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

 

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

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

When aDiyEn was doing kAlakshepam under SrImad ANDavan, there was one taiyAr

paTTappA svAmi, who was doing ArAdhana kai’nkaryam. Whenever he had time, he

would be reciting vedam. He would chant loudly. He was a very soft-spoken

person. He used to say – “When we were young boys, when we were learning

vedam, we would give an excuse that we had to go to the bathroom, just to get

out of the class. Our teacher would ask the student to spit his saliva on the

sand and then go; the boy is expected to come back before the saliva dries up.

If the student did not come back before that, the student would receive a good

beating. Like that, elders teach without a break even for five minutes. That

is why we do not forget vedam even today. Elders taught us taking so much

pain”. Elders won’t let young ones be wasted.

 

viSvAmitrar was like that. There may be about a crore of brAhmins in this

world today. They will always be that many brAhmins! He has given the gAyatrI

mantram to all of them so that they can gain inner strength by meditating on it

during the sandhyA time, without sleeping at that time, with interest and

devotion, not only today, but for ages and eons in the past and the future. If

two kids, that too brahmacAri-s, are going to be sleeping in front of him now

during sandhyA time, is such a great Rshi going to let them get away with it!

That is why he is waking them up. A brAhamaNa, kshatriya, or vaiSya, should

not sleep during sandhyA kAlam. That is viSvAmitrar’s policy. Will he let

this go? He wakes them up, “uttishTha”.

 

kartavyam daivam Ahnikam – “You have to perform the anushThAnam that is divine

order. Get up”. Someone says, “daivattin kaTTaLai ARu - Divine orders are six

in number” (audience laughs) [this is from a film song]. Are they six? We are

pa’nca kAla parAyaNa’s. We are ordained to observe specific anushThAnam-s at

five specific times during the duration of the day. [The film song says] there

is one above those five. The five are – abhigamanam, upAdAnam, ijyA,

svAdhyAyam, and yogam. We can say that the sixth one is that these five should

not be missed any day! So let us say that for us also, the Lord’s commands are

six in number! (laughter in the audience).

 

mahaRshe: paramodAram vaca: SrutvA narottamau | (bAla. 23.3)

 

How did he wake them? parmodAram – the words coming out of his mouth are a

result of his extreme compassion; that is why he is waking up the children.

Elders are not pestering the children when they ask them to do their

anushThAnam; they are waking them up because of their broad-mindedness – with

the welfare of the child in mind, namely, that the child will have a good life

if he observes the anushThAnam.

 

He is feeling sorry because he has made the son of a great cakravartI to lie on

the grass and mud, because he has made paratatvam to lie on the mud; with that

heavy heart he is waking Him up with love.

 

snAtvA kRdodakau vIrau jepatu: paramam japam | (bAla. 23.3)

 

The two kids got up and took bath. Shouldn’t he give the children something in

a cup as soon as they get up? He woke them up, and then just left for doing his

anushThAnam. The kids got up, took their baths and meditated on gAyatrI.

 

Look at how lucky viSvAmitrar has been! He woke up sarveSvaran and made Him

chant the mantram he discovered!

 

gAyatrI is viSvAmitrar’s mantram after all. It is a great mantram. na

gAyatRyA: paro mantra: jepatu: paramam japam – vAlmIki says they chanted the

greatest mantram. Which is the greatest mantram? That which was taught by

viSvAmitrar is the greatest mantram.

 

Will svAmi deSikan wake up tEpperumAL and say: “svAmi, I have composed the

nyAsadaSakam stotram; I have composed the Slokam “SrIman abhIshTa varada tvAm

asmi SaraNam gata: etat dehAvasAne mAm tvat pAdam prApaya svayam” (nyAsa

daSakam - 4); Can You keep repeating this”?

 

viSvAmitrar woke up perumAL and said, “You chant my gAyartrI” and he left for

his anushThAnam.

 

kRtAhnikau mahAvIryau viSvAmitram tapodhanam | (bAla. 23.4)

 

Did they do only japam? No, no; they finished all the anushThAnams.

kRtAhnikau mahAvIryau – says vAlmIki.

 

rAma and lakshmaNa derive new power when they perform their Ahnikam. They do

not just perform sandhyAvandanam during sandhyA kAlam. They are bachelors.

They are required to do samidAdhAnam also. It is said they will have a very

prosperous life if they do that. samidAdhAnam receives special mention in this

regard.. When samidAdhAnam is performed, the mantra uttered is:

 

AyushA ca dhanena ca suprajA: prajayA bhUyAsam, suvIro vIrai: suvarcA varcasA,

suposhah poshai: sugRho gRhai: supati: patyA sumedhA medhayA, subrahmA

brahmacAribhi:

 

“I should live long; should be rich; should be valorous; very beautiful; should

be a great leader; should have a great house; must be very intelligent; I

should lead the life of a great brAhmin”.

 

yathA tvam agne samidhA samidhyase

evam mAm AyushA varcasA …

 

“Hey agni! I am offering you this palASa stick, and you shine so brilliantly.

Bless me so that I also shine brilliantly. I should be very intelligent. I

should be superior” etc. So goes the prayer. Very good prayer.

 

samidAdhAnam is even more special compared to sandhyA vandanam, because in

sandhyAvandanam there are no prayers like “Give me this, Give me that..” etc.

There are only general requests like: “All my sins must vanish. Forgive me for

all my mistakes. I should become purified…”. That is how general the prayer

will be. paSyema Sarada: Satam…. – my eye, ear etc should all be well – this

is what it will ask for.

 

But look at how it is in samidAdhAnam! “I should have a super life; I should

be like this, I should be like that” etc. – so many prayers.

