AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha PAdukA dt. Nov 07 Part 2)

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SrImate ra’ngarAmAnuja MahA deSikAya namaH

SrImate SrInivAsa rAmAnuja MahA deSikAya namaH

SrImate VedAnta rAmAnuja MahA deSikAya namaH

SrI ra’nganAtha divya maNi PAdukAbhyAm namaH

 

AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha PAdukA dt. Nov 07 Part 2)

 

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)

 

(Please set your encoding to Unicode UTF-8).

 

SrImad ANDavan tiruvaDi,

kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

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SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan’s SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam

 

Thus, the asura-s lost the amRtam. They lost their kingdom as well. Their

mother was diti. She did penance to beget a son to kill indran. She asked her

husband.

 

pUrNe varsha sahasre tu Sucir yadi bhavishyasi |

putram trailokya bhartAram mattaH tvam janayishyasi || (bAla. 46.6)

 

diti asked her husband. He said: “If you observe penance for a thousand

years with great strictness, you will beget a son who will kill indranâ€. She

agreed because she wanted a son who could kill indran! She wanted to observe

strict purity for a thousand years. She was pregnant. 990 years were over.

Ten more years to go.

 

kaSyapar had diti as one wife and aditi as another wife. aditi’s sons were

the devas. ditis’s sons were asuras. Both were cousin brothers of each

other. Devas and asuras had cousin fights even in those days; you don’t have

to ask about current day. They were like that.

 

Ten more years to go. diti was still doing penance. indran came and said,

“Oh mother [elder stepmother]! I will do kai’nkaryam to youâ€. diti

agreed. indran did kai’nkaryam to her. He would do work like bringing

flowers, tulasi for ArAdhanam, cooking, etc., all the time looking for

disturbing her penance. One day around 12 noon, she felt sleepy. She lied

down when she felt sleepy. pAdau kRtvA’tha SIrshataH |

 

ityuktvA ca ditis tatra prApte madhyam divAkare |

nidrayA’pahRtA devI pAdau kRtvA’tha SIrshataH ||

dRshTvA tAm aSucim SakraH pAdayoH kRta mUrdhajAm |

Sira sthAne kRtau pAdau jahAsa ca mumoda ca || (bAla.46 - 16,17)

 

[One day, during noon, she fell asleep, and her hair touched her feet].

 

One vyAkyAnam is that as she was leaning down while sleepy, her hair touched

her feet. Some will have long hair, right! SiraH kRtvA’tha SIrshataH –

there are two or three meanings. Only if one is sitting and sleeping, the hair

will touch the leg. Her hair touched her leg. indran was happy that she was

unclean now.

 

another vyAkhyAnam – in a bed or a mat, the head is supposed to be placed in

one side and the leg in the other. In our mats, there will be lots of knots

tied in one end – this is the side where the leg should be. One should make

sure that the head is placed at the correct side. SAstram says that it is

impure if the head is placed in the side where leg is supposed to be.

 

The a’nga vastram (dhoti worn on the top portion of the body) must not be

worn in the bottom part; the dhoti used for the lower part must not be worn in

the top part. If worn the other way, it is considered impure.

 

If the lower part dhoti is worn on the top, the sacred thread becomes impure,

because the cloth has come in contact with the body parts in the bottom. It

becomes impure if the top garment is worn in the bottom also; top must remain

in the top; bottom must remain in the bottom.

 

What should one do when taking a bath? There should be a separate garment for

bathing in, called snAna SATI. That should not be used as a towel for drying

the body. There are SAstrams like that.

 

Nowadays, people keep one dhoti for everything. The way the dhotis cost now,

how many can you buy?

 

[The second interpretation is that] diti kept her leg where the head is

supposed to go and kept her head where her leg was supposed to go. That was

the impurity. Saying so, indran went into her body in a sUkshma rUpam

(invisible form). He went into her womb and cut up the child with his weapon.

The baby started crying.

