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

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SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan’s SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam

 

gacchhatA mAtula kulaM bharatena tadA'naghaH |

Satrughno nityaSatrughno nItaH prItipuraskRtaH || (ayodhyA. 1.1)

 

This is the first Slokam in ayodhyA kANDam.

 

The king of kekaya (Kaikeyi’s father) told his son, YudhAjit, “I want to see

Bharata; bring himâ€.

 

YudhAjit was bharata’s uncle (Kaikeyi’s brother). He came to ayodhyA.

 

daSaratha extended a very special welcome to the guest. YudhAjit said,

“Grandfather wanted to see bharata and asked me to bring him; that is why I

cameâ€.

 

daSaratha sent Bharata with him happily.

 

gacchhatA mAtula kulaM bharatena tadA'naghaH |

Satrughno nityaSatrughno nItaH prItipuraskRtaH ||

 

This Slokam is very well analyzed in bhagavad vishayam.

 

gacchhatA mAtula kulaM – bharata went to his uncle’s place. When he left,

Satrughna also went with him. Satrughna is always with bharata, just as

lakshmaNa is always with rAma.

 

VAlmIki says that Satrughna has no blemish. anaghaH – one without any sin

(aghaH = pApam); he is sinless.

 

This Slokam is very prominent in SrIvaishNava vyAkhyAnams. SrI vaishNava-s do

very interesting vyAkhyAnam about viSishTAdvaita philosophy. The above Slokam

implies that Satrughna is the one who has no sin, which would suggest that the

other three are not without sin. ‘Those who were in the palace were all

sinners. He is the only one who did not commit any sin.’ What was the sin

committed by the others in the palace?

 

rAma darSana mAtra pApam – Satrughna is the one who does not have the sin of

rAma darSanam. rAma darSanam is the sin! If you say this today, people will

throw stones at you.

 

Why? When one looks at rAma, He will simply attract that person to Him! Then

one cannot do bhAgavata kaimkaryam. SAstram says the goal of life is to do

kaimkaryam to bhAgavata-s.

 

Bharata is a great bhAgavata. rAma will draw away Satrughna from doing

kainkaryam to Bharata. That is His nature.

 

tiritandAgilum devapirAnuDai

kariyakOlat tiruvuruk kANban nAn

periya vaN kurugUr nagar nambikku AL

uriyanAi aDiyEn peRRa nanmaiye.

(kaNNinuN SiruttAmbu – 3)

 

For those who want to attain salvation, both puNyam (virtue) and pApam (sin) are

obstacles and considered pApam or sin. Virtue also is a burden, similar to sin,

since the benefits of the good deeds also have to be enjoyed through another

birth.

 

buddhiyukto jahAtIga ubhe sukRta dushkRte (bhagavad. 2.50) – ‘’A man with

evenness of mind discards here and now, good and evil’.

 

SArnda iru valvinaigaLum Sarittu mAyap paRRaruttu.. ‘Obliterating all the good

and bad deeds that I have accumulated…’

(tiruvAimozhi

1.5.10)

 

aSva iva romANi vidhUya pApam candra iva rAhormukhAt pramucya …(chhAnDogya

upanishad 8.13.1) – ‘Shaking off all the sins like a horse shakes off his

hairs and shedding the body just like the moon gets out of the mouth of Rahu…

 

It is said that for attaining moksham ( salvation), one has to shed both puNyam

and pApam. Why should one shed the puNyam? Sin must be the one to be shed. Is

puNyam an enemy for going to moksham?

 

Yes. puNyam is an enemy! puNyam leads one to svargam or deva lokam.

Therefore it is an obstacle to attain moksham or salvation.

 

PApam or sin leads to hell or narakam and is an obstacle.to moksham. PuNyam

leads to svargam and prevents one from attaining moksham. What difference does

it make? The result is the same – no moksham.

 

Since puNyam is an obstacle to attaining the most supreme goal of reaching

bhagavAn, it is grouped together with pApam.

