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

 

kARRiDaip pULai karandanai arandai

uRakkaDal arakkar tam sEnai

kURRiDaic cellak koDunkaNai turanda

kOlavil irAman tan kOil

uRRiDai ninRa vAZhaiyin kanigaL

UzhttuvIzht tanavuNDu maNDi

CERRiDak kayalaLugaL tigazh vayal cUzh

tiruveLLiyanguDi aduvE (periya tiru.4.10.6)

 

kARRiDaip pULai karandanai arandai uRakkaDal arakkar tam sEnai - if tirumangai

AzhvAr's song starts with the letter 'ka', a lot of words will begin with the

same letter [alliteration]; he has an extraordinary way of singing. When there

is a storm, dandelion fuzz looking like cotton will be whirling in the wind. It

is called " pULai " . Just like that, no matter how many rAkshasa-s come to fight

[against rAma], they will fly away like the fuzz. He has such a valor.

 

rAma has 'loke vikhyAta pourusham'. His attractive appearance steals the eyes

and minds of men. pumsAm dRshTi cittApahAriNam.

 

svAmi deSikan says -

 

pA'ncAlI gAtra SobhA-hRta hRdaya vadhUvarga pum

bhhAvanItyA

pAyau padmA sahAye praNayini bhajataH preyasI

pAratantRyam |

bhaktiH SR'ngAra vRttyA pariNamati muneH bhAva bandha

prathimnA

yogAt prAg uttarAvasthitir-iha viraho deSikAs-tatra

dUtAH ||

(dramiDopanishad tAtparya ratnAvaLi)

 

Becoming enchanted by perumAL's soundaryam, nammAzhvAr assumes nAyikA bhAvam in

finding expression to his intense devotion and love towards emperumAn.

PerumAL's pretty and personable form steals the mind thus.

 

rAma has gone to the forest. daSaratha is mourning. He is lying down on his

bed.

 

kausalye sAdu mAm pANinA spRSa | (ayodhyA.42.33)

 

daSaratha said, " Kausalya, touch me with your hand " .

 

She asked, " What is this? We have been married for 60,000 years. Son has gone

to the forest only today. It is a lot of grief. Why do you ask me to touch you

with my hand? "

 

rAmam me anugatA dRshTiH adyApi na nivarttate |

na tvA paSyAmi kausalye! sAdhu mAm pANinA spRSa || (ayodhyA.42.33)

 

" Not like that. My eyes that followed rAma, went away altogether. I have no

eyesight. I cannot even see you who are standing close by. Touch me with your

hand. If you touch, I will know if I can feel it; I want to find out if just

like my eyes, the feeling sense in my skin also left after rAma. That is why I

asked you, Kausalya, to touch me.

 

rAmam me anugatA dRshTiH adyApi na nivarttate | I was under the feeling that the

sight indriya [eye is one of the organs of perception] was mine. rAma's beauty

snatched that away. It has to sue for its right and win back. If someone takes

over our property saying it is his, we have to file for a case in the court and

win it back. My eyesight went after rAma. A long time has passed. I do not

know if I will recover it.

 

na tvA paSyAmi kausalye! sAdu mAm pANinA spRSa ||

 

Touch me well! I am not asking you to do that out of love! Do I still have my

tvak [feeling sensation in the skin] indriyam? Or did it go after rAma? That

is why I requested you to touch me. "

 

sumantra brings over the extremely handsome rAma to the royal court.

 

na tatarpa samAyAntam paSyamAno narAdhipaH | (ayodhyA.3.30)

 

daSaratha looks at the beauty of rAma's walk. He never feels gratified with the

enjoyment of rAma's handsomeness.

 

He used to ask vaSishTha: " Tell me how old I am " .

 

vaSishTha: " 60,000 "

 

daSaratha: " No " .

 

vaSishTha: " Then, is it 6000? "

 

daSaratha: " No " .

 

vaSishTha: " 600? "

 

daSaratha: " No. Now my age is 60 " .

