AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. September08 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. September08 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

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SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan’s SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam

 

If bharata went to his uncle's house, how did it matter to Satrughna? Why did

he accompany him? nitaH prIti puraskRtaH – he went because of his affection.

It is bhAgavata prIti; he went to perform bhAgavata kainkaryam. bharata is a

great rAma bhakta and a great bhAgavata. It is Satrughna's way of serving a

bhakta and bhAgavata. It is the way of SrI vaishNava-s; madurakavi AzhvAr

followed the same path.

 

tunbaRRa madurakavi tOnRak kATTum

tolvazhiyE nalvazhigaL tuNivArgaTkE

(adhikAra sangraham -2 and also rahasyatrayasAram - guruparamparA sAram)

 

In rahasyatrayasAram, svAmi deSikan says – madurakavi AzhvAr's way is what SrI

vaishNava sampradAyam should be. He is named madura kavi. Was he named like

that because he sang about his AcArya? No one was named madura kavi for singing

the praise of PerumAL. It is enough if one just desires to be with AcArya. The

name of nammAzhvAr generates the sweetness of nectar in the mouth. The same does

not happen when PerumAL's name is uttered. What can we do? It is enough if we

say 'nammAzhvAr'. We experience so much bliss. How much bliss is this? There

is happiness involved with the five senses – applying sandalwood to the body,

wearing flowers, eating halvA (sweet), seeing pleasing sights, listening to

music, keeping a baby in the lap etc. These are supposed to be great

enjoyments. On a greater scale is the bliss experienced in the deva lokam. The

delight in brahma lokam is even greater than the latter one. Even greater

contentment comes from

being in 'kaivalyam' where the jIvAtmA has left the body and is in an atom

state and is ever-existent and does kainkaryam to bhagavAn. Higher than this

state of enjoyment comes from being in paramapadam where vaikuNThanAthan is

“vIRRirundu Ezhulagum tanikkOl Sella†(tiruvAi. 4.5.1) - ruling over

fourteen universes and nitya vibhUti, and is seated on His bed, AdiSeshan, along

with His consorts and is being served by nitya sUri-s; experiencing this

bhagavAn vaikuNThanAthan is the highest of all enjoyments.

 

Even higher than that felicity is the one where we can enjoy when He Himself

comes down to kshIrAbdi as four mUrti-s - vAsudeva, sankarSana, pradhyumna and

aniruddha. On a higher scale of bliss is the one where we can enjoy Him as a

hRdaya kamala mUrti – One residing in our hearts as antaryAmi. Greater

ecstasy arises from seeing Him as His ten avatarA-s. Of all the ten, the

highest delight comes from worshipping Him as nRsimhAvatam, rAmAvatAram and

kRSNAvatAram. kRSNa, who took birth in a jail and made Himself easily available

to the naïve AyppADi folks is the most delightful of these three.

 

Even in kRSNAvatAram, the most enjoyable is experiencing Him as bAla kRSNa. His

tiru AyppADi pastimes are even more pleasant. Words cannot describe that bliss.

Of all the pastimes to enjoy, His being tied to a mortar by yaSodha is the most

pleasing. That is when He showed all His saulabhyam (easily accessible) -

“ettiRam uralinODu iNaindirundu Engiya eLivE†(tiruvAi. 1.3.1) - a naïve

woman tied the all powerful paramAtma because of His saulabhyam - “yadi

Saknoshi gaccha tvam ati cancala ceshTita! (VishNu PurANam - 5.6.15) – it is

most enjoyable to think about His being tied to the mortar on His chest by a

woman.

 

Madurakavi says that experiencing his AcArya is of a higher form of enjoyment

than enjoying that kRSNAvatAram.

 

kaNNi nuN ciruttAmbinAl kaTTuNNap

paNNiya perumAyan ennappanil

naNNitten kurugUr nambi ennakkAl

aNNikkum amudURum ennAvukkE!

 

“naNNittenkurugUr nambi ennakkAl aNNikkum amudUrum en nAvukkE†is a much

better experience than enjoying emperumAn kaNNan, who got tied by a rope.

