AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha PAdukA dt. Feb 08 Part 1)

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SrIH

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. Feb 08 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)

 

(Please set your encoding to Unicode UTF-8)

 

SrImad ANDavan tiruvaDi,

kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

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

SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan’s SrImad rAmAyaNa

upanyAsam

 

ValmIkI writes:

 

kva ca te kshatriya balam kva ca brahma balam mahat |

paSya brahma balam divyam mama kshatriya pAmsana! || (bAla. 56.4)

 

vasishThe japatAm SreshThe tadadbhutam ivAbhavat | (bAla. 56.12)

 

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

 

" You are a kshatriyan. I know you. Where is brahma balam, and where

is khsatriya balam? How can you oppose me? Look now! Kshatriya

pAmsana [one who brings shame to the kshatriya race]! You are the

lowliest among the kshatriya class. Don't I know you? How can you

beat me? " So saying, VasishTha swallowed all of ViSvAmitra's astra-s.

ViSvAmitra kept thinking about all this as he left. He left to do

penance to become a Brahmin.

 

At that time, the ikshvAku king named 'triSa'nku' came to VasishThar

and asked, " I want to go to heaven in this same body; can you do any

yAgam for me " ?

 

VasishThar said it was not possible. Everyone is afraid of death.

nAnyatra maraNAt bhayam.

 

triSa'nku wanted to go to heaven with his own earthly body. He asked,

" Your disciple daSarathan had gone there to fight SambAsuran. Why can't

I go " ? VasishThar said, " One can go only for a temporary period of

time. No one can go on a permanent basis. You can go only if you stop

breathing; even that, only if you have done good deeds " .

 

triSa'nku said, " Please administer a yAgam to help me go to svargam

with this body " . VasishThar said it is not possible. " I requested you

to administer a yAgam; I have resorted to you for so long. You are

refusing. anyAm gatim gamishyAmi. I will get another AcAryan " .

VasishThar said, " Okay, do so; you will find out he will say the same

thing; you will find out " .

 

triSa'nku finds ViSvAmitra, who is doing intense penance. triSa'nku

surrenders at his feet and seeks his protection. When asked what he

wanted, triSa'nku narrates how VasishThar said 'no' for his request,

and why he has come to ViSvAmitrar.

 

ViSvAmitra says, " You look somewhat different " . triSa'nku responds:

" I told VasishThar that I will get a different AcAryan; he cursed me,

svAmi. He cursed me to become a caNDALan [lowest, fifth caste person];

that is why I am like this with iron bangles in the hands, leather for

poonal [sacred thread] etc " .

" You came here as a caNDALan " ?

" Yes. I came as a pa'ncaman…..I have done lot of good deeds " .

 

daivam eva param manye paurusham tu nirarthakam |

daivena Akramyate sarvam daivam hi paramA gatiH || (bAla. 58.22)

 

nAnyam gatim gamishyAmi nAnyaH SaraNam asti me |

daivam purushakAreNa nivartayitum arhasi || (bAla. 58.24

 

" I have spent a lot of money on austerities. I have given donation for

so many udaka SAnti-s. I have donated to so many tapasvi-s, I have

given donations for so many yAgams to VaSishThar; I have lost

everything. God is great; God controls everything. I have been

reduced to this state; svAmi, you have to do yAgam for my sake " , said

triSa'nku.

 

Poor ViSvAmitra, what will he do? nAnyaH SaraNam asti me (bAla.58.24)

- He said " I surrender to you " ; since protection of the person who

surrendered is the highest dharmam, he said: " yAvad balam - as long as

I have strength, I will administer the yAgam to protect you " .

 

ViSvAmitra sent for all Rshi-s. He sent for VasishThar's sons also.

He instructed his students to let him know what the others say for his

invitation. He sent several Rshi-s to extend this invitation. A lot

responded. He instructed that VasishThar's sons should also be invited.

 

Those sons said sarcastically, " Yes, yes, all devatA-s will come to get

their portions from the yAgam. kshatriyo yAjako yasya caNDALasya

viSeshatah (bAla.59.13) - the owner is a canDALan; one who administers

the yAam is a kshatriyan. Only a brahmaNan has the right to administer

a yAgam; not a kshatriyan. Here, a kshatriyan is administering

(upAdhyAyam) the yAgam and it is for a canDALan. All devatA-s will

come quickly to get the havirbhAgam! "

 

The messengers came and told this to ViSvAmitra. Immediately, he

cursed those sons. In his anger, he cursed them to become canDALa-s

like triSa'nku.

 

Some Rshi-s came. Why? They thought - " What does is it matter to us?

We will just do the homam. We will get our dakshiNA (donations).

Whether the devatA-s come to get their share or not, what does it

matter to us? "

 

Do people coming to do homam in our houses come thinking about whether

the devatA-s are going to come and get their shares or not? They will

get 25 rupees per Ayush homam. " Let devatA-s get their shares or not;

it will happen as per the owner's luck. What is it to us? "

 

ViSvAmitrar was expecting devatA-s to come and get their shares of

havis. No one came. He got angry.

