AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. September08 Part 3)

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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 3)

 

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

 

When both bhagavAn and bhAgavata-s are available, bhAgavata kaimkaryam has a

higher merit; so, when bharata left for his uncle's place, SatrughnAzhvAn also

left without caring about good day or star for travel. Thinking of himself as

bharata's sword or garment or luggage [for which good day or star need not be

determined for travel], he left with bharata. SatrughnaH nitya SatrughnaH nItaH

prIti puraskRtaH | (ayodhyA. 1.1) 'When bharata is going, does his sword also

need a calculation of good day for travel? Does his luggage trunk need one?

Or, do his garments need one? Just as acetana [inanimate] things do not need

to get a good travel day calculated, why does bharata's Sesha bhUtan

[subservient] like me need one?'

 

gacchatA mAtula kulam bharatena tadA'nagaH |

 

SatrughnAzhvAn is so deeply involved in bhAgavata kaimkaryam.

 

SatrughnaH nitya SatrughnaH nItaH prIti puraskRtaH |

 

Such kind of people will fondly serve only bhAgavata-s.

 

I have already told you in the first day of kAlakshepam. What is that?

 

It is said -

mat-bhakta-jana vAtsalyam pUjAyAm cA'numodanam

 

anAdhRtasutam gehI purusham nAbhinandati

tadA'narcita sadbhaktam bhagavAn nA'bhinandati

 

Some person is going to visit a wealthy man, who is sitting on the front porch.

That wealthy man's child is playing in the front lawn. When the child sees the

svAmi who had come to visit, he comes running to watch. If the visitor says,

“Do not touch me! Go away! You are vizhuppu [unclean]â€, and proceeds to go

and see the wealthy man, how angered will the latter (the boy's father) be? He

will not even let the visitor near him. Like that, if a person neglects

bhAgavata-s and comes to Him, perumAL will not take this person. There are

eight kinds of bhakti-s. [fn 1] Out of the eight, the first one mentioned is

matbhaktajana vAtsalya. pUjAyAm cA'numodanam – bhagavad pUja comes only after

that. Since bhAgavata bhakti is on a higher caliber than bhagavad bhakti,

SatrughnAzhvAn's way is the best. That is exactly what SrI vaishNava

sampradAyam is.

 

gacchatA mAtula kulam bhratena tadA'nagaH

Satrughno nitya SatrughnaH nItaH priti puraskRtaH ||

 

So, when bharata left for his uncle's house in kekaya desam, Satrughna also left

with him with a desire to serve him.

 

rAma and lakshmaNa are staying in ayodhyA with their wives. rAma is staying

with His wife, sItA. He serves His father very well. The Lord of all the lords

is showing how to serve a father. That rAma is the sarveSvaran to whom all the

deva-s surrendered with a request to vanquish rAvaNa.

 

sahi devaiH udIrNasya rAvaNasya vadhArthibhiH |

arthito mAnushe loke jan~je vishNuH sanAtanaH ||

(ayodhyA. 1.7)

 

If those deva-s had been defeated by ordinary rAkshasa, they would not have

surrendered. udIrNasya rAvaNasya vadhArthibhiH – since rAvaNa was very

strong, they requested sarveSvaran to take avatAram in the earth. SarveSvaran

came to this bhUmi.

 

vAlmIki stands bewildered saying, “He came, He cameâ€.

 

arthito mAnushe loke jan~je – Why should He come to this manushya lokam? He

came and was born in the earth where the deva-s do not [want to] come. This is

a very interesting Slokam.

 

VyAkyAnam on this is as follows:

 

If the deva-s are asked to come to this earth, they say - “No; even if we

touch this bhUmi, we feel like vomiting. Even the nectar that we took during

last paurNami [full moon day] is coming out as vomitâ€. They say that our

country has unpleasant odor. Do we feel that way? Only they think so. Even

when we do yAgam for them, they make agni bhagavAn bring their share and when he

takes it to them, they take it, but facing away from him (they do not even want

to see his face). Those deva-s asked sarveSvaran to come to earth bearing all

the bad smell.

 

arthito mAnushe loke jan~je vishNuH sanAtanaH |

 

One who is sanAtanaH [Eternal] came and was “born†and earned the name

“piRandAn†(was born).

 

SarveSvaran vishNu made Himself born! He made Himself born! VishNu, who is

Omnipresent, came and was born as 'SrIrAma' – vAlmIki keeps admiring.

 

daSaratha had four sons. Of the four sons, there was no one son like rAma.

guNaiH daSarathopamaH (ayodhyA.1.8) – bhagavAn was born with His own

extraordinary traits as well as traits equivalent to daSaratha's.

 

He had sarveSvaran's auspicious guNa-s as well as his father's qualities. rAma

was a great son.

 

VAlmIki says -

 

sa ca nityam praSantAtmA mrdu pUrvam prabhAshate |

ucyamAno'pi parusham nottaram pratipadyate || (ayodhyA.1.10)

 

These two sentences of vAlmIki are worth chanting everyday.

 

sa ca nityam praSantAtmA – He was ever peaceful. He could never be provoked.

 

mrdu pUrvam prabhAshate - when He was talking to anyone, He talked very

softly. He never talked with authority. His thought was – if He talked

authoritatively, the listeners would become afraid. pUrvam prabhAshate | Our

nature is that, even if we see people we have known for a long time, we will

wait till the other person starts the conversation.

