AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. June 07 Part 3)

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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. June 07 Part 3)

 

English Translation of the text in tamizh

 

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

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

peNNulAm SaDaiyinAnum piramanum unnaik kANbAn

eNNilA Uzhi Uzhi tavam SeydAr veLgi niRpa

viNNuLAr viyappa vandu Anaiku anRu aruLai Inda

kaNNaRA! unnaiyennO! kaLai kaNAk karudumARE! (tirumAlai - 44)

 

tonDaraDip poDi AzhvAr says – when we are in danger, if we say, “prabho!

SaraNam!”, we get the benefit. The elephant cried, “kaNNA! kaNNA! Save me!”,

when its leg got caught in a crocodile’s mouth. perumAL came in person.

rudran and brahmA did not know this for a long time. Raising their folded

hands over their heads, rudra and brahmA have been chanting tiru ashTAksharam

for ages, hoping that He will reveal Himself to them. In the end, what was it

that revealed itself to them on the day of gajendra moksham? Shame - remorse

came to brahmA, rudrA on that day. “We have been chanting all this time.

perumAL did not come. If we had known that perumAL will come like this, we

could have inserted our legs into this crocodile’s mouth”.

 

peNNulAm SaDaiyinAnum piramanum unnaik kANbAn

eNNilA Uzhi Uzhi tavam SeydAr veLgi niRpa

viNNuLAr viyappa vandu Anaiku anRu aruLai Inda

kaNNaRA! unnaiyennO! kaLai kaNAk karudumARE!

 

(kaNNaRA! – screaming out because of extreme intoxication to kaNNan)

 

Like that, if viSvAmitrar could have come to vasishThar and said, “svAmi!

SaraNam!”, he would have become a brahmaNan easily, right! Instead, he did

penance in a competitive mode. That is his nature.

 

What I wanted to say is: vasishThar’s fame was such that he could convert an

a-brAhmaNan into a brAhmaNan. Such a great person has taught anushThAnam to

perumAL.

 

“That vasishThar has made perumAL into an anushThAna mUrti. If a boy is very

rigorous in following anushThAnam, it will be difficult to find a girl for him.

But, watch me. I will show that I can find a girl who is even more rigorous

in AcAram - janakar’s daughter, and get her married to this boy.

 

“That vasishThar has made this rAman as a famous and well-known person in raghu

vamSam – just a raghurAman. I am going to make Him sItArAman”. It is with

such great schemes in mind that viSvAmitrar comes and wakes up rAman:

 

kausalyA suprajA rAma pUrvA sandhyA pravartate!

uttishTha naraSArdUla kartavyam daivam Ahnikam ||

 

In lakshmI ashTottaram, there is a line “sandhyAm hiraNmayIm lakshmIm” where

sandhyA means lakshmI = pirATTi. “Your ‘own’ lakshmI is ready (for marriage).

Get up. Let us go”. That is how the Slokam sounds.

 

uttishTha – one should not sleep during early morning – sandhyA kAlam. What

should one do if one sleeps like that! That whole afternoon, one should fast.

This is great, svAmi! We are sleeping in both the sandhyA kAlams! What to do?

 

We have got a technique for fasting. We eat without salt and without whole

grains of rice; we take fruits, juice, sweets etc. As long as one does not

have sugar problems, we do not have to worry about this way of fasting. Only

when one has sugar problems, one cannot take fruits, juice, sweets etc. If one

does total fasting also, the sugar will increase (laughter in the audience).

pUrvA sandhyA pravartate – if we keep diverting to other stories, the Slokam

will not advance

 

Okay! We can manage fasting somehow. But one should not sit also. To offset

sleeping a little bit in the early sandhyA time in the morning, one should not

sit during the whole day. If one sleeps during evening sandhyA time, one

should not eat in the night and should not sleep in the night also; one should

be doing something or the other and keep awake. Are these practical? SAstram

is being so strict. viSvAmitrar says, “rAma! You are sleeping, rAma! If the

time passes, You are the One who will suffer! Mind will feel sad. It is my

duty as an elder - so, I am wakingYou up. How can I disturbYour reclining

posture? I do not have the mind, rAma! But, it is my duty to wake you up! It

is the duty of the elders”! It is the elders’ dharmam to make sure children do

the right things. What will children know? If they are left to themselves,

the practice that does not come when they are five, what does not come when

they are young, will never come later! We can look at ourselves and know this.

It is the elders’ duty to guide the kids in the right path.

 

kausalyA suprajA rAma pUrvA sandhyA pravartate !

