AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. August 08 Part 1)

[Guest guest]

SrIH

SrImate ra’ngarAmAnuja MahA deSikAya namaH

SrImate SrInivAsa rAmAnuja MahA deSikAya namaH

SrImate VedAnta rAmAnuja MahA deSikAya namaH

SrImate ra~.NganAtha mahA deSikAya namaH.

SrI ra’nganAtha divya maNi pAdukAbhyAm namaH

 

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

(continued from the 1972 Chennai upanyAsam)

 

AyodhyA kANDam

 

gacchhatA mAtula kulaM bharatena tadA'naghaH |

Satrughno nityaSatrughno nItaH prItipuraskRtaH || (ayodhyA. 1.1.)

 

vAlmIki's Sloka-s are superb and adorable!

 

Everyone was living happily in the city of ayodhyA. rAmar was rendering all

services that a son should be offering to His father. vAlmIki describes this

very nicely:

 

kRta dArAH kRtAstrASca sadhanAH sasuhRjjanAH |

SuSrUshamANAH pitaram vartayanti nararshabhAH || (bAla.77.19-20)

 

kRta dArAH - rAma, lakshmaNa, bharata and Satrughna were all living happily with

their wives. kRtAstrAH ca - they were all valorous. sadhanAH - they were all

financially well off. What if, soon after the marriage, the son comes to his

father and asks for money to buy soap? There is nothing more pathetic than

that! sadhanAH - they all had a lot of their own money.

 

sasuhRjjanAH - all the four had a lot of friends, including some very close

ones. They were all very happy. SuSrUshamANAH pitaram vartayanti nararshabhAH

- look at vAlmIki! Normally, sons do service to fathers! Isn't that true in

this world? Not that they will not, but they barely have enough time to take

care of their own needs!! (audience bursts into laughter).

 

They did a lot of kaimkaryam to their father. rAmastu sItayA sArdham vijahAra

bahUn RtUn | vAlmIki says - " bahUn RtUn " He did not say - " bahUn mAsAn "

(many months) or " bahUn divasAn " (many days) or bahUn varshAn " (many years).

 

rAmastu sItayA sArdham vijahAra bahUn RtUn | (bAla..77.33)

 

These questions must be posed to rAmAyaNa upanyAsaka-s who are also family

people. I am a sanyAsi.

 

manasvI tatgatastasyA nityam hRdi samarpitaH | (bAla.77.33)

 

They lived happily together as appropriate for each season. .

rAma had a special love for sItA, why?

 

priyA tu sItA rAmasya dArAH pitRkRtA iti | (bAla.77.34)

 

Because it was a wedding that was approved and conducted by His father! Since

His father approved that marriage, He had a special love for sItA

 

guNaiH rUpaguNaiH cApi prItiH bhUyobhyavardhata | (bAla.77.34)

 

sItA’s character was exemplary. She was endowed with good characteristics

like servitude to father-in-law, servitude to husband, shyness, feminine

innocence, feminine fear etc. Because of these guNams also, rAma had extreme

fondness for sItA.

 

guNaiH rUpaguNaiH - it is not enough if one has good character; one has to have

beauty of form also.

 

What if one has only good character and the person is not beautiful? If that

person serves food, one has to eat with closed eyes! What is the use if the

girl is not beautiful?

 

guNaiH rUpaguNaiH cApi - Her character was exemplary. rAma’s love for her

grew and grew.

 

tayA sa rAjarshi suto.abhirAmayA sameyivAn uttama rAjakanyayA |

atIva rAmaH SuSubhe’tikAmayA vibhuH SriyA vishNurivAmareSvaraH ||

(bAla.77.38)

 

rAmar stayed with sItA in the palace just like mAhAvishNu stays with lakshmi.

VAlmIki says they were together like that for a long time. That is how he

concludes bAla kANDam. The whole essence of bAla kANDam is that rAma became

sItArAma. The most important philosophical truth for us is perumAL together

with pirATTi. Only divyadampati-s are our God.

 

In bAlakANDam, rAma’s birth and sItA’s marriage are the significant events.

 

rAma avatAram or incarnation signifies that paramAtmA makes His appearance

amongst us for the benefit of His devotees. svAmi deSikan has blessed us with a

wonderful svApadeSam (inner meaning) for sItA’s wedding. That day, when we

asked this svAmi (AcAryan is pointing to SrI citrakUTam vijayarAghavAcAriyAr) to

speak, he pointed that out; do you remember it or not?

 

What do people ask when someone says he went to the upanyAsam on ‘sItA’s

marriage’? They ask, “How much sambhAvanai (money) did you getâ€! Do they

ask – “what did svAmi say�

 

A great, supreme sAstric message is revealed in sItA’s wedding. What is the

inner meaning behind sItA’s marriage? What is the essence? What is so

special?

 

dattAH prajA janakavat tava deSikendraiH

patyA.abhinandya bhavatA pariNIyamAnAH |

mAdhye satAm mahita bhoga viSeshasidhyai

mA~NgalyasUtramiva bibhrati kinkaratvam ||

(SaraNAgati dIpikA – 30)

 

says svAmi deSikan. The inner meaning is that, just as King Janaka offered

sItA, who actually belonged to perumAL, in marriage to perumAL, AcAryan offers

the jIvAtmA, who is ‘svataH Sesha bhUtam’ – by its very nature, the

property of BhagavAn and His eternal servant - to perumAL through the offering

of the jIva to Him, through the act of Atma samarpaNam or bharanyAsam.

