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

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SrImate ra’ngarAmAnuja MahA deSikAya nama:

SrImate SrInivAsa rAmAnuja MahA deSikAya nama:

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SrI ra’nganAtha divya maNi pAdukAbhyAm nama:

 

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

 

tasya kanyA dvayam rAma rupeNa apratimam bhuvi | (bAla. 35.13)

 

HimavAn had two daughters.

 

tasyAm ga’ngA samabhavat jyeshThA himavatah sutA | (bAla. 35.15)

 

That himavAn’s eldest daughter is this ga’ngai.

 

umA nAma dvitIyA’bhUt kanyA tasyaiva rAghava!

Sailendram varayAmAsuh ga’ngAm tripathagAm nadIm ||

dadau dharmeNa himavAn tanayAm loka pAvanIm |

svacchanda pathagAm ga’ngAm trilokya hitakAmyayA || (bAla. 35.14-16)

 

The devatA-s requested the eldest daughter, ga’ngai, to be a river. She became

a river in devalokam.

 

The second daughter was umA –

 

ugreNa tapasA yuktAm dadau Sailavarah sutAm |

rudrAya aprati rUpAya umAm loka namaskRtAm || (bAla. 35.20)

 

She was named umA. nArAyaNan’s wife is named ramA. Sivan’s wife’s name is

umA; there is a difference only in one letter.

 

She did penance to obtain SivaperumAn as her husband. rudrAya apratirUpAya –

Sivan is very handsome. It is said there is no one as handsome as

parameSvaran. – aprati rUpAya .

 

ARum piRaiyum aravamum aDambum SaDai mEl aNindu uDalam

nIRum pUSi ERUrum iRaiyOn SenRu kuRai irappa (periya tirumozhi 6.7.9)

 

SivaperumAn has an exquisite form. It is like the pure red form of agni. He

has a matted hair in his head with the moon’s crescent. Ga’nges river is

flowing in his hair. He has snakes for ornaments. He is wearing elephant’s

skin. He has a trident. He is carrying a mazhu (battle axe) in his hand. He

is wearing vibhUti (sacred ash). He is riding on a bull.

 

Arum piRaiyum aravamum aDambum SaDai mEl aNindu

 

tryambakam yajAmahe sugandhim pushTi vardhanam – He is the one who wears the

pure, white hued vibhUti made of suddha sattva material. nIRum pUSi ERurum

iRaiyOn. He rides the bull; He is adept in dancing. When he dances,

 

mannu kulavaraiyum mArudamum tArakaiyum

tanninuDanE Suzhalac cuzhanRADum

kol navilum mUvilai vEl kUttan poDIyADi

annavan tan ponnagalam SenRA’ngu aNaindilaLE

panni uraikkumkAl bhAratamAm (periya tirumaDal-42)

 

When he starts dancing in the pradosha kAlam of the evening time with the

uDukkai beating, the whole world will start revolving. The devatA-s of all the

eight directions will dance. tanninuDanE Suzhalac cuzhanRADum kol navilum

mUvilai vEl kUttan poDIyADi – if somebody comes close by, he has a trident in

his hand; it will hit that person, who will fall a mile away.

 

annavan tan ponnagalam SenRA’ngu aNaittilaLE

 

I am saying based on tiruma’ngai AzhvAr’s pAsuram. Don't say an ayya’ngAr like

me is describing like this. This is rAmAyaNam story; this is not kAlakshepam

(AcAryan laughs slightly).

 

umA nAma dvitIyA’bhUt kanyA tasyaiva rAghava! (bAla. 35.15)

[Oh rAghava! The second daughter was well known by the name umA - pArvati]

 

ugreNa tapasA yuktAm dadau Sailavarah sutAm || (bAla. 35.20)

[she was one who observed rigorous penance].

 

What kind of a person was pArvatI? She was extremely beautiful.

 

nAgendra hastAh tvaci karkaSatvAt

ekAnta SaityAt kadalI viSeshAh |

labdhvA’pi loke pariNAhi rUpam

jAtAh tadUrvor upamAna bhAhyAh || (kumAra sambhavam 1.36)

 

 

kALidAsan describes – he says there is nothing to compare for each of her

beautiful features. Nothing can be compared to her hair. How much beauty did

she have? kALidAsan says that she had so much beauty that a man would give

half of his body to her.

