AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. Feb 08 Part 2)

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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 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

 

ViSvAmitra left that place also because of continued disturbance; he

went westward and did penance in Pushkaram. He was doing very severe

penance. devendran was worried (that ViSvAmitrar will become too

powerful). . In order to obstruct his penance, he sent an apsaras

woman by name 'menakA'.

 

If someone on earth does meditation for four hours, devendran will

start getting uneasy; he will have butterflies in his stomach. Why? He

will be afraid that the person is competing to get his position. He is

scared of anyone who controls his breath for four hours, thinking he

may come close to his position. It is just to make sure that indran

does not get upset that we do not do too many prANAyAmam-s etc.

(laughter in the audience).

 

He sent MenakA. MenakA came and did bharata nATyam dance in front of

ViSvAmitra's AStamam. Birds are all making noise. Cuckoos are cooing.

Swan is making sweet sounds. MenakA comes to the ASramam and does

bharata nATyam in front of the ASramam. ViSvAmitra looked at her and

all his penance vanished.

 

Will it go like that? nigamAnta mahAdeSikan, who is j~nAna vairAghya

bhUshaNam - the treasure-house of j~nAnam and vairAgyam - says like

this:

 

kuvalaya nayanAnAm kUNite locanAstre

SaraNayati vivekaH kAm diSam kAndiSIkaH ||

 

kuvalaya nayanAnAm kUNite locanAstre - they have a very big weapon.

What was her weapon?

 

vizhiyallAl vElillai viNNin mAdar

mEniyallAl villillai mInavarkku

 

mInavarkku - for manmathan, who has fish in his flag, the physical

appearance of apsaras women is his bow. The arrow he releases is in

the form of their eyes.

 

mozhiyallAl amudillai enRu munnAL

mukti vazhi munindaDainda mOgam tIrndOm

kazhiyallAl kaDal illai enbAr pOlak

kAriyamE kAraNam enRu uraippAr kATTum

vazhiyallA vazhiyellAm kaDandOm maRRum

vAnERa vazhi kaNDOm magizhndiTTOmE !

(paramapada sopAnam 15)

 

mozhiyallAl amudillai enRu munnAL mukti vazhi munindaDainda mOgam

tIrndOm - MenakA's eyes fell on him. Immediately, he took her inside

his ASramam. He spent time with her for ten years. She became pregnant.

A child was born in the ASramam - a baby girl. He heard the baby's

cry and asked why there was a baby's voice in the ASramam. MenakA

said, " Yes, it is all your blessing; it is our baby girl " . " What? …

Our child? Did you deceive me? I am going to curse you. Because of

you, ASramam got defiled " . MenakA left that baby girl there itself and

ran away.

 

He called his disciple: " It is time for doing mAdyAhnikam. Hey,

Sishya! Look at the pancA'ngam - almanac. I have to do sa'nkalpam for

mAdhyAhnikam. I am not able to meditate. Wherever I go, I get

obstructions. I get roadblocks. What can I do? "

 

Sishyan said, " It is rAkshasa year, pa'nguni month 12th day -

Wednesday " !

 

" What? You are saying the year wrong! You are seven years over " !

 

Sishyan said, " Yes, svAmi " !

 

" What! Why are you saying yes " ?

 

Sishyan said, " Yes! Yes! Yes! "

 

" How did so many years go by? ahorArAtrApadeSena gatAH samvatsarA daSAH

- Ten years passed by like one daytime.

 

" Why didn't you remind me? "

 

Sishyan said, " Where was the time to come inside and remind you " ?

(laughter in the audience)

 

ViSvAmitrar started doing very severe penance. BrahmA and other

devatA-s came. They said, " maharshe! svAgatam te'stu " He was a

rAjaRshi till then; they called him maharshi.

 

They gave him the title - maharshi.

 

ViSvAmitra looked. " What is this! After all my penance, I became only

a maharshi. " He started doing more severe penance. devatA-s sent

rambai [another apsara lady]. They had sent MenakA earlier. Now, they

sent rambai. He got caught once; will he get caught again?

 

" Did you come to distract me? " SailI bhaveti SaptvA (bAla.64.12) - He

cursed her: 'You shall turn into a stone'. Immediately, she fell down

as a stone.

 

He started doing penance again. He did penance for a thousand years

without eating; then he decided he would do pAraNai (break the fast).

After a thousand years, he took his bath in the morning, made some

small amount of food, and did mAdhyAhnikam (which should be done before

the pAraNai) and sat for pAraNai. He had been fasting for a thousand

years.

 

At that time,

 

Indro dvijAtiH bhUtvA tam siddham annam ayAcata | (bAla.65.5)

 

devendran came there as a Brahmin and said, " I have to do pAraNai; I

have been hungry for a long time; it would be nice if I can have some

prasAdam " . If a person has fasted for a thousand years and someone

else asks for the food just as he was sitting down to eat, naturally,

the person will get very angry. Even for a one-day upavAsam (fasting),

we get so angry; it feels very difficult if we starve for even one day.

 

The wife says, " No one asked you to fast yesterday and suffer this

much; who asked you not to eat? You start yelling as soon as it dawns "

(laughter in the audience).

 

How will the person who has fasted for a thousand years feel if someone

asked for his food? indran's thought was - " a brAhmaNan should not get

angry. Let me ask for his food when he has fasted for a thousand years

and is ready to eat. Let me see if he gets angry. If he does, then he

is not a brAhmaNan. Let me test him " .