 

bhAgavatam says – jaDabharatar used to do penance facing the sun, during

sunrise time for one muhUrtam [1.5 hours duration] He would wake up well

before the Sun rises, take a bath, do all the anushThAnams and when the Sun

rises, he would worship the Sun for one muhUrtam. Worshipping the Sun through

chanting of mantra-s is a great ArAdhanam (worship). ArAdhanam for the Sun is

very special. Shall I tell you why it is special? We do ArAdhanam for

bhagavAn’s mUrti-s. We do not even show food or water in the proper way. We

just show perumAL just the small amount of food that is meant for us. Whatever

little cleanliness we observe, that is all the cleanliness that our ArAdhana

mUrti will have. We are not able to do ArAdhanam to perumAL with great

cleanliness. We are not clean. So, our perumAL is also not clean. But the

perumAL who is in the Sun is not like that. He is not going to go away because

we did not offer food. If I am not clean, Sun is not going to be unclean.

perumAL who is in the Sun is a pure mUrti. Of all the mUrti-s, He is one who

does not have the impurity associated with our imperfect ArAdhanam; bhagavAn’s

mUrti in the Sun is pure.

 

The mUrti-s whom we worship ignore our impurity and bestow a lot of blessings

for us. Some have so much wealth that they are not able to deplete the money

in the account by writing checks. Our arcA mUrti-s give plenty to some like

that.

 

There is water shortage. What to do? tiruma’njanam is done with the tap water

flowing with full force. Even though we have so much lack of cleanliness,

pavitrANAm pavitram yo ma’ngaLAnAm ca ma’ngaLam – He ignores our impurity, and

blesses us with abundance, right?

 

The mUrti in the Sun is without any blemish even with our ArAdhanam; bhagavAn

who is in the Sun is not unclean just because we are unclean. He is not hungry

just because we are not giving food. He is a blemishless mUrti. So, it is

very special to pray to bhagavAn in the Sun. If we do not worship Him, it is

impurity for us. If we do not worship every day, we are impure every day.

sandhyA hIna: aSuci: nityam | aSuci: means one who has ASaucam – tITTu –

impurity. SAstram says that before worshipping any other mUrti, one has to

worship the Sun first - one has to get rid of the tITTu first before

worshipping other mUrti-s.

 

In divya deSams, if perumAL has any special function very early in the morning,

the priests will get up earlier than that in the house, perform

sandhyAvandanam, and then come to the temple for temple kai’nkaryam.

 

pUrvA sandhyA pravartate ! uttishTha naraSArdUla! “All the Rshi-s have

arrived for performing sandhyAvandanam. Everybody is doing anushThAnam. They

are doing it with a great feeling of fulfillment! Can You, who blesses all at

this time, be sleeping! Everyone should get Your blessings. rAma! Prabho! Get

up”! naraSAdUla! uttishTha!

 

In what form has perumAL come? Not as narasimham. sandhyA kAlam is very

special for narasimham. But, that is evening sandhyA. pUrvA sandhyA pravartate

! naraSArdUla! SArdUla means tiger. Inner meaning is ‘You who are the most

excellent, best”.

 

When some people get up, they will not understand anything. Even after getting

up, they will be in sleepy mood.

 

But He is bhogi bhoga SayanIya SAyi– ananta padmanAbhan – Is He sleeping

forgetting that He is a human being now! naraSArdUla! He says – “Tiger among

men, get up”.

 

kartavyam daivam Ahnikam – kartavyam – Must be performed. This is not an

anushThAnam that we drop for some day, saying: “We have done anushThAnam all

these days. Can’t we be free for one day”? There is no anushThAnam like that.

After upanayanam (pUNal), one has to do it every day – kartavyam – Has got to

be performed.

 

daivam Ahnikam - One meaning for the word daivam is ‘command, ordainment’; a

command by God is “daivam”.

 

“rAma! This anushThAnam is what You ordained. Shouldn’t You demonstrate

through practice what You Yourself ordained! Can it be that what You say and

what You do turn out to be different”? kartavyam daivam Ahnikam.

 

If there is a break in a gold chain, will it be a functional chain? If there

is a hole in a vessel, can you use it to store sweet pudding in it? Even if

sandhyAvandanam is missed for one day, there will be a hole in the brAhmaNyam

(state of being a BrAhmin). The whole brAhmaNyam will leak away. kartavyam –

there are so many conveniences these days. In those days, a person might

perform early morning sandhyA and leave for some place on foot. He would eat

in some choultry in the afternoon. If he wanted to reach his town before

sunset, but could not and there was no pond or well anywhere in sight for

performing sAyam sandhyA, how could he do sandhyA? SAstram says that that one

can give arghyam with sand under these conditions. It is called anUdakI

[without water] sandhyA. arghyam should normally be offered with water. What

if there is no water? Then it is okay, soil came from water - adbhya:

pRthivI. One can do sandhyA with rajas – dust, soil, and chant the mantrams.

One should not skip performing sandhyAvandanam.

