AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. November 08 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. November 08 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

 

prajA sukhatve candrasya vasudhAyAH kshamAguNaiH ||

(ayodhyA.2.30)

 

When the people assembled in the court were talking about bhagavAn, daSaratha

asked them, " When I am here, why are you all desiring to choose my son instead

of me as a king? "

 

They all responded that He was more virtuous than him. He asked what virtues

made Him better. bahavo nRpa! kalyANa guNAH putrasya santi te |

(ayodhyA.2.26) te putrasya santi - it is implied that " You do not have them.

What can we do? "

 

valvinaiyEnai IrkkinRa guNangaLai uDaiyAi asurar vankaiyar kURRamE koDiya

puLLuyarttAi (tiruvAi..1.8) - AzhvAr says.

 

BhagavAn's auspicious attributes are flowing towards AzhvAr's heart. What

stupendous virtues? They are all so excellent.

 

Veda-s talk about bhagavAn's kalyANa guNam-s, but not in great detail.

itihAsam-s [chronicles] elaborate on the kalyANa guNam-s talked by the veda-s;

this is where we get a good description.

 

Does veda say that bhagavAn has daya? Is there a statement - ' He has

compassion?' How about - " He has ASrita vAtsalyam, ASrita pAratantryam,

souSIlyam " - no.

 

It will give a general overall guNam and it is implied that a lot more is

embedded in that. It will say - 'sarvasya SaraNam'; everything else is implied.

Those who do vyAkyAnam are very clever [they will elaborate on that]. Like

that, itihAsa purANam-s expand on the guNam-s that veda-s talk about.

 

bahavo nRpa! kalyANa guNAH putrasya santi te |

 

Your son has amazing attributes! prajA sukhatve candrasya vasudhAyAH

kshamAguNaiH || - In the case of providing happiness to the subjects, He is

like the Moon. He is like indra in valor. vasudhAyAH kshamAguNaiH - He is like

bhUmi in patience. samyag vidyA vratasnAtaH (ayodhyA.2.34) vIrye sAkshAt

SacIpateH | (ayodhyA.2.30) - He is well educated.

 

priyavAdI ca bhUtAnAm satyavAdI ca rAghavaH |

 

vAlmIki's wonderful statement. It will be enough if we can just do pArAyaNam of

these two sargam-s.

 

rAma will only speak words that are gratifying to everyone. Is it enough if one

speaks pleasant words?

 

First person tells the second person, " Hey, you have won so many lakhs with your

raffle ticket " ; trusting that, if the second person goes to the raffle place and

finds that his number did not win, he will curse the first person. rAma will

speak congenial words only if they are accurate.

 

priyavAdI ca bhUtAnAm satyavAdI ca rAghavaH |

 

rAma spoke pleasant words only when they were veracious. Everybody can speak

sugary words. Astronomers will say, " In another fifteen days, you are going to

get a big post " . What post? He will be given a big iron post. (laughter in the

audience). The astronomer will predict a big post and leave after getting 50

rupees.

 

When delightful words are uttered they must be truthful also. priyavAdI ca

bhUtAnAm satyavAdI ca rAghavaH | (There is some disturbance among the audience.

A great learned scholar comes to attend AcAryar's upanyAsam). It is wrong to

say this when great vidvAn-s are coming. I should not even be sitting here.

VidvAns become adepts in all the four sAstrams and give discourses; atItam

adhyApitam Arjitam yaSaH - they train themselves and train the others; they are

great renowned, erudite people; yesterday, we talked about j~nAna vRttAH, vayO

vRttAH, brAhmaNAnAm upAsitA from Srimad rAmAyaNam. They are great senior

scholars in knowledge, age, austerity etc and it is wrong for me to be talking

like this here. When that svAmi is here it is not right for me to sit here.

All these apacArams [offences] must be borne by this kAshAyam [saffron cloth

worn by AcAryar] (a loud burst of laughter from the audience). It has been

strongly mentioned [that a sanyAsi

must not prostrate to people]; since it is ASramam, nothing can be said. I

have to respect that rule. Since I have saffron dress, I have to think about

it. [AcAryar is feeling bad that he is not allowed to prostrate before that

erudite scholar like rAma would have done].