 

There is another great mantram:

 

yo mA agne bhAginam santam athAbhAgam cikIrshati |

abhAgam agne tam kuru mAm agne bhAginam kuru! svAhA! –

 

 

Nowadays, the “quota” rule reigns supreme everywhere. “If someone obstructs

the ‘quota’ that is supposed to come to me, make sure they do not get their

‘quota’. I should get my ‘quota’ correctly. Hey agni! You have to make sure

this happens” – this is a super prayer.

 

brahmacAri-s who do samidAdhAnam will never have any deficiency anywhere where

the ‘quota’ system exists. Even more than sandhyAvandanam, samidAdhAnam will

give more prosperity. rAma and lakshmaNa are performing all these. That is

why “kRtAhnikau mahAvIryau”. New strength comes even when we do prANAyAmam

holding the breath. Wouldn’t we get power if we do anushThAnam like that!

 

In Ahnikam, pitR tarpaNam is also to be observed. When father is alive, should

one do pitR tarpaNam? Yes, definitely. Which is the tarpaNam that must not be

done when father is alive? tarpaNam should not be performed including father’s

and grandfather’s name. Otherwise, the devaRshi pitR tarpaNam should be

performed as a part of taking the bath. After sandhyAvandanam also, devaRshi

kANDa Rshi pitR tarpaNams must be done. All these Rshi-s and pitR-s will

bestow all blessings.

 

Thus, they did sandhyAvandanam, offered prayers to the Sun, did samidAdhAnam,

offered prayers to agni, did tarpaNams etc and got the full blessings of all

the devatA-s, Rshis, pitRs etc., and came and prostrated before viSvAmitrar.

They came and prostrated before him with the fresh inner brilliance that they

had acquired.

 

kRtAhnikau mahAvIryau viSvAmitram tapodhanam |

abhivAdya abhisamhRshTau gamanAya upatasthatu: || (bAla. 23.4)

 

What is the first thing to be done after doing sandhyAvandana anushThAnam? The

first good thing that should be done is – if the sandhyAvandam must give the

full benefit, one should go and prostrate before one’s AcAryan. Most

importantly, one should worship the AcAryan who taught sandhyAvandanam. Who is

the AcAryan for sandhyAvandanam? Father is the AcAryan. Nowadays, only father

teaches gAyatrI. So, one should prostrate before the father. If one does

that, sandhyAvandanam becomes complete. Any karmA will have some deficiency.

It is not that one can complete sandhyAvandam without any blemish. If there is

any blemish in doing a karma, the solution is to go and prostrate to the

AcAryan. That is why, after doing any karma, we do AcArya sambhAvanai. Father

is the AcAryan for sandhyAvandanam. So, one should prostrate before him.

 

Do you know what is special about this? Now, perumAL is prostrating before

viSvAmitrar. Do you see what great fortune viSvAmitrar receives? sarvaSeshi –

the Lord of all, is prostrating before Sesha bhUtan [the person who is

eternally subservient to the Lord]. svAmi is prostrating before dAsan

[servant]. What is the reason? It is because He has just completed performing

sandhyAvandanam.

 

One has to prostrate before father or other elders. “How can I prostrate

before father, svAmi! Already I am doing srAddham for father for the past 40

years”. What to do? If father is not around, one should prostrate before any

elder who is around. It is not even necessary that prostration must be done

only for an elderly person. One can prostrate before any brAhmin. They chant

the same gAyatri, right? If the person is younger, you just don’t do

abhivAdanam after prostrating. But the younger brAhmin should prostrate before

the elder one right away and do abhivAdanam. In other words, each should

prostrate before the other, and the younger one should do abhivAdanam.

 

perumAL prostrates here before viSvAmitrar, because he is ‘the’ AcAryan for

gAyatri! Rarely do the fathers perform gAyatrI japam without talking all

unnecessary stuff in the middle continuously. Even so, they perform upanayanam

for their sons in due course, instruct the gAyatrI mantra to the sons, and get

the proud status of ‘AcAryan’ because they did gAyatrI upadeSam to their sons.

Here, viSvAmitrar is the first AcAryan for gAyatri; and since he is available

to prostrate to, perumAL prostrates before him and does abhivAdanam. abhivAdya

ati samhRshTau - viSvAmitrar was very happy that the two boys did abhivAdanam.

perumAL was happy to prostrate. We are happy if we do not have to do

prostration. We have to keep doing prostration all the time. Does the white

man prostrate before anyone? He is not prostrating, and he seems to be living

a good life. Why is it that we have to prostrate in order to have a prosperous

life?

 

There is something called Atma kshemam - welfare of the soul; it is for that

that we should prostrate. So, they did; rAman and lakshmaNan prostrated before

viSvAmitrar.

 

Have you noticed that on the day of AvaNi aviTTam, even as we are performing

kAmo’kArsheet japam, “appam” [ a sweet, jaggery dumpling] will be cooking on

the stove (laughter in the audience). Why? As soon as the japam is over, the

mother will say – ‘you can prostrate later, you have not eaten anything from

the morning. Come on, dear’. What do we do as soon as japam is over? We eat

“appam” (audience laughs). People think that is the sampradAyam (tradition).

 

The kids have finished japam and are prostrating before viSvAmitrar; what

should he do? Shouldn’t he give appam or something for eating? He said,

“okay, kids, let us go” – “gamaNaya abhitasthatu:” (bAla. 23.4) – he brought

them from the palace and didn’t give them anything; he has already taught them

the balA and atibalA mantra-s.

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To be continued …..

 

 

 

 

 

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