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

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

toNDaraDippoDi AzhvAr declares:

 

ga’ngaiyil punidamAya kAviri naDuvu pATTu

po’ngu nIr parandu pAyum pUmpozhil ara’nagam tannuL

e’ngaL mAl iRaivan ISan kiDandadOr kiDakkai kaNDum

e’nganam maRandu vAzhgEn EzhaiyEn EzhaiyEnE ! (tirumAlai - 23 )

 

‘Ezhai’ implies one who craves for something. AzhvAr very much wants to see

perumAL. Where is perumAL reclining? He is lying in kAvEri – on a huge heap

of sand of kAvEri. How is kAvEri? ga’ngaiyil punidamAya kAvEri – kAvEri is

purer than even the Ganges. bhagavAn declares in the gItA - srotasAm asmi

jAhnavI (gItai 10.31). AzhvAr declares that kAvEri is purer than ga’ngai.

What is the greatness of ga’ngai? Long, long back, just one day its water

fell on perumAL’s tiruvaDi (feet). That was a long time ago! Because it

touched perumAL’s tiruvaDi and then fell, it gets its greatness.

 

But forty perumALs are lying down on the lap of kAvEri. Iru irupadAm SOzham –

in forty divya dESams, arcAvatArap perumAL is reclining. ga’ngaiyil punidamAya

kAviri naDuvu pATTu – in the midst of that kAvEri; saikate sahyajAyA: - on the

sands of kAvEri; po’ngu nIr parandu pAyum pUmpozhil ara’nagam tannuL – when it

is flowing from the west and comes near SrIra’ngam, kAvEri’s width is four

miles. And she flows into SrIra’ngam.

 

e’ngaL mAl iRaivan ISan – our svAmi ! One who has enslaved us, He is lying

down! kiDandadOr kiDakkai kaNDum - Look at the Beauty that they show with the

dIpam starting from His Divine Feet all the way up to His Head!

 

kaNDum e`nganam maRandu vAzhgEn - How can I forget that? EzhaiyEn ! EzhaiyEnE!

All of you have been able to forget it and continue to live. I am not able to

forget. I have too much ‘craving’. I cannot forget. Because of my ‘want’, I

cannot forget. How can I forget? In someone’s house, during tadIyArAdhanam,

halvA and rasagolla were served. One person who ate them kept praising them.

When he was asked, “How come you are praising that all the 24 hours”, he said,

“All of you have been able to forget, but I am not able to forget”. AzhvAr is

saying: “You all see ra’nganAthan and then forget Him. I am not able to

forget”.

 

kiDandadOr kiDakkai kaNDum e’ngaNnam maRandu vAzhgEn? - “ninRadOr niRRalaik

kaNDu maRakkalAm; vIRRirundadai maRakkalAm. kiDantiruttalai e’nganam maRandu

vAzhgEn”. Respected people! It may be possible to forget perumAL in His

standing posture; it may be possible to forget Him in His sitting posture; it

may even be possible to forget Lord Srinivasa of tiruppati; kiDandadOr

kiDakkai kaNDum e’ngaNnam maRandu vAzhgEn EzhaiyEn EzhaiyEnE! His Sayanat

tirukkOlam – His reclining posture – is that beautiful.

 

Why? There are a lot of contortions in our body. He has created us with a

body that is full of contortions throughout. When we sit down or walk, we

decorate our whole body with shirt etc, and hide the parts that are not

good-looking, and present ourselves astonishingly good-looking. We take

photos. Contortion is natural for us. We hide that when we move around. Then

the body looks fine. When we sleep without any awareness, and forgetting

ourselves, roll around from side to side, our imperfections show prominently.

The ninth chapter of manu smRti advises a woman not to look at her husband when

he is sleeping, alone, in seclusion. Ladies must not look at their husbands

when they are fast asleep! Why? Because, if they see, even women will

renounce this world and take sanyAsam (laughter in the audience). Same advice

for men. Imperfection is built naturally in the body. We keep hiding those,

covering up any scar, wearing the suit and everything all the way down if one

has elephantiasis in the leg, covering up the hand if the problem is in the

hand, covering up any mole - thus we hide everything. If the problem is in the

face, we are unable to do anything about that; but imperfections are natural

in us. For bhagavAn, vikAsam – the pleasant form, is natural, and for us,

vikAram – imperfection, is natural.

 

As soon as tiruvaDi (hanuman) looked at rAman -

 

rAma: kamala patrAksha: sarva satva manohara: |

rUpa dAkshiNya sampanna: prasUto janakAtmaje ||

 

He was wonder-struck. “What a charm! What a beauty!” He describes that to

sItai through the above words. It is that kind of beauty that AzhvAr exclaims

about – kiDandadOr kiDakkai kaNDum e’nganam maRandu vAzhgEn.

