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

 

There was a great forest officer. He was earning 4000 rupees salary those days.

He was a forest officer in the big forest where elephants were roaming. He was

the only officer. The others were workers who had jobs like cutting trees etc.

It was a dense, deep forest. That is where he was posted with a salary of 4000

rupees. He probably earned more by selling trees etc. (big laughter in the

audience). Leave that alone. He was earning 4000 rupees. His accounts had to

be scrutinized to see if they were okay. Central government had sent another

higher official earning 10,000 rupees to check his accounts. He came to this

forest. He could not eat anywhere. He had to eat in this first officer's

house. He stayed for three days and went over the first officer's accounts. No

mistake could be found. All the incomes, expenses, tree/bark accounts etc were

all right. He declared they were all correct. There was no messing up with two

different

accounts. There was only one account and he had kept it perfect.

 

The higher official was eating in his house for three days. He said he wanted

to leave home the next day. The forest officer asked him to have a feast

before leaving. The higher official agreed and enjoyed the elaborately prepared

meal. It was a great, sumptuous feast. mOr kuzhambu [buttermilk soup], taro

root, delicious sAttumudu [/rasam] that had well cooked lentil - normally, the

lentil [toor dhal] will be individually visible - not like that; it was

prepared well flavored and garnished with lemon juice, asafoetida, cilantro etc

and the flavor was enticing the nose. The higher official took that sAttumudu

and everything else. He then lied down. He started vomiting. The sAttumudu

was done in a vessel which was not quoted with lead [contrary to present day

belief that food must not be cooked in a lead quoted vessel, traditional

sAttumudu or rasam was made only in lead quoted vessel called Iyap pAttiram].

Since so many items had to be cooked,

the wife had cooked the sAttumudu in a vessel that had no lead coating.

 

The higher official was really sick with gurgling of the stomach. He was taken

to the doctor. He left for his own place. He was extremely angry and felt that

the forest official had deliberately created a food poison. So, he did not

give him a promotion and did not respond to him at all; he also transferred him

to Orissa.

 

The forest officer furiously asked his wife why she had committed that mistake.

There was no problem with his accounts. Just because of the sAttumudu not being

made in the right vessel, he was transferred to a place 1000 miles away with a

de-promotion.

 

After the forest officer got transferred, he was working there; a few days

passed by. His father felt like visiting his son in the new place; he sent a

letter saying he was coming because he had not seen him for a long time. He

came and stayed for ten days. He said, " I do not like this place. I want to go

and take a bath in my place in kAvEri river. I want to go home " . So, the

daughter-in-law offered to cook a special meal. That day also, she made

sAttumudu in an ordinary vessel (not quoted with lead). The father started

feeling feverish and vomited. The forest officer chided his wife saying that it

was all because she did not cook in the lead-quoted vessel. The father told

him, " How can be this be her fault? When you got married and started the

family, if a nice 'Iyam' [lead] quoted Kumbakonam vessel had been bought, this

would not have happened. Normally, girl's mother buys the family things,

vessels etc from cities like Bombay and arranges

to start her daughter's family instead of the boy's mother. So, who is

responsible for the mistake of making sAttumudu in non-lead-quoted vessel? The

fault is ours. "

 

What did the higher official do? He gave him a de-promotion. What did the

father say? " It was all our mistake. When the newly married couple started the

family, it was our fault that we did not get you both a good set of vessels,

stainless steel, brass and lead-quoted ones. " He went to the store, sold some

old vessels and got a new vessel quoted with Iyam and gave it to them. Why?

Because he was a father.

 

A third person found fault with this son; who? The higher official. He did not

have a forgiving nature. Being the forest officer's father and a relative, the

second person felt it was his own family's fault.

 

That is the case with rAma. na smaratyapakArANAm Satam apyAtmavattayA | The

stress is on the word 'AtmavattayA'. This Slokam can be understood only with an

example story. It means 'because He is AtmA'.

 

rAma never thinks about a person's mistakes. If he makes a mistake or steals,

rAma thinks, ' We gave him that kind of an intellect to steal. We did not give

him a good mental attitude. That is why he committed this blunder. He is

living in prthvI maNDalam (earth) and is suffering. May be, We have not

directed him right in Our role as his AtmA. That is why he is behaving like

this'.