 

" bhavAmi dRshTvA ca punaryuveva | (ayodhyA.12.105) The happiness of seeing

rAma's enchanting beauty has resulted in giving a new vigor to my body. I am

going back in age. Now, I am 'only sixty'. "

 

rAma possesses such a divine charm. [fn 1]

 

====================

 

[fn 1 - part 1] There is something important to be said about SrI rAma's

soundaryam. vAlmIki does not say even in a single place that rAma's beauty

disturbed women's hearts with sexual desire. Here also, he uses the term

'pumsAm' - in general - The comely rAma steals men's eyes. Using this term,

there is a mangaLa Slokam " pumsAm mohana rUpAya puNya SlokAya mangaLam " .

 

kaNNan's soundaryam is the one that captivates the hearts the every lady who

looks at Him. Both bhAratam and bhAgavatam can attest to this. sukhar states,

" tAsAm AvirabhUt SouriH ….. sAkshAt manmatha manmathaH " (SrImad

bhAgavatam.10.32.2) . kaNNan's charm alone allures all women.

 

SrIrAma's charm is a noble one. His is an extremely majestic beauty. He

appears as a great purushan. His tiruvaDi will completely remove all our

AdhyAtmika [intra-organic], Adhi boudhika [caused by external influences], Adhi

daivika [caused by supernatural agencies] hardships. It will make ladies think,

" What a great man! What a fine, divine purusha! " There is only one exception to

this rule; that is SUrpaNaka.

 

rAma's majestic grandeur will make ladies fold their hands in respect.

 

Similarly, sItA's enormous beauty is also majestic and honorable. It will make

men or women to fold their hands in respect to her lotus feet. vAlmIki does not

state in any place that sItA's graceful charm enticed men. Once when describing

rukmiNi tAyAr's charm, sukhar says [in bhAgavatam 10.53.51] - tAm deva mAyAmiva

vIramohinIm - her flawless beauty enchants all men. vAlmIki does not use such

kinds of terms about sItA. He just says - devamAyeva nirmita (bAla.1.25). When

SrI bhAshyakArar elaborates on this, he just says - wondrous beauty.

 

sItA's magnificent beauty and charm are meant only for rAma. As fate would have

it, rAvaNa became an exception. rAma's good looks and charisma are meant

exclusively for sItA. This is the soundaryam of the divya dampati-s.

 

[fn 1 - part 2] rAma and kRSNa have different features. This can be found in

the Syamantaka upAkhyAnam [story about Syamantaka gem] where jAmbavAn wrestles

with kaNNan without knowing that rAma is kaNNan.

 

rAma has the features of ikshvAku vamSam (sUrya kulam)

kaNNan has the features of yadhu vamSam (candra kulam)

 

When daSaratha saw rAma in front of him, he felt as if he was been given a

makeup and decorated and as if he was looking at himself in a mirror. -

alamkRtam ivAtmAnam AdarSatala samsthitam (ayodhyA.3.37). (Is it possible

kaNNan had the characteristics of vasudevar?)

 

kulasekarar's anubhavam is that kaNNan has vasudeva's appearance. In devaki

pulambal pAsuram, he says - un tan tAdayaip pOlum vaDivu kaNDu koNDu uLLam uL

kuLira … tiruvilEn onRum peRRilEn (perumAL tiru.7.5).

 

A noble woman will feel happy to note that her son looks like her husband. She

would think - this is how my husband would have looked when he was a young boy.

Instead of giving that enjoyment [to devaki], kaNNan was hiding and living in

nanda gokulam. devakI was very sad about that - says kulasekara AzhvAr.

 

rAma had different features and kaNNan had different features. Our AcArya-s also

have shown the differences - rAma is the embodiment of ASrita vAtsalyam

[compassion towards those who depend on Him] and kaNNan is the embodiment of

ASrita vyAmoham [attachment towards those who depend on Him].

 

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

issue of SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA)

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To be continued …..