 

svAmi deSikan says in yAdavAbhyudayam that if something needs to be compared to

our rukmiNi’s beauty, anything we choose for comparisons with her beauty will

turn out to be only inferior to her beauty – hInopamai.

 

hInopamA dosha padam na vindet (12.29)

[When the available objects of comparison are only inferior, it is not a dosham

to give them as comparison; it only speaks about the superiority of the

original object.]

 

svAmi deSikan says: “I will describe rukmiNi’s beauty by comparing it to

inferior things, if it is not a dosham; otherwise, her beauty cannot be

described”. Is she that beautiful? Yes, she is that beautiful. Is she as

beautiful as pAravati? Yes, of course. How beautiful? She is that beautiful

that a man would carry her on His chest when there are so many men around.

Thus, the descriptions are not any less in vaishNavam also. I am saying it just

to point that out. (AcAryar laughs slightly).

 

ugreNa tapasA yuktAm dadau Sailavarah sutAm|

rudrAya apratirUpAya umAm loka namaskRtAm || (bAla. 35.20)

[umA was doing intense penance to marry Sivan, and HimavAn gave her to him in

marriage.

 

Sivan is not any less beautiful than umA.

 

irumbArnda SUlattan eN tOLan enginrALAl

karumbArnda SOLai SUzh kazhippAlai ammALaik kaNDAL kolO ||

(this is a song of Siva worshippers about Sivan)

 

(What follows is Kaliyan’s song about kaNNapurattammAn)

 

Silaiyila’ngu ponnAzhi tiN paDai taNDu oN Sa’ngam enginRALAl

malaiila’ngu tOL nAngE maRRavanukku eRRE kAN enginRALAl

mulayila’ngu pUmpayalai munbODa anbODirukkinRALAl

kalaiyila’ngu mozhiyALar kaNNapurattammAnaik kaNDAL kolO

 

(periya tirumozhi.8.1.1)

 

karumbArnda SOLai SUzh kazhippAlai ammALaik kaNDAL kolO

 

rudrAya apratirUpAya – I gave the meaning for that –nothing comparable to his

form.

 

“He is parmeSvaran. He is in charge of samhAram (destruction) in all the three

worlds. He is pArvatI’s consort. He is ISvaran for the group of goblins who

attend on him. He is rAjarAjeSvari’s husband. himavAn gave his daughter,

umA, in marriage to that parmaSivan.” ViSvAmitrar concluded – “He gave her in

marriage to such a person”.

 

katham trilokyam Akramya gatA nata nadIpatim? || (bAla.35.11)

 

rAman said: “svAmi! I asked you about how the river ga’ngai flows to the

three worlds. Please tell me that story.” ViSvAmitrar started saying the

story. In the middle, let me tell you the story of the birth of subrahmaNya

svAmi.

 

SivaperumAn married pArvAtI. He was with her for a hundred years in devas’

time. Yet there was no child. I should not say it in a negative way. The

devatA-s told Him that his tejas (virility) was unbearably strong, and that he

should get it under control by giving it away somehow. He said he couldn’t do

that. They approached BhUmi and requested her to accept it. bhUmi received

it against the wishes of pArvati, and incurred her animosity. She let it merge

in ga’ngai. It became a pond among a thicket of kaus plants. This is where

Sivan’s tejas came to rest. SubrahmaNyar was born here under the kRttikA star.

Who was to feed milk to the baby?