AzhvAr says that when he utters the name of ten kurugUr nambi – His AcArya

nammAzhvAr who was born in ten kurugUr kshetram, sweet nectar is generated in

his palate.

 

Since bhAgavata kainkaryam is superior to kainkaryam to bhagavAn, not even

looking at rAma in the palace, Satrughna got involved with serving bharata;

VAlmIki praises him as anaghaH – one without any blemish. He is one who does

bhAgavata kainkaryam.

 

gacchatA mAtula kulaM bharatena tadA'naghaH |

Satrughno nityaSatrughno nItaH prItipuraskRtaH || (ayodhyA. 1.1)

 

Another question is asked of madurakavi AzhvAr – What is this? You are saying

you do not need PerumAL! Even though you denounce PerumAL, what will you do if

PerumAL comes to you? Will you worship if PerumAL comes to your doorstep or

not?

 

AzhvAr says - “I will worship; I will not forego thatâ€.

 

tiri tandAgilum deva pirAnuDai

kariya kOlat tiru uruk kANban nAn

periyavaN kurugUr nagar nambhikku AL

uriyanAi aDiyEn peRRa nanmaiyE! (kaNNi nuN - 3)

 

deva pirAnuDai kariya kOlat tiru uruk kANban nAn – I will worship the divine,

extraordinary, blue-cloud-hued form of bhagavAn.

 

AzhvAr, will you worship PerumAL also?

 

AzhvAr says, “ I am not worshiping PerumAL directly. I am looking at

emperumAn because my AcArya likes Him - kariya kOlat tiru urukkANban nAn.

nammAzhvAr is enough for me. But, since my AzhvAr is worshiping Him, I will also

fold my hands before Him, that is all.

 

I told you a story the other day; do you remember that or not?

 

There was a father; he had a son. He got him married. Daughter-in-law came to

the house. They had a child. Father and son started a fight. There was some

misunderstanding! Nothing else. Because the matters became worse, he set up a

separate living place for his son in the next street. Father was living in one

house. Son was living in one house with his wife.

 

The baby became one year old. The daughter-in-law said, “The baby has to live

a blessed life. Go call your father and mother! I will also come. We need to

get their blessings for our babyâ€. Both of them went and told the parents,

“ We have to do Ayush homam for the baby; both of you must attendâ€.

 

Parents agreed. They also like baby; they do not have anything to hate the

baby.

 

Father and mother went to attend the Ayush homam. The officiating priest came

and did the Ayush homam in a special way. He did navagraha homam (AcAryan is

indulging in humor here); they did annap prAsanam – fed the baby food for the

first time. He chanted special blessings for the baby. The priest was given

dakshiNai – compensation. taM tvA sincAmi yajushA prajAm AyurdhanaM ca!

rocano rocamAnaH SobhanaH SobhanaH kalyAnaH .. the priest completed everything.

It is customary to prostrate before elders after everything is done. Both the

daughter-in-law and son prostrated before the parents; they made the child also

do the same. They sprinkled akshadai (rice for blessing) for the baby,

daughter-in-law and son.

 

When the son was prostrating, tears appeared in father's eyes. It did not

happen when daughter-in-law was prostrating and when the baby was prostrating.

The father had come only because of his love for the baby; the son was living

separately. He asked his son, “Why are you prostrating? You left us saying

you do not need us and why are you prostrating now?â€

 

Son said, “Father! I will not prostrate also. I am doing it because she did

it!†(laughter in the audience).

 

tiri tandAgilum deva pirAnuDai

kariya kOlat tiru urukkANban nAn

periyavaN kurugUr nagar nambhikku AL

uriyanAi aDiyEn peRRa nanmaiyE!

 

AzhvAr is sufficient for me. I will worship him only. My AzhvAr is worshiping

PerumAL. Because he worships Him, I am also folding my hands in worship to Him.

It is really not my intent.

 

It is like the story where the son says that he prostrated because the

daughter-in-law prostrated. He is having a practice that he should be doing

whatever she is doing! (audience laughs) That is all.

 

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(To be continued)