AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. Aug 07 Part 3) - resent; - new format messed up

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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. Aug 07 Part 3)

 

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

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

SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan’s SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam

 

ViSvAmitrar was very sad like that girl’s father.

 

Because, he had done penance for so many years and earned these astrams; and he

went and taught them to this person who does not feel the slightest happiness.

That is why it is said that one should not teach without being sought. Be it

rAmAyaNam or anything else…without being asked, they should not be given. At

least, someone may be persuaded to ask, and then it may be given; but it should

not be given without being asked for. If given without being asked, it will

not earn any respect.

 

“na apRshTa: kasyAcit brUyAt” - [Nothing should be given out without being

asked].

 

ViSvAmitrar felt: “If I call His brother lakshmaNan for teaching him, he says,

‘My elder brother is there; that is enough for me’. See how this has turned

out!”

 

rAman realized that ViSvAmitrar was suffering. prekshitaj~nAstu kosalA: -

rAman knew by facial signs; He said, “MahaRshe! Do not feel sad. You did

something that I do not have any desire for, and now you are lamenting that I

have not said thanks.”

 

astrANAm tu aham icchAmi samhAram munipu’ngava ! (bAla.28.2)

 

said rAman. This is only half of the Slokam. “Oh Great Rshi! Best among

sages! You said earlier: ’aham vedmi mahAtmAnam’.. Don’t you know about Me?

Why have I come to this Earth? You taught Me something that is contradicting

the reason for which I came; and then you complain that I have not thanked you.

Do you realize why I have come?”

 

astrANAm tu aham icchAmi samhAram munipu’ngava - “There should be no astrams

in this world. I have come to destroy all weapons. Understand?”

 

The interpretation normally given is different. What I am giving is vaishNava

vyAkyAnam. astrANAm samhAram – this has been interpreted as astrANAm

upasamhAram – that is, “Withdrawing the astram that has been released”. That

is not the correct interpretation. astrANAm tu aham icchAmi samhAram – There

should not be any weapons or arrows left in this world. I have come here to

call for a huge conference for eliminating all weapons (Ayudha pariharaNa mahA

nADu). How do you say that in English? (AcAryar asks; AcAryar himself

replies) Disarmament Conference. All the existing weapons must be thrown into

the ocean. Everyone should be good, and should correct other people by their

good behavior. There should be no need for the use of weapons to correct

anyone.

 

tuyaril….

tuyaril maliyum maniSar piRaviyil tOnRik kaN kANa vandu

tuyara’ngaL Seidu tan daiva nilai ulagil puga uykkum ammAn

tuyaramil SIrk kaNNan mAyan pugazh tuRRa yAn Or tunbam ilanE

(tiruvAimozhi 3.10.6)

 

“There should be no weapon. I have come to declare – all the weapons, bombs

etc should be thrown into the ocean. And you expect Me to ‘thank’ you for

teaching Me weaponry! That is strange. Great! It is like a person giving

poison to someone, and asking for thanks in return. What you are expecting

is exactly like that.”. This is my opinion. That is why, deSikan said,

“karuNAkAkutstha” – The Compassionate Lord rAma (daSAvatAra stotram 12). There

should be a topic “karuNA kAkutstha”- rAma pirAn who is karuNA mUrti – the

incarnation of Compassion; The whole rAmAyaNam must be described, and this will

be one of the incidents. rAma is saying: “There should be no weapons at all,

and you are teaching Me the art of weaponry.”

 

“Okay, at least teach me the method of annihilation – withdrawing the astram..

If I release the astram, the intended target will surrender, and what if I

struggle not knowing how to withdraw the astram, like abhimanyu? At least

teach me how to negate the astra-s.” So, ViSvAmitrar taught Him that.

 

PerumAL’s nature is like this. rAman is kAruNya mUrti – Compassion that has

taken a human form. ViSvAmitrar kept happily thinking about how noble His

heart is.

 

Then, they went to the ASramam. ViSvAmitrar said – “ayam siddhASrama: - this

is siddhASramam. This is where VAmanAvatAram took place”. All the Rshi-s

came and prostrated before viSvAmitrar. ViSvAmitrar also had some of his own

students there. They all came and prostrated before him and said, “We have

committed apacAram! Please pardon us! Please pardon us!” ViSvAmitrar asked

what happened that needed to be pardoned. “No! Please pardon us. We know; we

heard about it; we learned that you taught astrams to rAman. Pardon us!

