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

 

Then, King Janaka said - lakshmaNA'gacchha bhadram te (bAla.73.30) - he called

for UrmiLA and asked lakshmaNa to accept UrmiLA. Bharatan was offered the hand

of mANDavI and Satrughnan was offered the hand of SrutakIrti. Then, they

proceeded to do other steps in the marriage ceremony.

 

They did lAja homam. It involves offering rice puffs into the homam. The

sUtrakAra specifies: kanyAyAH sambandhinaH vAjAn AvapeyuH – the relatives of

the bride offer the rice puffs to the bride. The rice puffs are offered to

the agni through the bride. In other words, the girl’s relatives will give

the rice puff three times in the girl's hand; then place a few drops of ghee on

it, the boy will hold the girl’s hands, and the girl will offer the rice puffs

to the homam. The groom will chant the mantra-s. There are differing positions

on whether this is done with the girl standing or sitting. What is the practice

in Bombay? Standing? There is fight in my place! Should they do it sitting or

standing?

 

The boy does all the homams sitting. Why should the girl alone do it standing?

She also should do it sitting. This mAmA is of that side (acAryan is probably

pointing to a person close by), don’t you know that faction? (audience

laughs). The adhyApaka side [prabandham chanters] will say - " erimugam pArittu

ennai munnE niRutti arimugan acyutan kai mEl en kai vaittu pori mugandu aTTak

kanAk kaNDEn tozhI nAn " [nAcciyAr tirumozhi - vAraNam Ayiram paSuram] – It

clearly says: " ennai munnE nirutti " . The position of the adhyApaka side is that

the girl should stand and do it. The position of the veda pArAyaNam side will

be that the girl should do it sitting down (laughter).

 

It is said: lAjAn AvapeyuH. Girl's relatives must hand over the puffs to her.

kanyAyAH sodara ityeke - Some Rshi-s say that the girl's brother must give it in

her hand. Some say relatives – kanyAyAH bandhavaH, and some say brother.

Mostly, it is the brother nowadays; he will get a sambhAvanai [return

gift/money] for that! (laughter). In order to ensure that some third party

does not end up with that gift, the brother is asked to do it nowadays.

 

lAjAhomam was done in a wonderful way. When this homam is performed, the

following mantram is chanted - iyam nArI upabrUte kulpAni AvapantikA | dIrghAyuH

astu me patiH jIvAtu SaradaH Satam svAhA, idam na mama| Even the first mantram

is enough. Like this, there are three mantrams.

 

Since it is veda mantram, the bridegroom says the mantram for her.

 

" This girl says (iyam nArI upabrUte) - Hey agni! kulpAni AvapantikA. This girl

says: dIrghAyuH astu me patiH jIvAtu SaradaH Satam - my husband must live for

a long time. He must live for hundred years " . So saying, she is offering the

rice puffs into the homam. Doesn't this mantram have a nice meaning? He is not

saying the mantram, but he holds her hand very tightly (audience laughs; AcAryar

also laughs).

 

That homam must be done. They should do three pradakshiNam-s (circumambulate)

to the homam and prostrate.

 

Then the girl has to step on the stone [ammi midittal ceremony where the

bridegroom places the girl's right foot on a stone].

 

AtishThemam aSmAnam aSmeva tvam sthirA bhava |

abhitishTha pRtanyataH sahasva pRtanAyataH |

 

saptapatI mantra-s:

 

ekamishe vishNustvA anvetu | (first step)

dve Urje vishNustvA anvetu (second step)

trINi vratAya vishNustvA anvetu (third step)

catvAri mayo bhavAya vishNustvA anvetu (fourth step)

pa~Nca paSubhyaH vishNustvA anvetu (fifth step)

shad RtubhyaH vishNustvA anvetu (sixth step)

sapta saptabhyo hotrAbhyaH vishNustvA anvetu | (seventh step)

 

Great mantram. The boy will hold the girl's right foot with his left hand and

he has to move her foot seven times. The boy will be wearing the great holy

pavitram [a ring of sacred grass specially folded for wearing in the finger]

made of darbham [sacred grass]! That darbham would have been bought for a price

(audience laughs)! So, the priest will ask the boy to hold the girl’s leg

with his left hand. Girl has to take seven steps. He also has to move the

girl's foot. This girl also has to walk. If only the boy moves her leg and she

does not walk, she will fall down! (audience laughs)

 

The boy brings the girl near the stone slab and says - " AtishThemam aSmAnam

aSmeva tvam sthirA bhava | abhitishTha pRtanyataH sahasva pRtanAyataH | imam

aSmAnam AtishTha – Dear girl! Step on this stone! Be firm like this stone!

Be steady just like this stone is! abhitishTha pRtanyataH sahasva pRtanAyataH |

 

The explanation (vyAkhyAnam) for this is: pRtanAvat AcarataH aSmAn eva janAn

sarvAn sahasva. “Welcome to our house; I am going to take you there after I

marry you. There are some people in our house - sister-in-law, mother-in-law

etc.;. Do you know how they are! They will all oppose you like an army! Will

this stone undergo change? Like that, you must be steady. sahasva! - the boy

looks at the girl and requests. In those days, all girls knew samkRtam! Okay!

This girl understands that she has to stay patient in the new house.

 

Sister-in-law is called 'nanAndA'. Why! nanAndA - sarvadA na nandayatIti

nanAndA - She will not be happy with her brother's wife at any time. She will

not create happiness also. That is why she is called nanAndA (slight laughter

in the audience).

 

esha hyeva AnandayAti - upanishad says. It should read 'Anandayati', right? But,

it is said with elongated vowel - AnandayAtI. Like that, 'nanAndA' is also

interpreted. The mantram is said requesting the bride to bear with everything.