Marriage is for the body; and there is a marriage for the AtmA or soul.

Getting married is for the body. AtmA is also like a woman. Just as women are

dependent, the jIvAtmA is also dependent on paramAtmA – that is the doctrine.

JIvAtmA is subservient to paramAtmA. This jIvAtmA is being surrendered to

paramAtmA.

 

PerumAL alone is the ‘husband’. Everyone else is a woman. strI prAyam

itarat sarvam – everybody else is a woman. I have told you about mIrA’s

story before; do you remember that?

 

mIrA was doing bhajanai in dvArakai. mIrA was a great devotee of BhagavAn..

She was singing the praise of KRshNa’s kalyANa guNa-s beautifully, and was

doing bhajan along with several other women. In one of the streets, there was a

sign that said that a svAmi was giving a lecture on SrI bhAgavatam. Students of

that svAmi were listening to his talk. mIrA looked at that and thought – he

is doing kAlakshepam; should I also go and listen? She sent one of her followers

to find out if she can come and join. The follower went and asked the

svAmi/AcAryan if she can come and sit there and listen.

 

The svAmi said – ‘This lecture is not for women. It is only for men.’

mIrA’s follower came back and told mIrA.

 

mIrA said, “Oh! Did he say like that! We have been of the opinion that

bhagavAn, who is puroshottaman, SrIman nArAyaNan, is the only man. Everyone

else is a woman. Now it looks like there are other men besides perumALâ€.

 

“Our doctrine is that everyone other than PerumAL is a stree – woman. But

now it seems there are other purusha-s too. May be that svAmi is giving

discourse to these other ‘purusha-s’.

 

Somebody listened to her words and relayed that to the svAmi. svAmi asked,

“What did mIrA say?†They replied: “This is what mIrA saidâ€.

 

The svAmi thought about mIrA’s words. He said, “That is correctâ€. He

stopped giving his lecture, and ran to where mIrA was. mIrA was continuing with

her bhajan.

 

“Mother! I did not have this knowledge! You are so knowledgeable!â€

 

strI prAyam itarat sarvam

 

pA~ncAlI gAtra SobhAhRta hRdaya vadhUvarga pumbhAvanItyA

patyau padmA sahAye praNayini bhajataH preyasI pAratantRyam |

….

(dramiDopanishad tAtparya ratnAvaLI – slokam 3)

 

He prostrated before mIrA saying, “We only keep chanting Slokams; We did not

get the knowledge that He is the only man, and the rest are all womenâ€. mIrA

said: “svAmi should not prostrate to meâ€, and she prostrated before that

svAmi. That svAmi joined mIrA in her bhajans and went with her.

 

Thus, all jIvAtmAs are like women. King Janaka was a great follower of

karmAnushThAnam. Great knower. He had received instructions through the

teachings of yAg~navalkyar.

 

An AcAryan of the standing of King Janaka, who is all-knowing and a great

follower of AcAram, is offering this jIvAtmA to perumAL; this is what sItA

kalyANam is all about.

 

Does sItA belong to King Janaka or to rAma?

 

sItA, who already belonged to perumAL, has taken an incarnation and is staying

with Janaka. Janaka, who was considering sItA as his own daughter, said,

“pratIccha†– “rAma, you takeâ€, instead of saying, “I give youâ€.

Just like that, Atma vivAham or marriage is the act of AcAryan, who submits the

jIvAtmA, that thinks it belongs to itself and that really belongs to perumAL and

is His SeshabhUtan, to emperumAn – that is the inner meaning of sItA’s

wedding.

 

If this topic of AtmA’s marriage – the surrendering of AtmA – is titled as

‘Atma samarpaNam’ – the surrendering of the soul to PerumAL, none of you

will come to listen to the upanyAsam. That is why it is said in a hidden

manner; the story was named “sItA kalyANam†so that people will listen to

it. That is why vAlmIki said this story.

 

dattAH prajA janakavat tava deSikendraiH

patyA.abhinandya bhavatA pariNIyamAnAH |

(SaraNAgati dIpikA 30)

 

How was sItA, who was given as kanyAdAnam to PerumAL by King Janaka?

 

priyA tu sItA rAmasya dArAH pitRkRtA iti

guNaiH rUpaguNaiH cApi prItiH bhUyobhyavardhata |

(bAla.77.34)

 

rAma took sItA with great love; He was very fond of sItA because she was given

by Janaka, because of her exemplary character and beauty and because daSaratha

had approved of the marriage. Just like that, perumAL has great love for the

jIvAtmA and considers him as an object to be protected. svAmi had said even on

the first day that this is the inner meaning that is revealed in sItA kalyANam.

(Editor’s note – I think SrImad ANDavan is referring to SrIkAryam svAmi –

citrakUTam VijayarAgavAcAriAr. When Governor K.K.Sha inaugurated this

upanyAsam, SrIkAryam svAmi also addressed the gathering).

 

All I am doing now is reminding you all about that; that is all.

 

The essence of bAla kaNDam is that our God is rAman inseparably associated with

sItA.

 

In ayodhyA kANDam, vaLmIki is going to say that this sItArAman, who is

sarveSvaran, has unlimited kalyANa guNams that no one else can match up to.

Thus he starts ayodhyA kANDam story.

 

===========

To be continued …..