 

 

prAdurbhUtam tatah kshIram krittikAnAm anuttamam |

shaNNAm shaDAnano bhUtvA jagrAha stanajam payah || (bAla.37.29)

 

krittikA star was asked to feed milk to the baby. krittikA is comprised of six

stars; subrahmaNya svAmi drank milk from the six stars with six faces. This

murugan, the chief of the army of the deva-s, is called skandan because he was

born out of Sivan’s tejas that had slipped (skanda – slipped). Looking at his

valor, the devatA-s requested him to be their warrior. Since he is the son of

pArvatI, who is bhagavAn’s sister, He is a nephew of nArAyaNan. I told you the

birth of murugan – subrahmaNyan. VAlmIkI says that whoever listens to this

story, they will live for a long time with their children and grandchildren and

finally attain skandan’s lokam – AyushmAn putra pautraiSca skanda sAlokyam

ApnuyAt. (bAla.37.34)

 

pArvatI devi became angry. Since bhUmi acted against her wish, she cursed her

- bahu bhAryA bhavishyasi (bAla.36.25). You shall not be ruled by just one; you

shall be ruled by several. bahu bhAryA bhavishyasi – you will be the wife of

many. Thus bhUmi has not been ruled by just one person alone.

 

mAndhAtA ca bhagIrataSca bhagavAn mAnyah kakutstho raghuh

…….. purUravAh ………..puNyaSca rukmA’ngadah …

 

So many kings have ruled the bhUmi. bahU bhAryA – will be wife to women too;

women also will rule the kingdom – that is why the gender is not said here.

She said – a lot of people. pArvatI cursed the deva-s also: “You obstructed a

son being born to me; you will not get any children.” They said – that is

good.

 

Now, I will tell you ga’ngai’s story. sagara maharAjA was ruling the earth.

He had two wives – keSinI and sumatI. He did not have any children. So, he

went to the himAlayas to do penance. bhRgu came. He blessed him thus: “You

will have sons. One wife will get 60,000 sons; one wife will get one son. You

can choose who gets what. The one who gets 60,000 sons will not have any future

posterity; the one with one son will get a proper future posterity.” The king

asked his wives to choose between the options, and keSinI said that she will

prefer to have one son so that there will be a posterity. The second wife was

sumatI who was suparNa bhaginI tadA – she was garuDan’s sister. She said she

would prefer 60,000 sons; she is not going to look at her grandchildren. If

she gets 60,000 sons, she will get 60,000 daughters-in-law and they will all

cater to her needs as their mother-in-law; she does not have to do any work.

They will do everything. In those days, daughter-in-law was sure to cater to

the mother-in-law’s needs.

 

The king came back to his place. keSinI had a son. asama’njah iti khyAtah

(bAla.38.16) – his name was asama’njan. The second one had 60,000 sons. How

can she give birth to that many? Some squash like object was born to her.

garbha tumbam vyajAyata (bAla.38.17).– She placed that in a vessel containing

ghee. After one year, 60,000 sons were born from that. The father was a king;

he had no problem feeding them. This place [bombay] is feeding sixty lakhs of

people; can’t a king feed 60,000? How many are in Bombay? Sixty lakhs, right?

All those are being fed. Everyone is getting milk, bus service, rail service,

coffee etc; coffee beans are coming for all. He had 60,000 sons.

 

sagara mahArAjan performed a yAgam. During that time, indran came and stole

his aSvamedha horse. He asked his sons to go and find the horse. sagara’s

sons – 60,000 of them – went looking for the horse. They dug the earth and

went to the netherworlds; indran had tied the horse in a Rshi’s ASramam there.

See how naughty he is. That was kapilar’s ASramam. The 60,000 sons asked

kapilar if he stole the horse. He got angry when such a question was asked,

and cursed them to turn into ashes – bhasmI bhava.

 

The king’s folks said they should be given proper samskAram (final rites).

garutmAn said that only if ga’nges water is poured over the ashes and

sa’ncayanam (a sacred rite for the dead after their body is burnt to ashes)

done, their souls will get liberated. They left the matter as is.

 

Then asama’njan became the king. He was known to do stupid things. He would

throw children into the sarayU river. So, the people drove him out of the

kingdom. It is said that he went to the forest and did good penance and lived

a good man. He did those stupid things only to get out to the forest and do

penance. His son was amSumAn.

 

amSuman ruled for 30,000 years. After that, dileepan ruled for 30,000 years.