Pardon us!” “What do you want me to pardon?” The disciples said: “We are

making the request”.

 

viSvAmitrar asked what they wanted to convey.

 

There was a sanyAsi. He used to do kAlakshepam very well. When he delivers

SrI BhAshyam upanyAsam in the morning, it will be excellent. When he gives

kAlakshepam on rahasya traya sAram in the afternoon, it will again be very

good. If he talked about bhagavad vishayam, he did an extraordinary job.

Fifty or sixty students attended his kAlakshepam. If that sanyAsi started

doing kAlakshepam, even trees would be moved.

 

But he had one bad habit. As soon as the sun set and it was nine o’ clock, he

would take some flowers, fold them into his saffron dress and say, “Students!

I am going out. You all be in the ASramam” and then leave. The students got

together and called for a meeting. When the AcAryan goes away, what other work

do the students have except to call for a meeting and find fault with the

AcAryan svAmi? This happens everywhere. (AcAryar and the whole audience

laugh). What did they do next? They talked. “Our AcAryan does so many

kAlakshepams. They are extraordinary. It is great when he talks about

bhagavad vishayam! Same is the case with rahasya traya sAram. It is equally

true with SrI bhAshyam! But, every day he is going away at nine in the night

with a flower bunch! Where is he going? If only he did not have this habit, we

can call him a good AcAryan! He is a sanyAsi! But he is taking the flower in

his saffron dress! This is atrocious. It is okay if he goes during daytime.

He goes in the nights somewhere! There is something going on! If only this

habit is not there, it will be good! It is all our fate. We cannot leave him

in the middle and go to someone else. When he says kAlakshepam, it is nice.

But, if we look at svAmi’s character, it is not good.”

 

One of the students said, “What is wrong in this - We can see where he goes!

Let us see where he takes the flowers! We should not guess anything based on

what our mind dictates; let us go and see”. Others agreed. They all decided

to go on the caturdaSI before the amAvAsyA day. “It will be dark. Let us go

on that day”.

 

The night came. At nine o’ clock, AcAryan took the flowers and said,

“Disciples! Look after the ASramam; I am leaving”.

 

One of the disciples, who was a naughty guy, followed him wearing a dirty

dhoti, removing the white tirumaN (mark on forehead, so that it will not show

in the dark). He followed him thinking, “He is going slow! Let me see where

he goes!”

 

Where was he going? He went for a long distance. He crossed a lot of gardens.

Beyond them was a forest. He crossed that. There was a temple – a temple for

Lord VishNu. The Lord was present in the temple as Laksmi nArAyaNan. The

AcAryan offered the flowers to perumAL and then prostrated. He then sat for

meditation. After three o’ clock, he completed his meditation and came back to

the ASramam. He took his bath in the morning. Finished giving his kAlakshepam.

The boys held another meeting in the evening. (The naughty boy who had

followed the teacher the previous night said) “What we did was wrong! I

followed him last night. Since he was taking the flowers after sunset, I

thought he was going somewhere! He goes to the temple and decorates perumAL

in the temple and feels happy”.

 

Immediately, others said, “We should not trust this. Our AcAryan is very smart.

He would have known that you were following. So, he would have gone to the

temple. (Loud laughter in the audience). Can you imagine what kind of person

he is? He has so many students, and he goes out at 9 o’clock in the night!

What type of person he is! We will watch another day. Okay, let us watch on

another new moon day.”

 

It was very dark. It was raining too. The student followed the AcAryan. He

saw him go to the same temple and decorate perumAL with flowers. The student

came back and reported, “Tonight, he went back to the same temple! I was not

visible throughout. I was wearing black shirt. I wore the black shirt of the

E.V.R. party. I wore black dhoti around me, like people do when they go to

worship aiyyappan. Pitch black dress. Pitch dark. No one could have known.

AcAryan went only to the temple. What I did was a sin”.

 

The next day, he gathered all the students and prostrated before the AcAryan

and said, “We thought wrong of you because you were taking flowers in the

night! Please pardon us! We found out you go to the temple; so for that, you

should pardon us”.

 

AcAryan said, “Yes, I go alone to present flowers to perumAL”.