 

svArjitam ki'ncit yapyasti (bAla.60.15) - " No yAgam is needed, nothing

is needed. I have my own wealth of penance in reserve. "

 

Using the power of his past penance, he said, " triSa'nku! Go to

heaven " . When triSa'nku went there, indran threw him out of heaven; he

fell down head first.

 

ViSvAmitra said, " tishTha tishTheti cA'bravIt " (bAla.60.20) - " Stop!

Stop! " triSa'nku is hanging in the mid-sky. Being upset that indran

pushed him out, ViSvAmitra said he will create a new heaven for

triSa'nku in the mid-sky; he created new stars. Immediately, brahmA and

others came and said that this should not be done, and said that

whatever he had created can be considered svargam. It is called

triSa'nku svargam - triSa'nku's heaven.

 

Feeling that there was too much disturbance for his penance in the

current place, ViSvAmitra went to a different place to continue his

penance.

 

When he was doing penance in the new location, a person named

SunaHSepan came when ViSvAmitra was doing mAdhyAhnikam [afternoon

salutations to the Sun] and surrendered to him. ViSvAmitra was

SunaHSepan's maternal uncle. He asked the reason why SunaHSepan was

seeking his protection.

 

He said, " .King ambarIsha did yAgam; indran stole the cow meant for the

yAgam. ambarIsha asked a lot of brAhmaNa-s what to do. They advised

that if he did not complete the yAgam, he will go to hell, and adverse

effects will come, and it can be corrected by sacrificing a human

being, and he should find one " .

 

 

" That ambarIsha cakravartI came and asked my father - you have three

sons. Give me one son. " If a person has many sons, he will be

requested to give one for svIkAram [adoption]. If he has only one son,

no one will ask him, right?

 

Manu says that first son is born according to dharmam; subsequent

children are born out of lust. Understand?

 

The father said, " My eldest son was born for upkeep of dharmam " .

 

jyeshTha eva tu gRhNIyAt pitRyam dhanam aSeshataH | (Manu. 9.105)

 

sa eva dharmajaH putraH itarAH kAmajAH smRtAH || (Manu. 9.107)

 

Manu smRti, ninth chapter talks about how to divide father's wealth

among sons -

 

jyeshTha eva tu gRhNIyAt pitRyam dhanam aSeshataH |

 

The first-born must take all the wealth that belongs to father. Why?

 

sa eva dharmajaH putraH - first born is born according to dharmam;

those who are born later are the result of desire.

 

athavA - (otherwise) they can divide the wealth. Why?

 

pRthak vivardhate dharmaH tasmAt kAryA pRthak kriyA! (Manu. 9.111)

If it is a joint family and visitors come, only one of them has to

entertain the visitors. There will be one agnihotram. If the family

is split into four, the svAmi can go and eat in all the four brothers'

houses. There will be four agnihotrams! Four SAlagrAma

tiruvArAdhanams!

 

pRthak vivardhate dharmaH tasmAt kAryA pRthak kriyA!

 

In a joint family, the eldest brother will do ArAdhanam. The others

will be just eating food and betel nut leaves etc. It is said that

division of wealth is allowed because it grows the dharmam - four

separate homa-s etc.

 

How to divide? Divide the wealth, but give a bigger share to the

eldest one. And, it should be given willingly. The eldest will be

doing twelve mAsyams (SrAddhams)! So, give generously. At least give

with pleasure.

 

RcIkar (father of SunaHSepan) said that he won't give his eldest son.

Mother said she could not give the last son because he was her favorite

child. This middle son (SunaHSepan) could have kept quiet, right? But

he was angry. He said: " aham dattam manye - Vikreyam madhyamam manye "

- 'Father does not want to give his eldest son; mother does not want

give the last son; that means they have given me; so take me' - and he

left with the king.

 

He left like that in anger. But, will he be willing to die, svAmi! He

came, what could he do?

 

The king gave money to the father. The son came. ViSvAmitra was his

maternal uncle. Luckily for SunaHSepan, his uncle was doing tapas

nearby. When ambarIsha mahArAja sat down to do mAdhyAhnikam,

SunaHSepan left and came to ViSvAmitra and said, " It is so unfair. I

surrender to you; this is what happened. Please protect me " .

 

" Okay! I will teach you two mantra-s - two gAthA-s. They would have

tied you in the yAga stand. When you say these gAthA-s, devatA-s will

become pleased and they will bless you " . The boy memorized the

mantra-s. SunaHSepan went back and asked the king if his mAdhyAhnikam

was over and asked him to get moving.

 

" What, this boy is ready to give his life " ?

 

The boy was taken and tied to the yAga post. At the right time, he

chanted the two mantrams.

 

svAmi-s say the two mantrams are - imam me varuNa… etc (it is the

mantram chanted during evening sandhyA). I do not know. (AcAryan is

joking). If that mantram is chanted - mA na AyuH pramoshIH - that

mantram has this request - do not lessen my age.

 

As soon as he chanted the mantrams, indran and upendran came and yAgam

got completed; they said - release this boy. They released him and he

survived.

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To be continued …..

 

 

 

 

 

 

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