 

mA rudo mA rudah ceti garbham Sakro’bhyabhAshata |

bibheda ca mahAtejA rudantam api vAsavaH || (bAla.46.20)

 

indran kept saying, “Do not cry! Do not cry!â€, and kept cutting the child.

diti shouted, “Who is cutting the baby?â€

 

“I am indran! You were impure! So, I am cutting up the baby. Will I keep

quiet if you are doing vratam to kill me?â€

 

diti said: “Okay! You take the baby into your [deva’s] side! Baby has

become seven parts now. Let them be the gods of the seven types of storm winds

(marut-s).â€

 

ViSvAmitrar tells rAman – “That is why the seven children are called

marut-s. This town is the place where indran served diti. It is called viSAla

deSam – the viSAla country. This kingdom is a branch of sUrya vamSam. Let

us visit the king in this branch, stay here, and then proceed on our journey

tomorrow.â€

 

He took rAma and lakshmaNa to that palace. All the mahaRshi-s went also. The

king gave arghyam, pAdyam etc. (welcoming them as traditionally prescribed) to

ViSvAmitrar, and welcomed rAma and lakshmaNa as well. Then the king asked,

“mahaRshi! Who are these boys?â€

 

imau kumArau bhadram te! deva tulya parAkramau !

gaja simha gatI vIrau SArdUla vRshabhopamau || (bAla. 48.2)

 

padma patra viSAlAkshau khaDga tUNI dhanurdharau |

aSvinAviva rUpeNa samupasthita yauvanau || (bAla. 48.3)

 

yadRcchayaiva gAm prAptau deva lokAt ivAmarau |

katham padbhyAm iha prAptau kimartham kasya vA mune || (bAla. 48.4)

 

bhUshayantau imam deSam candra sUryavivAmbaram |

parasparasya sadRSau pramANa i’ngita ceshTitaiH || (bAla..48.5)

 

ViSvAmitrar gave a beautiful description. The great king looked ! imau

kumArau! Who are these boys! Bhadram te! When one looks at their beauty, it

appears there will be dRshTi dosham [effect caused by jealousy by the person

who looks at them]! This is a ma’ngaLASAsanam - praise. Bhadram te! There

is ma’ngaLASAsanam in the whole of rAmAyaNam in several places. devatulya

parAkramau – it looks like they have valor comparable to that of devas!

Their gait is so intriguing!

 

gaja simha gatI vIrau SArdUla vRshabhopamau ! They walk with the gait of the

elephant; they walk with the valorous walk of a lion; they have the majestic

walk of a bull; they walk like the ferocious tiger. There are four types of

gaits associated with men – elephant-gait, lion-gait, bull-gait and

tiger-gait. rAman walked in all the four gaits. He walked like a lion,

effectively subduing the on-lookers. His gait was so beautiful. VAlmIki

describes this when He was in the citrakUTa mountain.

 

rAman and sItai were taking a walk in citra kUTa mountain area. An elephant

came in front of them. When that elephant saw rAman, it hid its head behind a

banyan tree and stood hiding. sItai looked at that and started laughing

loudly.

 

After a while, they saw mandAkinI river. A swan in that river looked intensely

at sItai and then hid its head behind a lotus leaf. rAman started laughing

aloud. Both of them were laughing.

 

They wandered around that mountain and came and sat on a rock.

 

asmin mayA sArdham udAraSIlA

SilAtale pUrvam upopavishThA | (AraNya, 63.12)

 

Both of them sat down. And they laughed. rAman asked why She laughed. sItai

asked why He laughed.

 

sItai – “The elephant came. It looked at Your gait and felt ashamed that

people compare its gait to Your beautiful gait, and stuck its head into a

banyan tree, feeling that it won’t be able to retain that fame any more. I

saw that and laughed.â€

 

rAman – “The swan looked at your gait.†Normally, women folk are said to

have the gait of a swan.

 

peDaiyODu annam peivaLaiyAr tam pin SenRu

naDaiyODiyali nANi oLikkum naRaiyUrE (periya tirumozhi 7.5.5)

 

anna vaDivAL aSaiyum anna naDaiyAL

uyarum anna araSERi varuvAL

attan ayan at tanayan utti tanai

attu idena utti puriyAL

nannaDai viDA naDam idenna naDavA

naDuvuL naNNu kuvaDu ERi izhivAL

naRpadigaL aRpadigaL kaRpuraLa

aRputa maruL gatiyinAl

kal naDai viDA iDamil unnati

SiRA vigaDa mannu giri kUDam iDiyak

kaTTu avviDai iRRu vIzha muRRum

vizhi uRRaDaiya viTTu aruguRa

annanaya SIr ayan idu en ena

vizhA vamarar mannu padi ERi maghiza

accutan aNaittanuvil attiSai

varattagaiya aRRu aNugiNAL

(svAmi deSikan – hastigiri mAhAtmyam-12)

 

vegavatI river is coming flowing. When vegavatI comes, the meter should show

the speed. That is our deSikan’s SrI sUkti. Meter shows that. That is the

style.