 

priyavAdI ca bhUtAnAm satyavAdI ca rAghavaH | - rAma will speak pleasing words

only if they are true; otherwise, he will not utter them. Even if the words are

pleasant, He will not speak them if they have no element of veracity. Some do

that. Not like that; satyavAdI ca rAghavaH |

 

bahuSrutAnAm vRddhAnAm brAhmaNAnAm upAsitA || (ayodhyA.2.31,32)

 

When this svAmi is entering our place, we see this Slokam - bahuSrutAnAm

vRddhAnAm brAhmaNAnAm upAsitA ||

 

rAma will bow to elders who are well versed in a lot of SAstrams. He will

prostrate when elders come. He had such a good trait.

 

gatvA soumitri sahitaH nAvijitya nivartate | (ayodhyA.2.36)

 

When He goes to fight battles, He will not return without victory.

 

abhiyAtA prahartA ca - He will stand in the front section of the army -

abhiyAtA. Some go and stand at the end of the army. Not like that. abhiyAtA -

He will lead the army from the front. prahartA ca - the first cut [from the

sword] will be His. So says [srImad rAmAyaNa] taniSloki.

 

senAnaya viSAradaH - Yuddha SAstram talks about how to conduct the army, how to

divide the army, how to design the army etc. He has proficiency in that SAstram

also.

 

gatvA soumitri sahitaH nAvijitya nivartate |

 

lakshmaNa always accompanies rAma. rAma never returns from a battle without

winning.

 

pourAn svajanavan nityam kuSalam paripRcchati | (ayodhyA.2.37)

 

His bravery and valor does not make Him conceited. He will go to the houses of

His subjects and enquire about their welfare - " Is everyone in the house

alright? Are the children - boys and girls - doing well? Is agnihotram

[sacrificial fire] being performed without fail? Are you listening to

discourses by teachers? Are your students doing okay? Is your wife alright? "

rAma will ask such kinds of questions. He will inquire about their welfare.

 

putreshu, agnishu, dAreshu, preshya Sishya gaNeshu ca | (ayodhyA.2.38)

 

He will also ask about servants - " Are your servants performing their duties?

Are they well? " That too - nityam kuSalam paripRcchati - He will go the houses

every day and ask - " How can I help you? Ask me without any reservation. Do

you need to give a seemAntam [ceremony for pregnant ladies] invitation to

somebody? Give it to me, I will go and deliver it. "

 

It is not kuSalam pRcchati; sakalam paripRcchati. He will ask about all kinds

of welfare in a subtle manner. He will not ask, " Have you done agnihottam? " He

will ask, " Do you need cow for agnihotram? Do you need money to take care of

the cow? I will give you " . paripRcchati - He will ask in a round-about way.

 

He will not ask, " Is your daughter-in-law in the family way? " He will ask, " Is

seemantam coming? Do you have the invitation? I will go and hand them out " .

kuSalam paripRcchati - nityam kuSalam paripRcchati - He will enquire everyday.

Whether the milk-man and paper-man come or not, rAma will not fail to go to

every house and enquire about the welfare.

 

vyasaneshu manushyANAm bhRSam bhavati duHkhitaH |

utsaveshu ca sarveshu piteva paritushyati || (ayodhyA.2.40)

 

If a calamity befalls someone, duHkhitaH bhavati - He will feel sorry thinking

of it as His own misfortune. bhRSam bhavati duHkhitaH - in fact, He will suffer

more than the afflicted person. He will sympathize with that person saying,

" Oh, you should not be suffering like this " and He will not rest till He

resolves that hardship. He will be happy only when that person's grief is over.

Even if one person suffers in the kingdom, that will reflect in rAma's face.

 

utsaveshu sarveshu piteva paritushyati |

 

If a marriage is celebrated in one of the houses in the kingdom, He will treat

it as a marriage in His house and feel delighted. He will be joyous only if

everyone in the kingdom is happy. lokapAlopamam nAtham akAmayata medinI |

(ayodhyA.2.48) - rAma is endowed with such a great exemplary character.

 

The subjects of the kingdom said, " Why did you give birth to a son who is more

esteemed than you? That is why we want to make Him king quickly " . When

daSaratha asked, " Can I do coronation for my son? " instead of saying, " Do as you

wish " or " let one year pass " , they said, " How many years have passed [with you

as our aged king]? Isn't there a way for you to disappear? " (laughter in the

audience)

 

daSaratha asked back, " Why? Did I not take good care of you? Were you all not

happy? " It is a fair question, right?

 

They all said that because he had such a great virtuous son, they want Him as

king. daSaratha was extremely pleased.

 

caitraH SrImAn ayam mAsaH puNyaH pushpita kAnanaH |

youvarAjyAya rAmasya sarvameva upakalpyatAm || (ayodhyA.3.4)

 

He immediately gave the orders.

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

issue of SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA)

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

To be continued …..