AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha PAdukA dt. Jan. 08 Part 2)

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SrImate ra’ngarAmAnuja MahA deSikAya namaH

SrImate SrInivAsa rAmAnuja MahA deSikAya namaH

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SrI ra’nganAtha divya MaNi PAdukAbhyAm namaH

 

AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha PAdukA dt. Jan. 08 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

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

SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan’s SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam

 

Defeated, ViSvAmitrar went back to his place. He thought: " What is

this, one ayyar's [brAhmaNa's] cow has defeated me! How unfair this

is! "

 

Immediately, he arranged for one of his sons to rule over his kingdom.

 

sa putram ekam rAjyAya pAlaya iti niyujya ca |

pRthivIm kshatra dharmeNa vanam ekah anvapadyata || (bAla. 55.11)

 

sa gatvA himavat pArSvam kinnaroraga sevitam |

mahAdeva prasAdArtham tapaH tepe mahA tapaH || (bAla. 55.12)

 

He had a hundred sons. Rshi-s had plenty of sons. They are above us in

all respects! sa putram ekam rAjyAya pAlayeti niyujya ca - He said, " I

am going to HimAlayA to do penance towards mahAdevan. I am going to

request SivaperumAn for weapons to defeat VasishThar. " He went to the

HimAlayA mountain, which is worshipped by kinnara-s, kimpursha-s,

siddha-s, cAraNa-s etc. He did very severe penance.

 

mahAdeva prasAdArtham tapaH tepe mahAtapaH ||

 

ViSvAmitrar did intense penance to please the deity named mahAdevan.

Because of his penance, SivaperumAn was pleased, and came riding his

bull, along with PArvatI; he showed himself with his trident and a deer

and the battle-axe in his hands. He said, " What do you seek, svami! "

 

SivaperumAn was greatly worried all along. Why? He was thinking, " He

is doing penance. I have to survive his request. What is he going to

ask? What if he asks - " I have to win VasishThar in battle. Bless me! "

I cannot give that boon! VasishThar has stored so much gAyatrI! What

will I do if he asks me that boon! " But, he had to appear because of

the penance. So, he came and stood.

 

yadi tushTo mahAdeva dhanurvedo mamAnagha |

sA'ngopAngo'panishadaH sa-rahasyaH pradIyatAm || (bAla. 55.16)

 

mahAdevan has come. ViSvAmitrar says to him: " If you are pleased with

me, if you want to bless me, give me dhanurvedam (the art of archery)

with all it’s a'ngams [parts], upA'ngam [branches], secrets,

upanishads, mantrams etc " . SivaperumAn felt greatly relieved.

 

A high level officer came to see another officer who was at a level

where he was obligated to do what he was asked to do. The latter was

scared thinking the former had come to ask for a job for someone. He

thought, " That may not be possible for me to fulfill. In earlier days,

I could have fixed a job that offered even a salary of 5000 rupees .

But, nowadays, there is examination, marks, interview etc., etc. I do

not know what he is going to ask; I am worried. "

 

The former officer showed recommendation letters; when asked what he

wanted, he said, " Examination has been written. It will be good if the

child can be made to pass " .

 

The second officer felt greatly relieved - he is not asking for a job.

He is only asking for a 'pass'; so, he said, " Okay, I will ask that

pass mark be given " .

 

Like that, SivaperumAn was worried that ViSvAmitrar was going to ask

that he should be able to defeat VasishThar; that would have been

impossible to grant. But, he only asked - sA'ngaH sa-rahasyaH

dhanurvedaH pradIyatAm. So, he said, " You want dhanurvedam! Okay, you

can have it! "

 

If he had asked for a boon to defeat VasishThar, even SivaperumAn would

not have been able to grant that. What is the meaning of this story?

" A smart person must try to get a job first; he can read later even in

a night college. A job is hard to get; so get that first " .