 

rAma pUrvam prabhAshate - mrdu pUrvam prabhAshate – He talked very soft. It

is said that this ANDavan [AcAryar himself] is a soft talker. That is not

enough. How does rAma talk? mrdu pUrvam prabhAshate – people say I need two

microphones. mrdu pUrvam prabhAshate |

 

ucyamAno'pi parusham nottaram pratipadyate ||

 

Even when He was chided to the point of getting provoked, He would not answer.

 

parusham ucyamAno'pi parusham nottaram pratipadyate ||

 

He never responded even when someone spoke to Him with anger. Normally, if

someone is told, “You are badâ€, a quick retort would be, “Only you are

bad, your father is bad†etc. rAma never talked back. Such was His nature.

 

kathamcit upakAreNa kRtenaikena tushyati |

nasmaratyapakArANAm Satam apyAtmavattayA || (ayodhyA.1.11)

 

kathamcit upakAreNa kRtenaikena tushyati |

 

Even if we try very hard to make mistakes, He will not think about them.

 

nasmaratyapakArANAm Satam apyAtmavattayA ||

 

The meaning for this AtmavattayA must be told by an AcAryan and should be

listened to. My svAmi (SrImad tErazhundUr ANDavan) must explain this. And we

should listen.

 

kathamcit upakAreNa kRtenaikena tushyati | - no matter what mistakes we make, He

will forget them. If we do some good deed some day, He will remember that.

Even if did not think of doing something good, but we did it without any desire,

still He will think of that as a great help. kathamcit upakAreNa kRtenaikena

tushyati | He does not remember any apakAram.

 

katamcit upakAreNa - a person bought four or five bunches of bananas and kept

them in his home. He asked everyone to eat them. They all did. He asked his

wife if she took them. Wife said that she did and she had kept four or five

because they were rotten. He asked her - “Why didn't you tell me yesterday

itself? I would have taken them to the temple? You are telling me nowâ€. So

saying, he took four bananas to the temple (laughter in the audience).

kathamcit upakAreNa kRtenaikena tushyati |

 

He offered four rotten bananas to perumAL who took them. PerumAL was very

pleased. He did not reject the rotten bananas. He felt happy that he had at

least brought them and offered to Him (audience laughs). kRtenaikena tushyati |

 

kaNNan laid down with rukmiNI. He was conversing with her. kRsNa had a

vomiting sensation. rukmiNI got up. “What is this? What happened? Was

sattumudu [or rasam = watery soup] not done in a vessel quoted with Iyam [lead;

it is legendary to make this soup in a vessel made out of the alloy of copper

and zinc coated with lead to make it more flavored; this practice is considered

to be more risky in current day hygiene]? Didn't the cooks perform their duties

correctly? Why do you keep such servants for work? Shouldn't you be more

careful? Shouldn't you take care of your health? What is this vomiting? There

is so much vomit.â€

 

kaNNan said, “Nothing! The cooks are all okay. Nothing elseâ€.

 

rukimiNI insisted further. kaNNan said, “Nothing! It is all because of what

a cow-owner didâ€.

 

A cow-owner had ten or twenty cows. He used to provide water etc to the cows

and calves. One of his cows would drink the kazhunIr [water in which rice or

lentil has been washed] only if he gave taviDu [bran] also. One of the cows

would drink only pure water. Another cow would need kazhunIr, paruttikoTTai

[cotton seeds] and taviDu and puNNAkku [oil cake] also. Another cow was a

paramaikAnti [devotee with a mind fixed on God alone] cow eating only grass. It

grew in " purisai " (AcAryar is indulging in humor here for purisai kalyANam mAmA

[uncle] – in the audience may be).

 

That cow did not drink the mixture of kazhunIr, paruttikoTTai, taviDu and

puNNAkku. The mixture started fermenting because it was so old.

 

Since that cow did not drink that, he gave that to a bull. The bull did not

like it either. Then, he gave it to its calf, which did not like it also. He

then said, “kRSNArppaNam astu†(laughter in the audience).

 

I took that. That is why I am vomiting. kathamcit upakAreNa kRtenaikena

tushyati |

 

He said “kRshNa†at least at the time when his cow, bull and calves refused

to drink the food. kRtenaikena tushyati | That fount its way to my stomach.

My vomiting will be cured.

 

Even if one offers without any love, He takes it.

 

kathamcit upakAreNa kRtenaikena tushyati |

-----------------------

[fn 1]

matbhaktajana vAtsalyam pUjAyAm cA'numodanam

matgatASravaNe bhaktiH svaranetrAnga vikriyA |

mayyAradhane yatnaH mamArtte Dambavarjanam

mamA'nusmaraNam nityam yaSca mAm nopajIvati ||

 

1. love to my devotees. 2. Doing pUjA to Me. 3. Listening to stories about Me.

4. Voice cracking, crying, hair standing up on end, all because of bhakti. 5.

Trying to do ArAdhanam for Me. 6. Egoless bhakti. 7. Constant thought about

Me. 8. Not making Me an object of business. - These are the eight kinds of

bhakti according to bhagavAn (pAncarAtram).

===========

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

issue of SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA)

-----------------

To be continued …..