AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. January 09 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. January 09 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

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

SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan’s SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam

 

purushAH dhanayauvanAH – when men folk get money, they become young. When the

sixty thousand year old daSaratha saw rAma, he transfomed into a sixty year

young man; such is the beauty of rAma. daSaratha says - bhavAmi dRshTvA ca

punaryuveva | (ayodhyA.12.105) Is perumAL considered wealth?

 

nidiyinai pavaLattUNai neRimaiyAl ninaiyavallAr

gatiyinai kanjan mALak kaNDu mun aNDamALum

madiyinai mAlai vAzhtti vaNangi en manattu vanda

vidiyinaik kaNDukoNDa tonDanEn viDugilEnE

(tirukkuRunthANDakam - 1)

 

dhanam madIyam tava pAdapankajam (ALavandAr's stotra ratnam - 30), vaitta

mAnidhiyAm madhuSUdanayE alaRRi (nammAzhvAr's tiruvAi.6.7.11).

 

PerumAL is wealth itself.

 

Rama's beauty will enchant everyone.

 

vyAkyAnam is - “That beauty will enchant even a corpse-eaterâ€.

 

Even if an enemy looks at Him, he will say that rAma looks charming. Will only

the folks who eat sAttvic [endowed with good quality] food find rAma attractive?

It is said that only who eat pure food will like perumAL! If you ask, 'Will

only those who eat pure food like rAma?' the answer is 'no'. It is not like

that in rAmAvatAram. Even those eating impure food were fond of rAma.

SrIrAma's grand beauty attracted even SUrpaNaka, who was a corpse-eater.

Everyday, she was eating only corpses. When she saw rAma, she was astonished.

In rAmAvatAram, everyone liked rAma. priyadarSanam, atIva priya darSanam,

candrakAntAnanam rAmam atIva priya darSanam.

 

taruNou rUpa sampannou sukumArou mahAbalou |

puNDarIka viSAlAkshou cIra kRshNAjinAmbarou ||

phalamUlASanou dAntou tApasou dharmacAriNou |

 

devou vA mAnushou vA tou na tarkayitum utsahe ||(AraNya.19.14..17)

 

SUrpaNaka had the doubt if He was a deva or a man.

 

In tiruneDunthANDakam, tirumangai AzhvAr says that nAyakI calls her friend and

says - “We were afraid of Him thinking He was a deva.â€

 

Thus, by His wonderful form and generous traits, He steals everyone's mind.

With His beauty, He makes everyone happy just like a torrential rain pleases

scorched crops drying in extreme sunlight. vasudevar and nandagopan said also

that when they look at their son, they felt more youthful.

 

rAmar comes with extraordinary charm; sumantra is bringing Him. rAma prostrates

before His father.

 

nAma svam SrAvayan rAmaH vavante caraNou pituH |

aham rAmaH dASaratiH asmi bhOH

 

Saying thus, svAmi does abhivAdanam [reverential salutation]. SarveSvaran, Lord

of vaikuNTha, King of all Kings comes to His father's court and prostrates

before him and does abhivAdaye. None but nArAyaNan has come from paramapadam

and taken avatAram. That mahApurusha and Lord of all lokams, does abhivAdaye.

Boys of present times do not say abhivAdaye.

 

SarveSvaran is saying abhivAdaye. He is showing us how to practice religious

austerities.

 

nAma svam SrAvayan rAmaH vavante caraNou pituH |

 

He prostrates. ilaiya perumAL [lakshmaNa] also follows suit. Then, they sit

down.

 

yataH tvayA prajAH cemAH svaguNaiH anuranjitAH |

tasmAt tvam pushyayogena youvarAjyam avApnuhi || (ayodhyA.3.41)

 

daSaratha says, “I asked all the people. Everyone felt very happy. I am

going to do paTTAbhishekam (coronation) for you tomorrow in pushya yogam.

 

rAma says, 'okay' and comes out. A lot of folks come to rejoice and orders are

given to make all arrangements. rAma is asked to come back again. Is that to

cancel the previous arrangement? rAma comes back in haste.

 

daSaratha says,

 

kAmatastvam prakRtyaiva vinIto guNavAn asi |

guNavatyapi tu snehAtputra! vakshyAmi te hitam ||

bhUyo vinayamAsthAya bhava nityam jitendriyaH (ayodhyA.3.42)

 

" I impart to you this teaching. You are a very humble person. Now, you are

going to get the kingdom also. You have to be even more modest. Even by your

nature, you are respectful. It is said that when a kingdom or wealth is handed

over, this teaching must be departed. Be very respectful. Forsake kAmam

(desire). Leave everything that comes out of it.

 

api cAdyASubhAn rAma svapne paSyAmi dAruNAn | (ayodhyA.4.17)

 

Are you asking me why your paTTAbhishekam must be done so early?

 

If I look at the omens I see, it looks like I may not live for more than five or

six days. I am not telling this to anyone else, but you. I get bad dreams.

Yesterday I went to our garden. Burning logs fell on my head.

 

sanirghAtA maholkA ca patatIha mahAsvanA | (ayodhyA.4.17)

 

So, I wanted to perform the coronation for you. I also thought I should do the

coronation for bharata [yuvarAja].