 

Like that, kaimkaryam to rAman is grouped with pApam because it is an obstacle

to one’s attaining the goal of service to bhAgavata-s. Since bhagavad sevai

is an obstacle to doing bhAgavata sevai, that is grouped as pApam. Satrughna is

one who does not have that pApam. Satrughna stayed away from seeing rAman even

though he was in the same palace in AyodhyA.

 

The eye is a great indriyam (sense organ). It cannot resist seeing! SatrughnaH

– The conquerer of enemies. Satrughna had won over the eyes! Who are the

enemies? The eye, ear, nose, tongue, tvak (skin) – these sense organs are our

enemies. We are in this samsAram only because we are ruined by these senses.

It is said that one attains greatness only by overcoming and controlling these

senses.

 

In the book “praSnottara mAlikAâ€, a student asks Adi Sankarar, “Who is a

valorous person?†He replies that one who wins over the five senses in the

body is a person of valor. We get ruined only by these senses. Satrughna won

over his eyes and managed to stay without looking at rAma.

 

Satrughno nityaSatrughno nItaH prItipuraskRtaH | - Satrughna who had conquered

the sense organs that are our constant enemies, was taken with Bharata.

 

Satrughna accompanied bharata right away. Why did he accompany him? Did he do

it thinking, “I have stayed with him all these days. What can I do? It is my

fate! So, let me go with him now?â€

 

No. nItaH prIti puraskRtaH – his love and attachment to Bharata nudged him

forward saying, “go, goâ€; so, he went.

 

daSaratha tells Satrughna – “bharata is leaving today; why don’t you go

tomorrow?! He can leave today early and go and stay in some station; you can go

and join him there. Why do you have to leave today itself? Don’t we have to

check if the star and date are okay for you? bharata and you have adjacent

stars. He was born under pushyam. You were born under Ayilyam. Don’t we

have to see whether the star and date are okay for you? For him, they are okay.

They may not be okay for you. Why do you want to go today?â€

 

Satrughna says, “We do not have to look for star and dateâ€.

 

“Why, aren’t you also a prince? Aren’t you also a son born to a king?

Don’t I have to look for this date and star for you?â€

 

“It is enough if it was seen for bharata. It doesn’t have to be seen for

meâ€.

 

“How is it enough?â€

 

“When you were checking the star and date for bharata, did you check the same

for his luggage? Did you check the same for his sword? Those things will

accompany him anyway. I am like those things. I will also accompany him when

he goes. I am subservient to him. I am just a thing belonging to him. So, you

do not have to check the star for me.“

 

BhAgavata Seshatvam (subservience to bhAgavatas – perumAL’s devotees) is

being stressed here in this Slokam. This is a very important character for

SrIvaishNava-s. That is how the special vyAkhyAnams explain this Slokam.

Tomorrow, (August 13, 1972), we will explain this and continue with the story.

 

svasti prajAbhyaH paripAlayantAM

nyAyyena mARgeNa mahIm mahISAH |

go-brAhmaNebhyaH Subham astu nityaM

lokAH samastAH sukhino bhavantu ||

 

mangaLam kosalendrAya mahanIya guNAbdhaye |

cakravarti tanUjAya sArvabhaumAya mangaLam ||

mangaLASAsanaparaiH madAcArya purogamaiH |

sarvaiSca pUrvaiH AcAryaiH satkRtAyAstu mangaLam ||

 

Next day, (August 13, 1972), upanyAsam begins with anusandhAnam of the

following:

 

SrImad vedavatamsa lakshamaNamuneH prAptAgamAnta dvayam

tena SrI raghupungavAnghriygaLe nyastAtma rakshAbharam

SrImad SrInidhi yogivarya karuNA labdhAbja cakrAnganam

vande SAnti virakti pUrNam anagham SrIranganAtham gurum

(tenpiRai ANDavan tannian)