 

yadi tushTo mahAdevaH dhanurvedo mamAnagha |

sA'ngopA'ngopanishadah sa-rahasyaH pradIyatAm ||

 

SivaperumAn said, " Okay, I grant you that " . Immediately, he

disappeared.

 

ViSvAmitrar came to do battle with VasishThar. He called all his army;

they were all creating a lot of noise around.

 

VasishThar came out to see; there were a lot of boisterous uproars and

battle sounds.

 

VasishThar's disciples came running and said, " ViSvAmitrar has come for

battle " . VasishThar said, " That is okay. No problem! "

 

vasishThe japatAm SreshThe tadadbhutam ivA'bhavat | (bAla. 56.12)

 

tAni sarvANi daNDena grasate brahmaNaH sutaH || (bAla. 56.13)

 

ViSvAmitrar releases a lot of arrows. All the birds are flying away.

Animals are getting scared and falling at the feet of VasishThar.

 

VasishThar looked. What did he do? He went inside the ASramam and

took a bamboo stick; there was nothing else. He brought that and stuck

it to the ground. He then did AvAhanam ( invocation) of the GAyatri

mantrams that he had chanted into that stick. He called all his

disciples and asked them to sit by his side and assured them nothing

will happen to them.

 

ViSvAmitrar released AgneyAstram, pASupata astram, aindrAstram,

ishIkAstram, mAnavAstram etc., and everything else that SivaperumAn had

given him.

 

vasishThe japatAm SreshThe tadadbhutam ivA'bhavat |

 

tAni sarvAni daNDEna grasate brahmaNaH sutaH ||

 

What happened to all the astrams he released? On the opposite side,

everyone is sitting in VasishThar's ASramam doing japam - meditation.

The arrows did not touch them. ViSvAmitrar released so many astrams!

What happened?

 

One brahma daNDam - one bamboo stick. VasishThar had kept it like this

microphone in front of me. All the arrows are coming and falling on

it, svAmi! They could do nothing. Everything was wasted. There were

so many, were they all wasted?

 

tAni sarvAni daNDena grasate brahmaNaH sutaH ||

 

BrahmA's son VasishThar was just swallowing everything.

 

prAjvalad brahmadaNDaSca vasishThasya karodyataH |

vidhUma iva kAlAgniH yama daNDa ivAparaH || (bAla. 56.19)

[That brahma daNDam - stick - looks brilliant like a smokeless yama

daNDam [yama's stick].

 

ViSvAmitrar looked. He decided to release the greatest of all astra-s

- the brahmAstram, and started chanting the mantra. It was shining

brilliantly in ViSvAmitrar's hands.

 

The Rshi-s said, " svAmi! He has taken out the brahmAstram " !

 

VasishThar said, " It is okay, it is my father's astram; that is fine " .

 

VasishThar sat straight. Smoke is coming out of his eyes. Fire sparks

are flying from his eyes. He is surrounded by garlands of fire - jvAla

mAlakular.

 

ViSvAmitrar released brahmAstram towards VasishThar; it came - what

happened to it?

 

sarvam vai grasate muniH | that also came and went into that bamboo

stick. It did not harm anyone.

 

ViSvAmitrar looked. What a surprise this is! Even brahmAstram did not

harm anyone.

 

dhig balam kshatriya balam brahma tejobalam balam |

ekena brahma daNDena sarvAstrANi hatAni me ||

[i now realize that a kshatriya's strength is nothing in front of

brahma tejas.]

 

tadetat samavekshyAham prasannendriya mAnasaH |

tapo mahat samAsthAsye yadvai brahmatva kAraNam || (bAla. 56.23,24)

[since I have now seen in person the greatness of brahma tejas, I will

now go and do penance to attain that brAhmaNyam.]

 

" What is this? dhigbalam kshatriya balam brahma tejobalam balam |

I lost everything. What is kshatriyan's strength? I meditated towards

SivaperumAn and saw him in person and got upanishads, rahasyams,

dhanurvedam with it’s a'ngams and upA'ngams; not one astram is left

now. I have released everything. It is said brahmAstram is the best.