Nobody could bring ga’ngai to this world. They left the ashes of 60,000 sons

of sagaran without any sa’ncayanam. May be they had guarded the place with

police. We don’t know. dilIpan had a son, bhagIrathan. He wanted to bring the

ga’ngai to this world. He left his kingdom and went to do tapas in himAlayas

seeking brahmA’s blessings to bring ga’ngai to this world. brahmA said, “that

is okay; but, when ga’ngai falls on the earth, who is going to bear her? Only

SivaperumAn can do that. You do penance praying to him”. bhagIrathan did

penance praying to SivaperumAn. That penance is called bhagIratha prayatnam -

referring to the intense penance of bhagIrathan. We are not able to bring the

waters of one river from one district to another district. Water in one state

cannot be brought into another state. They have been trying to bring kRshNA

river water to Madras. It has been difficult and not possible.

 

No one is asking for the whole river. Madras is not asking for a lot, it is

only asking for the overflowing water. The current Chief Minister has agreed.

They are going to try. The current Chief Minister, Ve’nkal Rao has said, “When

our brothers are suffering, why should we keep the water? So, it should be

given”. It is rumored that it is going to be brought. So many days have gone

by, and it has not happened. The same is true for kAvEri river also.

 

They are building a great hEmAvatI dam in karnAtakA state at the cost of nine

hundred crores of rupees. After that, what will be kavEri river in tamizh

nADu? It will be like pAlARu – without water. It will be a namesake river.

(AcAryar laughs slightly with sorrow).

 

bhagIrathan did penance towards SivaperumAn. He agreed. Under brahmA’s

orders, ga’ngA river came to the bhUmi as sought by bhagIrathan. Sivan

received her force in his head. She didn’t want to come. It was as if she was

given a de-promotion from devalokam. So, she came with a great force. She

felt: “Will Sivan be able to hold me? Let me push him down.” Sivan saw her ego

and rolled her around in his knotted hair; the waters kept circling in his hair

and could not come out.

 

How much water came! Everything went into his hair. How big a matted hair!

What is the matter! This is described in Bhoja campU in five Sloka-s. The

water never came out. bhagIrathan did penance again towards Sivan. Sivan let

the water out. Ga’ngai came out as seven streams.

 

hlAdinI pAvanI caiva naLinI ca tathA’parA | (bAla. 43.13)

 

su-cakshuScaiva sItA ca sindhuScaiva mahAnadI | (bAla. 43.14)

 

tathaiva alakanandA ca viSrutA lokapAvanI |

 

tatra devarshi gandharvAh vasudhAtala vAsinah |

bhavA’nga patitam toyam pavitram iti paspRSuh || (bAla.43.28)

 

Three rivers flowed towards the east. Three went towards the west. In the

middle was alakanandA. It followed bhaghIrathan. It got down at RshikeSam and

came to haridvAr.

 

I went to haridvAr. I went to take a bath in ga’ngai. A person said that it

wass not ga’ngai. Why? It should be said, ‘bhagIratha mArgAnuvartinyAm

ga’ngAyAm’. He said the place I had gone to was only a canal. He took me to

a place close by. One should say there: ‘mAyA nAma kshetre gandhamAdanac

chAyAyAm himAlaye bhagIratha mArgAnuvartinI ga’ngA snAnam karishye’.

 

bhagIrathan went fast. Ga’ngA ran following him. it was amazing.

 

tatra devaRshi gandharvAh vasudhAtala vAsinah |

bhavA’nga patitam toyam pavitram iti paspRSuh || (bAla. 43.28)

 

devas, Rshis, gandarvas, brahmaNas, etc took a bath in the water that came out

of Sivan’s head - bhavA’nga patitam toyam pavitram iti paspRSuh.

 

VAlmIki says: “They all took bath in that water because it had contact with

SivaperumAn’s body, and so it was pure”. In that case, this Slokam will not be

compatible with aiyya’ngAr belief. Aiyya’ngArs will say that because it

touched SivaperumAn’s body, it became impure. This Slokam should not apply to

aiyya’ngArs!

 

That is how Saivas interpret. – bhavA’nga patitam toyam pavitram iti paspRSuh –

“SivaperumAn is a devatA - one of the trimUrti-s; He is the god of destruction.

He has no unfulfilled desires. The ga’ngA became pure because it fell on his

body. So, they all took their baths so saying.” This is how the Saivas

interpret.