 

viproshitaH ca bharataH yAvadeva purAt itaH | (ayodhyA.4.25)

 

bharata is not in town. Even if we write a letter today, it may take fifteen

days for him to come here. I may die before that. The bad omens predict that I

may not live for more than four days.

 

tAvadeva'bhishekas te prAptakalo mato mama | (2.4.25)

kim tu cittam manushyANAm anityam iti me matiH (2.4.27)

 

I will not survive for more than two days. I am getting such dangerously bad

omens. If I go, there are four sons; who knows who will say what; whom will

they like? Whom will they help? How will people's mind be? Everyone is not

the same. I think that when I am alive, I must hand over the responsibility to

someone. So, along with the other arrangements for the coronation, you observe

fast and get ready for the coronation tomorrow.â€

 

Taking these five or six Slokams, some do vyAkyAnam saying daAsaratha wanted to

do coronation for rAma with the evil intention of cheating bharata.

 

That is very wrong. They say that these Slokams and daSaratha's greatness do

not match, daSaratha is a virtuous man. We should look at this carefully.

 

The way it should be said is -

bharata is not near by. I will not survive till he comes. If he is here, I can

give him the kingdom. The omens I am getting are bad. You are the one close by

now; so, I want to hand over the kingdom to you and go. It is difficult to

predict people's mind. Out of the four boys, it is not certain whom they will

pick. We do not know what will happen. I want to hand over and go. So, rAma,

you take this kingdom.

 

rAma agrees. The coronation is supposed to be the next day.

 

All the people are informed. Everyone is happy.

 

rAma's friends approach kausalyA and say, “This is what happened in the court.

It has been announced that tomorrow, under pushya star, your son is going to be

coronated as kingâ€. She is extremely pleased and gave gifts to everyone.

 

rAma goes to see kausalyA. She says, “Come! I have placed golden board for

you to sit on. You are going to be coronated tomorrow. Sit downâ€.

 

rAma says, “Father said coronation; we do not know what is going to happen.

 

amba pitrA niyukto'smi prajApAlanakarmaNi |

bhavitA Svo'bhisheko me yathA me SAsanam pituH || (ayodhyA.4.34)

 

Father's proclamation is that the coronation is tomorrow. antaH pravishThaH

SAstA janAnAm [taittirIya AraNyaka III.11.1] – It is not the SAsanam or

proclamation of bhagavAn, who is inside everyone and ordains. Only father is

saying like that. "

 

gate purohite rAmaH snAto niyatamAnasaH |

saha patnyA viSAlAkshyA nArAyaNam upAgamat || (ayodhyA.6.1)

 

vaSishTha gets ready all the things needed for the vratam. Then, he goes to the

perumAL temple.

 

It is ranga vimAnam that is the family wealth for them. In iruvatti

nAlAyirappaDi, muppatti ARAyirappaDI vyAkyAnams, the Slokam - “ArAvamudeâ€

pAsuram – is taken and vyAkyAnam is done for the phrase “ArAvamude aDiyEn

uDalam nin pAl anbAyE. " sahapatnyA viSAlAkshyA nArAyaNam upAgamat " – does not

refer to SrIranga vimAnam, but only ArAvamudan's vaidika vimAnam. (acAryar's

slight laughter is heard. He is thinking about his talking like that due to his

great devotion to amudan....).

 

saha patnyA viSAlAkshyA nArAyaNam upAgamat || rAma in His vrata mind said,

“sIte! Will you come! I am going to see ArAvamudan in His ranga vimAnamâ€.

sItA said, “Okay! I will comeâ€/

 

saha patnyA viSAlAkshyA nArAyaNam upAgamat || “sIte! I am going to pray to

perumAL. Will you come?â€

 

“Which perumAL?â€

 

“ArAvamudanâ€.

 

“Okay! I will comeâ€.

 

With His patnI, He went to pray to perumAL. Did the patnI say “I will comeâ€

and go to pray to perumAL because her husband called? saha patnyA viSAlAkshyA

– when she went to see the special kOvil AzhvAr [in ranga vimAnam], her eyes

bloomed wide [AcAryar's words are “mugam ellam kaNNayiRRu†- her eyes opened

wide to cover the whole face].

 

We should look at bhagavad vishaya vyAkyAnam - tamizh vyAkyAnam for a samskRt

Slokam has been given with a magnificent polish!

 

Her eyes opened wide to cover the whole face.

 

In our houses, if someone is called to go to the temple, the eye that is small

already will become even smaller.

 

If it is said, “A great movie has come todayâ€, immediately, the eye becomes

bigger! How is it for sItA? saha patnyA viSAlAkshyA nArAyaNam upAgamat ||

When she is called to go see ranganAtha, her already wide eyes become even

bigger. “mugam ellam kaNNayiRRu†- with great happiness, she came to see

ranganAtha to pay her obeisance.

 

rAma undertakes the vratam-s required for the coronation. He wears white silk

dhoti. vaSishTha does dIkshai [initiation for religious ceremony] and rakshA

bandanam [tying of sacred thread around the wrist].

 

rAma is waiting. Dawn arrives. He has to go to the coronation. What happens

at this time?

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To be continued …..