If that is released, it is said it will not rain for twelve years. So,

I released it. Nothing happened. VasishThar has swallowed everything

with his brahma daNDam! That stick is not even made of iron or silver

or gold! It is made of bamboo! "

 

ekena brahma daNDena sarvAstrANi hatAni me ||

 

dhigbalam kshatryiya balam brahma tejobalam balam |

 

tuNNena mARRAr tammait tolaittavar nA'ngai mEya

kaNNanE! kAvaLam taN pADiyAi kaLai kaN nIyE!

(periya tirumozhi. 4.6.2)

 

In ta'njAvUr district, there is a divya deSam called tiruk kAvaLampADi.

tiruma'ngai AzhvAr has sung on this divya deSam. He describes that

place. There are brahmaNa-s in that place. What kind of vaishNava-s?

 

tuNNena mARRAr tammait tolaittavar nA'ngai mEya

kaNNanE! kAvaLam taNpADiyAi kaLai kaN nIyE!

 

One time, a pANDya king invaded the SOzha kingdom. He came with a

large army. The SOzha king did not have any weapons. He did not have

any bow, arrow etc. He was worried about the invasion. His advisors

told him, " Go and pray to the SrI vaishNava-s who are living in a

village in ta'njAvUr district. They will save you " . " Are those SrI

vaishNava-s that great? " " dhigbalam kshatryiya balam brahmatejobalam

balam - SrI vaishNava-s in that place have enormous strength. " So, the

king came there swiftly on a horse. He prostrated before the villagers

in kAvaLampADi. They said, " We will take care of you " . When the

battle started, these Brahmins went and stood in the border of

ta'njavUr. There were lots of enemy armies. The brAhmaNa-s looked at

them, and said, " tuN " . The whole army was flung far away to karUr.

 

tuNNena mARRAr tammait tolaittavar nA'ngai mEya

kaNNanE! kAvaLam taN pADiyAi kaLai kaN nIyE!

 

Just remember that even in that kind of battle, there were strong

people in ta'njAvUr district, people who could just say " tuN " and throw

a whole army hundred miles away. But, it is not like that now. What

can we do?

 

icchA mAtrAt jagat aparadhA samvidhAtum kshamANAm

ikshvAkuNAm prabhRthi mahatAm IdRSrIm prekshya velAm |

(hamsa

sandeSam 1.8)

 

says deSikan. perumAL is worshipped by such SrI vaishNava-s who have

so much strength from gAyatrI. It is not that the SrI vaishNava-s

attain specialty by worshipping perumAL. The fact is perumAL attains

specialty because these SrI vaishNava-s worship Him. Remember this

place is in ta'njAvUr district - in SIrkAzhi tAluk.

 

tuNNena mARRAr tammait tolaittavar nA'ngai mEya

kaNNanE! kAvaLam taNpADiyAi kaLai kaN nIyE!

 

dhigbalam kshatryiya balam brahma tejobalam balam |

 

So,

ekena brahma daNDena sarvAstrANi hatAni me ||

only one brahma daNDam - stick. A bamboo stick; with that, this

brAhmaNan made all my astrams useless. What a great surprise!

 

But, I am not sad [said ViSvAmitrar to himself].

 

tadetat samaveshyA'ham prasannendriya mAnasaH |

 

He happily felt: I do not need kshatriyatvam anymore.

 

tapo mahat samAstAsye yadvai brahmatva kAraNam |

 

" I am going to do penance that will lead to brahmaNyam. I am going to

earn that brAhmaNyam. Nothing else. " Thus, he left for HimAlayas to do

penance. He started doing penance.

===========

(End of translation of AcArya rAmAmRtam as it appeared in the January

2008

issue of SrI ra’nganAtha PAdukA)

 

To be continued …..

 

 

 

 

 

 

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