidrAm labhate purushottama: (bAla. 18.30).

Those who say the meaning for this say a lot of things. They give humorous

meanings also. And they give suitable meanings too.

 

Child rAma cried a lot one night. Thinking He may be hungry, kausalyai fed him

milk. He did not stop crying. He was given medicine with a suspicion that He

might be suffering from stomach pain. He did not stop crying. They tried the

practices used for removing the effects of someone casting an evil eye on the

child (‘dRshTi’), just like what the elderly people do in our homes. People

use salt for dispelling the effects of the ‘evil eye’, and throw the salt in

the well; they did like that. His crying did not stop even after that. They

used red chilly for doing the same and threw it in the stove. It burst with

crackling noise because of so much ‘evil eye’. Thinking that the baby had

sprained its body (called “uram” in tamizh), they cover the baby around with a

blanket and roll back and forth. He cries even more. The whole palace was in

a state of panic. daSarathan came running. The crying did not cease. The

child was born after intense penance after 60,000 years of no child being born.

The crying does not stop. They started worrying that the child was going to

die. “Send news to vasishThar. This baby has been crying like this throughout

the night. It is already midnight. We can’t figure out what the problem is.

Definitely it is time to send for vasishThar. Call vasishThar right away”. At

that time, sumitrai came there and enquired why there was this big scene. They

said that the child did not stop crying. She asked all the people to leave and

said that she will make the child sleep. She asked everyone to come out of the

room. sumitrai is endowed with great knowledge. There is no other lady who is

comparable to sumitrai in knowledge in the whole of rAmAyaNam. During

difficult times, kausalyai would feel comforted only after listening to

sumitrai’s advice. sumitrai asked everyone to get out. She laid lakshmaNan by

the side of rAman. Instantly the crying stopped. Why? It was because, till

then, rAman’s bed was not the ‘right bed’. So, He could not sleep, and He

cried. na ca tena vinA nidrAm labhate puroshottama:! Purusha uttama: - He is

the best among men (uttama purushan); so, He will sleep only if lakshmaNan is

present. lakshmaNan becomes His bed. He gave that vision to viSvAmitrar.

 

BhagavAn decided: “This Rshi has brought us out; let the poor man get

something. He has done so much penance. Let’s bestow a prize (gift) on him”.

When viSvAmitrar was blessed with that vision, he sang,

 

kausalyA suprajA rAma ! pUrvA sandhyA pravartate |

uttishTha naraSArdUla ! kartavyam daivam Ahnikam ||

 

“kausalyai would have had this vision every day. She would have left the baby

in the cradle; then when she went to wake the baby up, and the child woke up,

she would have decided to let the baby sleep again; she would have done this

for twelve years”! viSvAmitrar exclaims – “kausalyA suprajA rAma!”

 

Another interesting meaning is also given. kausalyA suprajA rAma! – a lot of

interpretations have been given for this. We are looking at only a few here.

There is not enough time to share all the different interpretations. One of

them is: viSvAmitrar has been seeing rAmar in different states - He saw Him as

He was walking; When he taught the mantram, he asked Him to prostrate; he saw

Him when He prostrated; He asked them to sit while he taught them - he saw Him

when he taught Him in His right ear. Thus, He has seen Him while walking,

sitting, while He was doing Acamanam, and now while sleeping. kausalyA suprajA

rAma! - His beauty shines best when He is lying down - more than when He is

standing or sitting. kausalyai has enjoyed this beauty for twelve years.

kausalyA suprajA rAma! pUrvA sandhyA pravartate – perumAL is more beautiful

when He is lying down. His beauty shines even more when He is lying down –

more than when He is sitting or standing.

 

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To be continued …..

 

 

 

 

 

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