 

Why is that we fail to notice this beauty of perumAL? It is because His beauty

is covered up by ornaments. Thus, the beauty in fullness is not seen. That is

why AnjanEyar asks Him in the first encounter in kishkindA kANDam – “Why didn’t

you wear any ornaments? Did You do it to show Your beauty in full? Did You

think that otherwise You cannot enchant a monkey like me”? We can keep the

story of AnjanEyar asking that question when we come to that section in the

upanyAsam.

 

Thus, that natural beauty - svata: vikAsam, is radiating in full when rAman is

sleeping. When He was sound asleep, with no shirt etc. covering up His body,

His brilliance was radiating beautifully. viSvAmitrar wonders aloud – “He is

so beautiful! He wasn’t this beautiful when He came and stood in front of me

when daSarathan called for Him. I saw Him while walking, when He walked with

me; and He didn’t look this beautiful; He sat down while performing

sandhyAvandanam on the sarayU river bank, and He wasn’t this beautiful. But

when He is lying down, He is so beautiful! For twelve years, she (kausalyai)

has been blessed with enjoying this beauty of the paramAtmA right from the

first day He was laid in the cradle. What a great blessing! I am looking at

Him just for one day and am wonder-struck at His beauty. What a great bhAgyam

for kausalyai! What a great blessing! - “kausalyA suprajA rAma! pUrvA

sandhyA pravartate! “

 

He has already said that His beauty radiates resplendently in His reclining

posture. Let me share with you His beauty in my place - ArAvamudE! aDiyEn

uDalam nin pAl anbAyE ! Nothing else will stand near it in comparison!

(slight laughter in the audience).

 

ArAvamudE! aDiyEn uDalam nin pAl anbAyE!

nIrAi alai’ndu karaiya urukkuginRa neDumAlE !

SirAr Sen-nel kavari vISum SezhunIr tirukkuDandai !

ErAr kOlam tigazhak kiDandAi kaNDEn emmAnE!

 

kiDandAi kaNDEn emmAnE!

tigazhak kiDandAi kaNDEn emmAnE!

kOlam tigazhak kiDandAi kaNDEn emmAnE!

ErAr kOlam tigazhak kiDandAi kaNDEn emmAnE!

 

AzhvAr is enjoying the Sayanat tirukkOlam of ArAvamudan The Sayanam in

tirukkuDandai is much bigger than in SrIra’ngam. We can see Him from even

outside. It is utthAna Sayanam [from utthishTha, in the process of getting

up]; not ordinary Sayanat tiruk kOlam.

 

maNimaya phaNi talpe mallikA bhu’njakalpe

Samita jagat abhadrAm samSrayan yoga nidrAm |

dahara kuhara vartI devatA cakravartI

daLita durita pANe dRSyate kumbhaghoNe !

 

This describes the beauty of ArAvamudan’s Sayanat tirukkOlam. He is seen with

the exquisite beauty of utthAna Sayanam. This form is pratyaksham – was

revealed to Hema Rshi.

 

utthAna SAyinam udAra kirITa cUDam

utphulla padma nayanam upadhAna bAhum |

AjAnubAhum amalam phaNirAja talpe

SAr’ngeSam acyutam aham praNatosmi nityam ||

 

ErAr kOlam tigazhak kiDandAi.

 

kausalyA suprajA rAma ! He looked. This posture is shining brilliantly. ErAr

kOlam – This superior beauty is radiating in all four directions. He is lying

down, without hiding His body; no top garment, no shirt, no baniyan, nothing,

no hiding; lying down with complete detachment on the banks of cAveri.

 

kaDanda kAl paranda kAvirik kuDandaiyuL kiDandavARu – since He is reclining

with such matchless beauty - kiDandAi kaNDEn emmAnE! “I saw it, svAmi! I was

blessed, svAmi”!

 

nammAzhvAr beautifully describes in the 5th Satakam – “I saw this beauty! I saw

this beauty of His reclining posture! I saw the beauty of His reclining

posture!”

 

viSvAmitrar is worshipping perumAL’s Sayanam. He is lying on AdiSeshan. There

is no lakshmaNan. He has become the seSha bed. perumAL is lying down on top.

kausalyA has been blessed with the joy of this sight for twelve years.

kausalyA suprajA rAma pUrvA sandhyA pravartate - perumAL is superbly beautiful

when He is lying down. That is what vAlmIki is pointing out - viSvAmitrar

thinks of kausalyA who has been worshipping this beautiful sight daily,

exclaiming in his mind: “What a beauty! What a beauty!”.

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To be continued …..

 

 

 

 

 

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