Then they circumambulate the sacred fire three times.

 

SvAmi deSikan writes in one place: PerumAL marries sItA and does pradakshiNam,

saying the associated mantra-s:

 

ekamishe vishNustvA anvetu

dve Urje vishNustvA anvetu

trINi vratAya vishNustvA anvetu

 

rAman looks at sItA and says – “I am making you take your first step. Let

VishNu protect you from behind. I am making you take your second step. Let

VishNu protect you from behind. I am making you take your third step. Let

VishNu protect you from behind.†As RAman says that, He laughs. VasishThar

asks - 'Hey Rama! Why are you laughing? Do You know how many marriages have I

performed? I have not said any mantram wrong. Why are you laughing! Are you

making fun of veda mantram? Why do you laugh? Are you making fun of priests?

Do you know our might?'

 

rAman said, " No! No! svAmi!'

 

VasishThar asked, " Then, why did You laugh?'

 

'You said a mantram – “Let VishNu come and protect you from behind. I -

VishNu -am going in the front! I was thinking about which VishNu is going to

come in the back. So, I laughed' (laughter in the audience'; AcAryar laughs

also).

 

" na anyeti vishNuH " - says svAmi deSikan in a Slokam. “I, who am VishNu, am

going in the front; which VishNu will come in the back? So, I laughed†- says

rAman. VasishThar meditates on that. ‘That mantram is for common couples.

These are divya dampatis. It was my mistake’ - so thinking, he consoled

himself.

 

All the vaidika karma-s were completed to the accompaniment of auspicious music

and veda mantrams. All the four marriages were completed very well. There was

no deficiency whatsoever.

 

After the marriage was over, ViSvAmitra said, " Okay, I am taking leave " . When

asked why, he said his work was done. The four couples were asked to prostrate

to him.

 

ASIrbhiH pUrayitvA ca jagAma uttara parvatam |

 

ViSvAmitra gave his heart-felt blessings to the couple - " You should live

long, you should be dIrgha suma’ngali-s " . The vaidika-s who have nothing to

give will give lot of blessings. When the great grandchildren come and

prostrate, they will not give even a paisA, but will give lot of blessings.

 

Then he left for the Himavat mountain in the north.

 

There was a specialty in this marriage. I will forget it, and so I will say it

now itself. VasishTha called everyone to present the gifts. All the kings

presented theirs. devata-s like BrahmA, rudran etc., had also come. BrahmA

came to give his gift. VasishTha asked him what he was going to present. He

presented aksha mAlai [garland].

 

Sivan came; VasishThar asked him what his gift was. Sivan said - " I am wearing

the skin of an elephant; my ornament is a snake; I am wearing the vibhuti

[sacred ash]. I do not have any silver vessels etc. You are asking me to

present a gift, svAmi'.

 

VasishThar said - 'Something has to be given, right?'

 

rudran responded: Okay, I slew tripurAsuran sometime back. When I did that

tripurAsura samhAram, I displayed a particular smile. That smile is a good one

– it destroyed the three cities. All the devatA-s were pleased. I will give

that smile to this bride as my blessing.â€

 

VasishThar said: rocano rocamAnaH SobhanaH SobhamAnaH kalyANaH. In sItArAma

wedding mahotsavam, parameSvaran, who is kailAsapati and pArvatI kAntan, is

giving his AsIrvAdam [blessing] - mandahAsam! " sIta accepted it.

 

According to SAstram, if blessings are given during the wedding, they are

supposed to be kept for the whole life. If lots of dhotis and sari-s are

received, people will sell them in the stores for lesser money.

 

Because the things come with blessings, we must keep them for ourselves. sItA

kept that smile with her for ever. That smile was useful one day. That was

when rAvaNan came to her and said, " Be my wife " .

 

tRNam antarataH kRtvA pratyuvAca SucismitA | (sundara.21.2)

 

She used that smile on that day. That was SivaperumAn's smile. That is the day

lankA got burnt by HanumAn. That is why it is said that anything that comes

with ASIrvAdam should be kept without giving them away.

 

Thus, all those who attended presented wonderful gifts. sItA kalyANam was

completed in a grand manner.

 

After this, tomorrow, we will look into deep meanings for 'iyam sItA' Slokam; if

time does not permit, we will go to ayodhyA kANDam first two sargams. they are

very interesting. We do not have to read any other sargam in rAmAyaNam. These

two sargams are of the greatest essence among all the six kANDam-s of SrImad

rAmAyaNam. VAlmIki gives an excellent description of how the citizens of

ayohdyA narrate the special kalyANa guNams of PerumAL. We have to talk about

those also. After that, we have to finish SrI rAma paTTAbhishekam in fifteen

days. All of you receive sItA kalyANa prasAdam now and then go! Let the

blessings of sItArAma be bestowed on you all.

 

evam etat purA vRttam AkhyAnam bhadram astu vaH

pravyAharata visrabdham balam vishNoH pravardhatAm

lAbhaH teshAm jayaH teshAm kutaH teshAm parAbhavaH

yeshAm indIvara SyAmo hRdaye supratishThitaH …

kale varshatu parjanyaH pRthivI sasyaSalinI

deSoyam kshoba rahito brAhmaNAH santu nirbhayAH

ma’ngalam kosalendrAya mahanIya guNAtmane

cakravarti tanUjAya sArva bhaumAya ma’ngaLam

svasti prajAbhyaH paripAlayantAm …

mangaLASAsana paraiH madAcArya purogamaiH

sarvaiH ca purvaiH AcAryaiH satkRtAyA'stu mangaLam ||

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(End of translation of AcArya rAmAmRtam as it appeared in the May 2008

issue of SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA)

 

To be continued …..