 

kartavyam daivam Ahnikam

 

Most of us feel that anushThAnam (prescribed regular observances), is just

extra work; useless waste of time. “Do we become hungry or digest food only if

we follow anushThAnam? anushThAnam is just an imposed requirement. It is

useful for nothing. It is plain nuisance” - that is what we think. Tell me

the truth – don’t we think like that in our minds?

 

Who said we have to do anushThAnam? Rshi-s, right? Their minds are happy only

when they do penance. But, sometimes, they miss that. They don’t feel good

about that. They feel deficient, and feel that their soul is being wasted.

So, they looked into what will provide power to the soul similar to penance.

They found out that anushThAnam will provide such power to the soul. Then,

they were happy. Those who do anushThAnam get a special tejas – brilliance,

right? We can clearly notice it.

 

kartavyam – “rAma, You should not miss it! You will not want to lose the power

that You can get from anushThAnam”! kartavyam – in rAmAvatAram, perumAL did

not bring His paramAtma Sakti or power when He was born. He came just as a

human being; He came as a kshatriyan born with the glory of raghuvamSam. If He

had assumed a human form while keeping His paramAtma Sakti, then it would be

deception. rAman is an embodiment of truth. He forgot His paramAtma power and

stayed in human mode. This is what elders refer to as “truth in incarnation” -

“avatArattilE meyppADu”. [Refer to svAmi deSikan’s SrI sUkti on avatAra

rahasyam in his SaraNAgati dIpikA – Slokam 17 for an understanding of the

rahasya-s of bhagavAn’s incarnations]. That is why, rAman said, “AtmAnam

mAnusham manye”.

 

If a human being can destroy rAvaNan, so many Rshi-s like viSvAmitrar could

have cursed him and destroyed him. No, it could not be done. rAvaNan had

performed so much penance. He had so much power. In order to vanquish him,

only a person who has several times higher penance power than him could do

that. The power of the Rshi-s was not enough. Their power is deficient

through occasional blemishes. That is the way their stories are. Only a man

who has no blemish will have a higher soul power. Within 39 years after taking

His incarnation as a human being, by following righteous acts, perumAL had to

gather greater power than what is gathered by Rshi-s over several crores of

years. Think how rigorous He had to be. Cakravarti tirumagan vanquishes

rAvaNan in His 39th year. rAma’s story shows that man’s blemishless lifestyle

by following the path of dharma –(svadharmam) has so much power.

 

In bhAgavatam, a Brahmin boy who was not even ten years old had the power to

curse parIkshit cakravarti who had performed three aSvamedha yAga-s, and had

put down even kali purushan all over the earth. The boy cursed him: “Let a

snake bite you within a week”. Will it become true if we curse? That small

kid cursed. It happened. Why? That is the power of his AcAra anushThAnam.

What other penance did that small boy do within his tenth year?

 

That is why viSvAmitrar wakes Him up saying - naraSArdUla kartavyam. Even if

one day’s anushThAnam is missed, He cannot kill rAvaNan - because svadharmam

would have been lost. That is why he calls Him ‘tiger among men’. This Tiger

has to destroy – has to vanquish rAvaNan.

 

kartavyam daivam Ahnikam – when there is divine duty to be done [that of

destroying rAvaNan], could He sleep ? Even if He slept during one sandhyA

time, the divine duty will be unfulfilled. rAvaNan will not die. viSvAmitrar

wakes Him up - uttishTha.

 

If perumAL had taken up the human form without assuming human traits and had

killed rAvaNan, rAvaNan would have told brahmA, “I will not die. A man did not

kill me. A divine being assumed the form of man in disguise and killed me with

the divine power. I will not agree to this” and will get his life back. That

is why perumAL assumed human characteristics and performed a feat that neither

Rshi-s nor other gods could achieve – He killed rAvaNan with the extreme power

of svadharmam that He earned as a man. That is why deSikan says, “dharmo

vigrahavAn”. He alone can remove our natural inclination for adharmam.

dharmo vigrahavAn adharma viratim dhanvI sa tanvIta na: - daSAvatAra stotram -

8.

 

Why? It is because rAman is overflowing with dharmam. If that perumAL sleeps

during sandhyA time, His avatAra goal will become totally spoiled. Worrying

thus, viSvAmitrar says, “kausalyA suprajA rAma pUrvA sandhyA pravartate!

uttishTha naraSArdUla kartavyam daivam Ahnikam” and wakes Him up.

 

He is waking Him up with half a mind. The Slokam has that feeling echoing from

it. Try chanting this Slokam in bhUpAlam (rAgam). It will echo the feeling of

half-heartedness as viSvAmitrar says those words!

 

===========

(End of translation of AcArya rAmAmRtam as it appeared in the June 2007

issue of SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA)

 

To be continued …..

 

 

 

 

 

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