 

VaishNava-s do not have just one side, right! (it is AcAryan’s sense of humor

that they do not agree on anything!) Some vaishNavas say – ‘bhavA’nga

patitam toyam pavitram iti paspRSuh - they touched that water, but nobody took

bath because it touched Sivan’s body (interpretation based on paspRSuh – spRS –

to touch). govinda rAjar does the vyAkhyAnam as “touched, but did not take

bath” - na tu sasnuh – he said, they only touched it, but did not take a bath.

 

Another side of aiyya’ngAr interpretation –

bhavA’nga patitam toyam pavitram iti paspRSuh

pAdodakena sa Sivah svaSirodhRtena ||

 

“SivaperumAn received it in his head. His sins vanished; so, wouldn’t our sins

vanish also!” - so saying, they took their baths - bhavA’ngasyA’pi pavitratvAt

asmat SarIrE pavitram kim na bhavet iti kRtvA sarve’pi sasnuh – this

interpretation is given.

 

That was smArthas’ interpretation; this is aiyyangArs’ interpretation. There

is an interpretation that is common as well. Let me give you a meaning that is

impartial to all. Water fell from the sky. It fell on SivaperumAn’s head and

then fell down. Everyone took a bath. Why?

 

It is said that the water that falls from the sky on anyone does not have

purity if it does not touch the bhUmi first [the water becomes pure if it has

bhU sparSam – when it has contact with bhU or pRthivI].

 

gangaiyalladu iranDA nAL vaitta nIrum

kAl kazhuvi migu nIrum kala’ngal nIrum

tengin uLadAi tIyAl kAinda nIrum

Siru kuzhi nIr vazhit taNNIr pandal nIrum

Sa’ngai uDaiy nIr vaNNAn tuRaiyin nIrum

tAraiyinAl eccil iduvenRa nIrum

Sa’ngu kalamAk koNDu parugu nIrum

taraiyil vizhA mazhai nIrum tavirum nIrE !

(AhAra niyamam – svAmi deSikan)

 

It becomes pure only when it touches the bhUmi. The water that falls from the

sky must not be used before it touches the ground. Water that falls directly

from the sky is not usable. It should fall at least on the roof and then fall

down. If it does not have bhU sparSam – bhUmidevi’s touch, it is not pure.

 

If it is said: “Ga’ngai is falling beautifully direct from the sky; can’t we

take a bath?” If it is argued that it does not have bhU sparSam, the answer is

that it has had bhU sparSam even as it fell on Sivan. This is the case because

Sivan’s body comprises of eight aspects; He is called ashTa mUrti.

 

yA srashTuh sRshTir AdyA pivati vidhihutam

yA havih yA ca hotrI

ye dve kAlam vidhattah Sruti vishaya guNA

yA sthitA vyApya viSvam

yAm Ahus sarva bIja prakRtiriti yayA

prANinah prANavantah

pratyakshAbhih prasanna tanubhih avatu nah

tAbhih ashTAbhih ISah (SAkuntalam)

 

There are eight different entities in Sivan’s body – pRthivI (earth), appu

(water), tejas, vAyu (air), sky, the Sun, the moon, and the yAga kartA; that is

why He is called ashTa mUrti.

 

SivaperumAn’s body has earth as one aspect! Thus, the ga’ngA water that fell

from the sky had bhU sparSam rightaway. ga’ngA water became pure. If people

take bath in ga’ngA based on this, it is not contrary to Saivam or vaishNavam.

It is an impartial interpretation. Right? In other words, paspRSuh means they

bathed. It is true that there is a verb, spRS – to touch. But, in this

context, it means they all bathed.

 

rAma, lakshmaNa, viSvAmitrar and all the mahaRshi-s took their baths in ga’ngai

that afternoon.

 

tatah snAtvA yathA nyAyam santarpya pitRdevatAh |

hutvA caivAgnihotrANi prAsya ca amrutavat havih ||

viviSuh jAhnavI tIre SubhAh mudita mAnasAh || (bAla. 35-8)

 

Then, they kept moving and reached the town of visAlA.

===========

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

issue of SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA)

 

To be continued …..

 

 

 

 

 

 

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