 

na smaratyapakArANAm Satam apyAtmavattayA |

katha'ncit upakAreNa kRtena ekena tushyati | (ayodhyA.1.11)

 

He feels satisfied if a person does any kind of act. Even if that act is

apakAram [offense], He does not take it into consideration. He will think that

he did that because He did not give good intellect to the person - AtmavattayA;

" dadAmi bhuddhi-yogam " (gItA 10.10) and that if He had given him good mental

disposition, he would have acted in the right manner. He never thinks about any

one's fault.

 

na smaratyapakArANAm Satam apyAtmavattayA |

 

rAghava will think - what fault has he committed?

 

SIla vRddhaiH jn~AnavRddhaiH vayovRddhaiH ca sajjanaiH |

kathayan Asta vai nityam astrayogyAntareshvapi || (ayodhyA.1.12)

 

He liked to converse with the great elders of proper conduct, knowledge or age.

He could learn AcAram [proper conduct] and obtain knowledge from them; He liked

to talk to elders to learn from their experiences. He kept company with great

elders. buddhimAn (ayodhyA.1.13) ; He had a superior intellect and quickly

grasped what was said to Him.

 

There are three kinds of intellect - 1. taila buddhi, 2. mRdpiNDa buddhi, 3.

saikata buddhi.

 

saikata [sand] buddhi - if you pour water over kAvEri river sand, the water will

be absorbed right away; it will not be there the next day. Like that, a person

may be taught something today, he will grasp them immediately; but he will

forget what he learned the very next day. That is called saikata buddhi. He

will understand the subject even the first time he hears; but he will not know

if asked later - just like the sand. That is saikata buddhi.

 

mRdpiNDa [clay lump] buddhi - It is the greatest kind (AcAryar's humor). Clay

used to be utilized for making ovens in olden days. We have forgotten now

because of the advent of cement ovens. Clay lumps will be broken into pieces,

collected and pounded; water will be poured into hand-poked depressions in the

clay. The idea is to grind them all together. The water will not soak through

even for ten days. It will stay put. It will even stay like that for a month.

Slowly, the water will seep in; when this happens, the clay lump become wet and

it will not dry in that state; it will take a month for it to become dry.

 

Sometimes I visit some places to do upanyAsam. I will say some jokes. Some

will laugh after two or three minutes. If asked why they are laughing so late,

they will say, " Doesn't it need time to soak in? " (Laughter in the audience)

That kind of intellect is called mRdpiNDa buddhi.

 

taila [oil] buddhi - that is the best one. Place a drop of oil in vessel

containing water. It will form red, blue, green and black colors and spread

over the whole water surface. Like that, it is enough if you teach just one

point to some people, like lawyers. All a lawyer needs is one point. For the

sake of his client, he will delve deep into law books for five hours and talk on

behalf of him. That is termed taila buddhi. It is enough if he is given one

subject. He will say that he will take care of it and go and give a detailed

talk. That is taila buddhi. rAma is a buddhimAn. What kind of buddhi? It was

taila buddhi.

 

buddhimAn madhurAbhAshI - Whenever He talked, He was a sweet conversationalist.

He never knew how to hurt others with words. There are people who hurt others by

indulging in verbal abuse. rAma never knew that.

 

buddhimAn madhurAbhAshI pUrvabhAshI priyam vadaH |

(ayodhyA.1.13)

 

If He meets a person, He will be the first one to initiate the conversation.

He will not wait for the other party to begin.

pUrvabhAshI priyam vadaH; He will speak only about good things even in the case

of truth and never deliver unpleasant news with His mouth.

 

There are some typical characters. A person visited a friend's house; he asked

his friend why he was sitting at 10 am in the morning. The friend said that it

was SrAddham day, a cook was cooking inside and was half-way done and that he

was waiting for the svAmigaL [officiating priest].

 

" Is it today? "

 

" Yes, today. "

 

" You have tITTu [pollution from the death of a relative] today! Today is the

fifth day. " [This visitor is indicating that some relative has died and so this

friend has tiTTu; he should not be doing SrAddham that day]. (Laughter in the

audience).

 

priayamvadaH - This kind of news must be told another day; the relative might

have died, but should this visitor announce it at that time [when the friend was

ready to do SrAddham]?

 

buddhimAn madhurAbhAshI pUrvabhAshI priyam vadaH |

 

rAma will always present only pleasing messages; He will never deliver

unpleasant news.

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(To be continued)