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

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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. Oct 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

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

SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan’s SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam

 

ViSvAmitrar is telling rAman a story.

 

brahmayonih mahAn AsIt kuSo nAma mahAtapA: | (bAla. 32.1)

 

“There was a great tapasvI (one who has done a lot of penance) named kuSar who

was born in a brAhmaNa family. He married the daughter of the king of vidarbhA

country. His wife was vaidarbhI. They had four children.

 

kuSAmbam kuSA-nAbham ca adhUrta-rajasam vasum (bAla. 32.2)

 

One was named kuSanAbhar; one was named kuSAmbar; one was named adhUrta rajas;

one was named vasu. These four founded four cities here. You can see how they

create cities nowadays - KarODiA nagar, etc., etc. They give all kinds of

names. Like that, kuSanAbhar created the city of mahodayam; kuSAmbar created

kauSAmbi; adhUrta rajas founded dharmAraNyam and vasu founded this place by

name girivrajam.

 

eshA vasumatI nAma vasoh tasya mahAtmanah (bAla. 32.7) |

 

There were mountains on all four sides. There was a river flowing through.

This place belongs to the fourth son, vasu. The mAgadhI river is flowing

around five mountains in this place. This is vasu’s place. I am telling You

all this because You asked me. I had told You that out of the four sons, there

was one kuSanAbhar. He was a very famous person. He married ghRtAcI, an

apsaras, who belonged to devalokam. kuSanAbhar was a Brahmin; very enchanting;

ayyiru [a colloquial term for Brahmins!] Look at this! An apsaras woman

married a human being, that too a Brahmin. Brahmins try to catch folks from a

different caste. ghRtAcI married kuSanAbhar. You may wonder that maybe she

was a low-class apsaras. No, ghRtavat a’ncati iti ghRtAcI – any man who looked

at her would melt like butter [because of her beauty]. She was one who would

make men melt like butter. She was that beautiful. When he married her and

led the life in gRhasta ASramam [family life], he had hundred girls. How do

You think these girls – born to an apsaras - looked? They were all like

apsaras women also. The hundred girls used to play in the garden. When they

were playing like that, vAyu bhagavAn [the wind god] passed by. He was stunned

by their beauty. He thought – ‘Oh, they are so beautiful; it would be nice to

marry them’. He came to them and asked, “Will you marry me? I am vAyu

bhagavAn”. They told him that they have to ask their father.

 

“Do you know who I am?” said vAyu baghavAn. “If you marry me, you will beget

devas as children. It will be wonderful”.

 

They said:

 

mA bhUt sa kAlo durmedhah pitaram satyavAdinam |

na avamansva dharmeNa svayam varam upAsmahe || (bAla. 32.19)

 

“Oh, vAyu bhagavAn! antaS carasi bhUtAnAm (bAla. 32.17) – you go through

everyone’s heart as breath; don’t you know our heart? You are asking us! Let

not the time when girls get married without asking their parents come now

itself. That mistake should not happen now.”

 

mA bhUt sa kAlo durmedhah pitaram satyavAdinam |

na avamanya svadharmeNa svayam varam upAsmahe ||

 

They said that in tretA yugam, there need not be a marriage done without the

father knowing, and with the girl choosing her own husband. Even the people of

tretA yugam are accepting that it is okay for kali yugam! (SrImad ANDavan is

smiling mildly).

 

vAyu bhagavAn got angry. He caused paralysis in all of them. They could not

bend their hands or legs and could not walk. All the hundred girls fell down

where they stood. It was ten o’ clock in the night. The children who went to

the garden to play did not return. Finally, these girls came crawling because

they could not walk. The king asked what happened. They told him what

transpired. Immediately, he said, ‘It is good that you did not get angry; you

followed the dharmam of women; goodness will come your way”.

 

He was a king; so he appointed hundred servants - one servant to attend to each

girl, and they all grew up.

 

He wanted to give them all away in marriage. But, they were all crippled.

Each one had either disfigured hand or leg; who will marry them?

 

There was a mahaRshi named ‘cUli’. He had married an apsaras woman named

‘somadA’ – he was not an ordinary person! He had prayed to brahmA and had a

son named brahmadattan - only son. The king went and asked him if he could

give his hundred daughters to his son.

 

He asked if the girls looked good. King said, “They all look good, but they

are all lame. vAyu bhagavAn disfigured them”.

 

cUli said he will ask his son, who said, “I will marry if you arrange so”.

 

His mother said, “Hundred girls! Go ahead and marry. Hundred girls for one

son! I will have a hundred daughters-in-law. They will come and prostrate

before me during navarAtri; if I take them all to witness navarAtri golu in

some house, we will get a hundred coconuts (AcAryar laughs slightly). If

someone gives blouse piece, we can get a hundred blouse pieces. If I braid

hair for hundred of them, they will all prostrate before me. A hundred

daughters-in-law; Yes, by all means!”