 

ViSvAmitra gave his prasAdam to indran and sat down to do penance

again. It was a very intense penance. Fire was blowing out of his

head. The deva loka-s were burning from that heat. deva-s went to

brahmA and told him they could not bear it anymore. All the thirty

three crores of devatA-s came. BrahmA came, SivaperumAn came; only

VishNu did not come.

 

brahmarshe svAgatam te'stu tapasA sma sutoshitAH |

brAhmaNyam tapasogreNa prAptavAn asi kauSika! ||

dIrgham AyuH ca te brahman! dadAmi samarudgaNaH || (bAla.65.20,21)

 

They called him, " brahmarshi " ! - brahmarshe svAgatam te'stu! " We are

pleased with your penance. You have obtained brAhmaNatvam because of

your intense penance. "

 

ViSvAmitra said it is no use getting brAhmaNyam if he is going to die

tomorrow. dIrgham AyuH ca te brahman! dadAmi samarudgaNaH - " What is

the use if I die in the evening after getting brAhmaNyam, uncle! "

 

Some people will have an order to be under surveillance till the court

is adjourned for the day. It will be in the record, but this person

will sit for a while and go away.

 

It should not be like that. What if he dies as soon as he got

brAhmaNyam? He should get brAhmaNyam, he should eat as a BrAhmaNa in

VasishTha's house. He should get all that.

 

So, they gave him a long life along with brAhmaNyam - dIrgham AyuH ca

te brahman! dadAmi samarudgaNaH.

 

Immediately, ViSvAmitra said,

 

brAhmaNyam yadi me prAptam dIrgham AyuH tathaiva ca |

omkAro'tha vashaTkAraH vedAH ca varayantu mAm || (bAla. 65.23)

 

brahma putro vasishTho mAm evam vadatu devatAH || (bAla.65.24)

 

If I am going to have brAhmaNyam, let me also have omkAram,

vashaTkAram, and vaushatkAram to do yAgam, vedams etc. That is not

enough. This VasishThar must acknowledge that I am a brAhmaNan. He

has to say that I am a brAhmaNan. Earlier, he called me kshatriya

pAmsana (a loly kshatriyan). He should address me as brahmaRshi.

 

" What is this! He is saying VasishThar has to agree. We have to go

and pacify VasishThar " . So, brahmA, SivaperumAn and the thirty three

crores of deva-s went to VasishTha's ASramam to appease him.

 

Look at how a brAhmaNar is. Because of his tapas - it is all gAyatri

- only 24 letters; nothing more than that. He has chanted this

countless number of times; and brahmA is sitting in his ASramam to make

a compromise. SivaperumAn, one of the tri-mUrti-s, is sitting. Thirty

three crores of deva-s have come to see him. VasishTha's Sishyan says,

" He is doing japam. He is asking you to wait " . Look at him!

 

VasishThar completed his japam and came. He said svAgatam to brahmA

and gave him arghyam, pAdyam, AcamanIyam etc., (water for washing

hands, feet etc.,) and asked him the reason for his visit.

 

BrahmA said, " We all acknowledged ViSvAmitrar as brahmaRshi. He says

you should recognize that acknowledgment. That is why we have come

here " .

 

evam astu iti ca abravIt (bAla.65.25)

 

VasishThar said, " So be it " . He did not say the word " brahmaRshi " .

 

They told him, " We all have called him brahmaRshi. You should also

agree to it " .

 

VasishThar only said - " evam astu iti ca abravIt - let it be so " .

 

ViSvAmitra said, " That is good enough " .

 

SatAnanda tells rAma, " That is ViSvAmitra's story " .

 

What is learnt from this story? If one ends up fighting or disagreeing

with a person, it should be done with a virtuous person.

 

sadbhireva sahA'sIta sadbhiH kurvIta sa'ngamam |

sadbhiH vivAdam maitrIm ca nAsadbhiH ki'ncit Acaret ||

 

(subhAshita ratna.)

 

Friendship must be with good people and enmity must also with good

people. Fighting should also be with good people.

 

A lot of people come to fight with me. If you ask why, sadbhiH vivAdo

maitrI ca (laugher in the audience); if one has friendship or arguments

with good people, one can obtain better status. If one fights with bad

people, nothing will be gained from it. By fighting with a good person

like VasishTha, what did ViSvAmitra lose? Nothing. Instead, he got

brAhmaNyam.

 

sadbireva sahA'sIta sadbhiH kurvIta sa'ngamam |

sadbhiH vivAdam maitrIm ca nAsadbhiH ki'ncit Acaret ||

 

No transaction of any kind should be undertaken with bad people.

 

SatAnanda told cakravarti tirumagan (rAman) and iLaiya perumAL

(lakshmaNa) the extraordinary story of ViSvAmitra, and said in

conclusion: " This is your AcAryan's story. He is such a great

mahaRshi. You have obtained such an AcAryan " . RAma was very happy to

hear the AcAryan's greatness. " Our ViSvAmirtra is this famous! We did

not know! One should know guru's prabhAvam! One should know guru

paramparA prabhAvam! "

 

svApadesam - the hidden meaning behind all this is that everyone should

know one's AcAryan's greatness. They prostrated to their guru. Then

all of them were taken care of with the traditional respects offered to

visitors.

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To be continued …..

 

 

 

 

 

 

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