 

“Couldn’t you go in the daytime? Why were you going in the night time, leading

us all to develop suspicion about you?”

 

“In the morning, many people of all kinds come. The senses are bad. They see

everything. No one comes to that temple after sunset. Since I can meditate in

peace, I go in the night”.

 

Like that, all the students came and prostrated before ViSvAmitrar. Because,

when ViSvAmitrar did kAlakshepam, it was very nice. But every day, he would

wake up early morning at 3 and he would apply coconut oil to the astrams so

that they won’t rust; At sunset, he would keep on repeating some astra

mantrams, and saying things like “daha daha, paca paca, phaT phaT, dhvamsaya

dhvamsaya, mAraya, mAraya” etc.

 

“We used to think: ‘We came and got stuck with you! Everything else is good.”

We thought: ‘He was a kshatriyan earlier and so he is still remembering the

old habits.’ We couldn’t leave you and go somewhere else also, because you

cursed VasishThar’s sons and your own sons; so we were afraid what you would do

to us. We used to feel that it would be nice if you did not keep replenishing

the power of the astra-s; you kept polishing the old weapons all the time”.

 

Soldiers would be polishing even their batons; they would all rust. All the

guns and other weapons have to be taken through processions, to meetings, etc.

So, they would sit around and keep polishing them all one by one.

 

Like that, ViSvAmitrar used to polish all the weapons and keep them back

inside. Then he would chant the mantrams. It did not look good in the eyes of

the disciples. They told ViSvAmitrar that they used to struggle within

themselves and suffer, thinking: “He is a BrAhmin, but he is chanting these

astra mantrams all the time! He keeps on saying “mAraya, khAdaya, dhAkinI,

hAkinI!” We made a mistake by not going to an actual brAhmin for kAlakshepam.

We committed a mistake by coming to someone who is just a converted brAhmin,

and who was really a kshatriyan earlier”. They continued: “Now, we know.

We committed apacAram (sin); please forgive us”.

 

ViSvAmitrar asked them how they knew anything different now. They replied:

“Now we understand that you were trying to protect the power of the astrams so

that you could submit them all in good condition to bhagavAn. We now realize

that you were doing all

the astra japa-s daily with this purpose. We are very happy. We learned that

you taught all the astrams to rAman. Now, our doubts are cleared.”

 

perumAL said, “ yajjuhoshi .. tatkurushva madarpaNam” (gItai 9.27).

Everything should be submitted to ISvaran. If the japam is stopped, the powers

will all be lost. One should chant daily … Didn’t I tell you in the

kAlakshepam yesterday – japam apekshate? Even if the mantrams have been chanted

before for ten thousand times, even a lakh times… if one day of chanting is

missed, the benefit accrued from the chanting of the mantra-s will be lost the

next instant itself. At least one AvRtti (repetition) must be done every day.

Only then, the mantra will be effective. One should only impart mantra-s that

have their accumulated power; there is no point in imparting mantrams that do

not have accumulated power. The students said to ViSvAmitrar: “You did japam

everyday! We now understand that it was because you wanted to submit them to

PerumAL. You taught rAman! Only now, we understood why you were chanting

every day. Please forgive us; please forgive us.” ViSvAmitrar said, “I was

doing japam only with the intent of submitting them to sarveSvaran. I wanted

to do ISvara arpaNam. That was why I was chanting”, and blessed his students.

 

“I have brought rAma and lakshmaNa here. I am going to start the yAgam. I

should get into dIkshai. They will have to protect the yAgam very carefully.

subAhu and mArIcan will come. rAman and lakshmaNan have to take care of the

yAgam.”

 

Tomorrow, the kAlakshepam will continue with yAga samrakshaNam, dhanur bha’ngam

(breaking of the bow) etc.

 

svasti prajAbhya: paripAlayantAm

nyAyyena mArgeNa mahIm mahISA: |

gobrahmaNebhya : Subhamastu nityam

lokA : samastA : sukhino bhavantu ||

ma’ngaLam kosalendrAya mahanIya guNAbdhaye |

cakravarti tanujAya sArvabhaumAya ma’ngaLam ||

ma’ngaLASAsana parai : madAcArya purogamai : |

sarvaiSca pUrvai : AcAryai : satkRtAyAstu ma’ngaLam ||

 

===========

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

issue of SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA)

 

To be continued …..

 

 

 

 

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