 

anna araSERi varuvAL anna naDaiyAL – he says she has the swan’s gait. He

says women folk have swan’s gait. Normally, people would say to women:

‘Why are you walking like a swan?’ [meaning why do walk so slow]

 

“sItE! The swan saw your gait and feeling ashamed, it stuck its head behind

a lotus leaf. So, I laughedâ€.

 

rAman has the gait of an elephant – gaja simha gatI vIrau,

 

kaimmAvin naDaiyanna mennaDaiyum

kamalam pOl mugamum kANAdu

emmAnai en maganai izhandiTTa

izhi tagaiyEn irukkinREnE – (perumAL tirumozhi 9.6)

 

kulasekhara AzhvAr says in ‘daSarathan pulambal’ - kaimmAvin naDaiyanna

mennaDai - rAman would walk beautifully, with His body moving with the beauty

of an elephant’s walk. Kambar has described gaja gati in citrakUTa mountain;

this is not found in vAlmIki rAmAyaNam.

 

gaja simha gatI vIrau SArdUla vRshabhopamau

 

Can we see this gait now in anyone? What do we have now? all svastik gait

[quick gaits?] (AcAryar is laughing) If you want to see the gaits of perumAL

- If you want to see all this, you can see it in namperumAL’s gaits – if

you want to see today, go and look in SrI ra’ngam.

 

na punar bhajante samsAra kAntAra gatAgatAni (pAdukA sahasram 275)

 

svAmi deSikan says that those who have the sight of namprumAL’s beautiful

gaits will never again be tortured by the forest of repeated births and deaths

- na punar bhajante samsAra kAntAra gatAgatAni .

 

kanaka sarit anUPe kalpa vRkshasya bhUshNOH (pAdukAsahasram 57) – One can see

the gaja gati, simha gati, vRshabha gati and vyAghra gati in the kalpaka

vRksham (the kalpaka tree that bestows all the boons sought) that has grown on

the banks of kAverI – Lord ra’nganAthar.

 

“Who are these boys?â€

 

padma patra viSAlAkshau khaDga tUNI dhanurdharau – they have swords on their

waists. They also have arrow holders. They have lotus like eyes - padma patra

viSAlAkshau, aSvinAviva rUpeNa samupasthita yauvanau – youth is just

blossoming in them. They look like aSvinI devatA-s.

 

yadRcchayA iva gAm prAptau deva lokAt ivA’marau – they look like deva-s who

have come to the earth from deva lokam. Oh, mahaRshi! How did you bring them

here?

 

katham padbhyAm iha prAptau deva lokAt ivA’marau – that king cries!

 

“How did you bring these kids? Did you make them walk? You have a hundred

carts.†(ViSvAmitrar had wooden carts; it is better to walk by foot rather

than ride in the carts – AcAryar laughs slightly); “How did you bring them?

I do not know!â€

 

katham padbhyAm iha prAptau kimartham kasya vA mune – who do they belong to?

 

bhUshayantau imam deSam candra sUryAvivAmbaram (48.5) – they both look like

the moon and the Sun. rAman looks like the moon; lakshmaNan looks like the Sun.

He would appear a little angry, thinking: “Why should we be walking like

this? Why are these Brahmins making my elder brother walk like this? I am not

able to say anything1†So he will look a little rough always. Both of them

appear like the cool moon to friends and like the hot Sun to enemies. kadir

madiyam pOl mugattAn nArAyaNanE namakkE paRai taruvAn pArOr pugazhap paDindElOr

empAvAi (triuppAvai 1)

 

parasparasya sadRSau pramANa i’ngita ceshTitaiH – “they look like

brothers in all aspects! What is going on?†- asked the king.

 

ViSvAmitrar said – “Yes; they are daSarathan’s sons. I brought them for

protecting my yAgam. I am taking them to show the bow in mithilA city. They

belong to the great king ikshvAku’s race. You also belong to sUrya vamSam.

So, you can entertain themâ€.

 

King said, “I am blessedâ€. He extended all kingly welcomes. He worshipped

them as visitors and did special upacArams. Do you understand! [AcAryan uses

the word ‘teriyaRadA’ here] (AcAryan is imitating SrI anantarAma

dIkshitar’s style; with a sense of humor, he is asking a svAmi –

teriyaRadA).

 

Then, they all slept there; the next day, they left for mithilA.

 

When they were leaving, ViSvAmitrar was extremely happy; “I will show sItai

to rAman; rAman will break the bow; I will arrange their marriage; and I will

get the fame that vasishThar did not get.“

 

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

issue of SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA)

 

To be continued …..

 

 

 

 

 

 

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