 

Marriage arrangements were made. cUli took the apsaras somadA and his son

brahmadattar to the wedding.

 

Wedding started. PANigrahaNam has to be done! When the priest was saying the

mantram, before the son could hold their hands and tie the tirumA’ngalyams,

they all transformed into apsaras women. No more disease. The ailment caused

by vAyu vanished. How is that possible? The wedding mantram has so much

power.

 

Somebody went to see a prospective girl. What can he see? He can see if the

girl looks good, that is all. Can he know if she has AsthmA? What if she has

any disease? There is a mantram (chanting). The father sits on a bag of

grains; girl sits on father’s lap. A nugattaDi (yoke that rests on the neck of

the bullock while ploughing the field) is placed on the girl’s head. The

tirumA’ngalyam is placed in the hole where the bullock is tied to the yoke.

When water is poured on the tirumA’ngalyam while the following mantra is

chanted, whatever disease the girl has will be all gone – she will be cured.

 

“hiraNya varNAh Sucayah pAvakAh …, khe’nasah kherathah khe yugasya SacIpate!

kapAlAm indra trih pUrtvI akarat sUryavarcasam”

 

There was a girl named kapAlA. She had leprosy. She was not married. Who will

marry her? She went and asked devendran. He agreed to marry her. May be he

did not get any girls to marry! He married her saying the above mantram. Her

hair was parted in the middle. He chanted, “kapAlAm indra trih pUrtvI akarat

sUryavarcasam” and poured water on her head. The hair should not be parted in

a crooked way [on the wedding day]. The water was poured over the parting in

the middle. The disease was cured.

 

Like that, those hundred girls got cured on that wedding day. The king gave

away his hundred girls in marriage.

 

In our side in kAncipuram (since this upanyAsam is being done in Bombay,

AcAryan is saying like this), a marriage was performed. A new priest was

conducting the marriage. Do you know what he did! He kept the yoke on the

boy’s head (audience laughs). “What mAmA! Isn’t that right?” (AcAryan is

asking a svAmi in the audience).

 

He chanted this mantram. He was officiating as a priest for marriage for the

first time only on that day. He completed everything. When everybody asked

him why he did like that, he said, “If the boy had any disease, that should be

cured also, right?” They all left realizing that he was starting something

new. If someone is new, this is how it will be. If the priest is someone who

conducts marriages regularly, things will go on okay.

 

Brahmadattar married all the hundred girls. Mother-in-law somadA took them all

with her. She took the 100 girls with her. Did she look after them well?

VAlmIki says:

spRshTvA spRshTvA ca tAh kanyAh kuSanAbham praSasya ca (bAla. 33.26)

 

It is of great concern to vAlmIki! The mother-in-law kept touching and hugging

her daughters-in-law and kept feeling happy. VAlmIki says – “She took with her

the hundred girls. She kept praising her sambandhi (girls’ parents) – oh, how

great these girls are”. In-laws are supposed to be praised.

 

“Oh! How great are these girls! He got such a daughter! He must have done

very good deeds in his life” - that is how the in-laws must be extolled.

 

PeriyAzhvAr also conforms to this.

 

immagaLaip peRRa tAyAr init tariyAr ennum kolO! (periyAzhvAr.3.8.5)

 

‘I gave this daughter to nandagOpan’s son kRshNan, will they look after her

well?’

 

In the ten songs starting with, ‘nalladOr tAmaraip poigai’, periyAzhvAr says:

 

kumari maNam Seydu koNDu kOlam Seydu illattirutti

 

tamarum piRarum aRiya dAmOdararkku enRu SARRi

 

tam mAman nandagOpAlan tazhI ikkoNDu en magaL tannai

immagaLaip peRRa tAyAr init tariyAr ennum kolO !’

 

“Will the mother-in-law praise my daughter – how is this girl’s mother able to

live separated from this girl? She is so good; she does all the house work

well.” marumagaLaik kaNDugandu maNATTup puRam Seyyum kolO! (periyAzhvAr.3.8.4)

 

It is periyAzhvAr’s pASuram. I am not making up a story.

 

“I think yasOdai will look after my daughter very well.” Why is there this

concern? - Because the mother wants her daughter to live happily in her

in-law’s house.

 

If she tortures this daughter-in-law, it will be bhagavad sa’nkalpam that

someone will be waiting to torture her own daughter.

 

How did that apsaras somadA take care of her daughters-in-law? The words in

this Slokam are very special - spRshTvA spRshTvA ca tAh kanyAh kuSanAbham

praSasya ca |

 

That apsaras lady kept touching and hugging the hundred daughters-in-law and

praising their parents.

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To be continued …..

 

 

 

 

 

 

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