 

diSantu me sadA tvadIyAH (HayagrIvar)

samasta jananIm vande (tAyAr)

kamapyanavadhim vande (tiruvenkaTamuDaiyAn)

vande tam yaminAm dhurandharam (SrIbhAshyakArar)

pitAmahasyApi pitAmahAya (tirumalainambigaL)

kUjantam (vAlmIki)

anjanAnandanam (tiruvaDi)

anjile onRu peRRAN (tiruvaDi)

kaRpAr rAmapirAnai allAl (tiruvAimozhi)

 

 

gacchhatA mAtula kulaM bharatena tadA'naghaH |

Satrughno nityaSatrughno nItaH prItipuraskRtaH || (ayodhyA. 1.1)

 

payilum SuDaroLi mUrttiyai pangayakkaNNanai

payila iniya nam pARkaDal SErnda paramanai

payilum tiruvuDaiyAr yavarElum avar kaNDIr

payilum piRappiDai tORu emmaiyALum paramarE

(tiruvAimozhi 3.7.1)

 

[AzhvAr declares that he is an eternal servant of the bhAgavata-s – devotees

of emperumAn – in any number of births he will take for that purpose.]

 

vAlmIki writes that because of his love for his brother Bharata, Satrughna also

went with bharata when bharata left for his uncle’s house.

 

mAtula kulaM gacchhatA bharatA, Satrughno nItaH prItipuraskRtaH – Satrughna

was taken to bharata’s uncle’s house by bharata.

 

The kekaya kingYudhAjit is the uncle only for bharata. He is not Satrughna’s

uncle; he is bharata’s mother’s brother. Kaikeyi’s father aSvapati

mahArAja wanted to see his grandson (bharata). Satrughna is Sumitra’s son.

 

mAtula kulaM gachhatA bharatena - when bharata went to his mother’s family;

nItaH – Satrughna also was taken.

 

Satrughna left at the same time as bharata. With the terms tadA and anaghaH,

Satrugna’s greatness is revealed. tadA means at the same time. Satrughna

AzhvAn was such a great servant of a bhAgavata and a bhAgavata SeshabhUtan

(subservient) that he did not want to check for his star or his own comforts and

left, considering service to bhAgavata the most important goal.

 

anaghaH – without any blemish; having no faults. If he sees bhagavAn, his

servitude to a bhAgavata will be hindered. Since kaimkaryam to bhagavAn is so

great, he may become very involved with that. So, he is trying not to look at

rAman - he does not have the blemish of hindered bhAgavata kaimkaryam. That is

how the vyAkhyAnam goes. Even when living in the same palace and the four of

them were coming together, he will not look at rAma. pumsAm dRshTi

cittApahAriNam – rAma’s form is such that if anyone looks at Him, His beauty

will draw that person to Him. It is stressed that servitude to a bhAgavata is

considered primary and more important. Therefore, because looking at bhagavAn

will get in the way of doing bhAgavata kaimkaryam, he won over his eyes and

other senses and made his name, “Satrughnaâ€, meaningful.

 

Satrughna means one who vanquishes or subdues the enemies. It is pointed out

that winning over the inner senses in the body like the eyes, ears, etc., is

more valorous than winning the enemies outside.

 

SatrughnaH nityaSatrughnaH – there are two kinds of enemies – nitya Satrus

and anitya Satrus. Those who are outside the body are called anitya Satrus;

they will be enemies for a few days and then they may become friends.

 

SEmam SenkOn aruLE, SeRuvArum naTpAguvar enRu

Emam peRa vaiyam sollum meyyE, paNDellAm aRaikUy

yAmangaL tORu eri vISum nam kaNNan antaNNam tuzhAit

tAmam punaiya avvADai IdO vandu taNNenRadE.

(tiruvituttam-27)

 

SeRuvArum naTpAguvar – those who are enemies for some time will become

friendly later (at this point, a great scholar is coming to the sabha to listen

to SRImad ANDavan’s upanyAsam; so the topic changes). SvAmi is a great

scholar. He is the resident vidvAn of ahobila mutt. He is very close to all of

us. If he is asked to speak, he can speak for hours together. Because that

will hinder our current program, I have asked him not to speak. Should I ask

him to talk? (audience laughs). AcAryar continues.

 

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To be continued …..