AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI ra’nganAtha pAdukA dt. Oct. 09 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. Oct. 09 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 tiruvaDigaLE SaraNam,

kalyANi kRshNamAcAri

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SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan’s SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam

 

They [rAma, sItai and lakshmaNa] leave the palace; when they reach the palace

entrance, a brAhmaNa arrives.

 

nirdhano bahuputro'smi rAjaputra mahAyaSaH |

u'nca vRttir vane nityaM pratyavekshasva mAm iti ||

(ayodhyA.32.34)

A brAhmaNa comes to them. Rama asks who he is. The brAhmaNa says that his name

is trijaTan and he is penniless and poverty stricken. nirdhanaH |

 

bahu putro'smi – he has up to 13 children in all ages; just like the wide

mouthed, big vessel in which you can place several vessels of lesser sizes. We

can buy these vessels [called 'aDukku' or 'jOrttavalai' in tamizh] in mumbAi.

Do you know there are vessels which are made of one piece of metal (without any

joints heated to fuse together). I have bought this in my pUrvASramam. I have

bought it for the ASramam also. It is available only in mumbAi. If a vessel is

made with fused joints, it will get damaged with holes; this vessel is not like

that. It will have 15 such vessels one within the other in different sizes.

Like that, bahuputro'smi.

 

He says that he has a lot of children. rAma asks what he desires.

 

u'nca vRttir vane nityaM pratyavekshasva mAm iti ||

 

He says, “I am doing u'nca vRtti [begging for alms]. I heard that You are

going to travel and You are distributing charitiesâ€.

 

rAma - “Who told you?â€

 

That brAhmaNan says, “My wife; she said that You are going to the forest and

doing yAtrA dAnam. She asked me to come and request You for donationâ€.

 

rAma – “We have not even left. And the news has spread that far

already!?â€

 

brAhmaNan - “The ladies always know the news first; my wife told me and that

is why I cameâ€.

 

rAma -

“ parikshipasi daNDena yAvat stAnam avApsyasi |

(ayodhyA.32.35)

 

Okay, throw this stick as far as you can; I will give you cows covering the

distance up to which you can throw the stick.â€

 

sa SATIM tvaritaH kaTyAM saMbhrAntaH

pariveshTyatAm |

Avidhya daNDaM cikshepa sarvaprANena vegitaH ||

(ayodhyA.32.37)

 

What does the brAhmaNa do? He ties up his dhoti; it is a torn garment; if he

pulls it this way, it reveals his body in some other place; if he pulls it that

way, it reveals his body in another place. SATIm AccAdya tuScatAm |

 

Tying up his dhoti eagerly, he throws the stick very fast, just like the bowler

throwing the ball on the fifth day of cricket game in order to win the game.

 

sa tIrtvA sarayUtIraM daNDaH tasya karAccyutaH |

(ayodhyA.32.38)

That stick crosses over all the palaces and royal highways and falls on the bank

of sarayU river.

 

rAma is very surprised – How much strength does this iyer [AcAryar's humorous

term for brAhmaNan here] have? He has more strength than us. Being

sympathetic, he is keeping quite. If he starts ruling, he will rise to a higher

position than us!

 

rAma asks for cows to be brought; cows are ready now. Starting from the palace

all the way to sarayU river bank, cows are placed one behind the other, one

cow's back touching the back of another cow [like bumper to bumper] and rAma

donates all those cows to the brAhmaNan.

 

manyuH na khalu kartavyaH parihAso hyayaM mama |

(ayodhyA.32.37)

rAma tells him - “Please do not think I was testing you. I was just joking.

You should not mistake that. I committed apacAram [insult]â€.

 

That brAhmaNan named trijaTan agrees and leaves.

 

rAma, lakshmaNa and sItA go to His father's palace.

 

bRndam bRndam ayodhyAyAm – there are groups of ten and groups of twenty folks

sitting and gossiping about the cancellation of coronation –

 

- There is not going to be any paTTAbhishekam! kaikeyi asked for boons. rAma

is going to the forest.

 

- That is what they will say. But, they will not go. Coronation will take

place. rAma will not leave. How can one leave the kingdom? It is just talk,

they will not leave for the forest.

 

- Another person says - One cannot say what will happen to anyone at anytime.

There is no control over whether wealth stays or not. Wealth is transient and

fleeting. Poets sing about it.

 

More than all the poets, vaishNava-s have sung about wealth elaborately.

nammAzhvAr has sung ten pAsuram-s about the non-permanent nature of wealth.

These are soaked with many deep meanings. vaishNavan is not an ordinary

person.

 

In 'oru nAyakamAi' tirumozhi (tiruvAimozhi.4.1.2,7),

 

uyymin tiRai koNarndu enRu ulagANDavar immaiyE

tammin suvaimaDavAraip piRar koLLat tAm viTTu

vemmin oLi veyil kAnagam pOik kumai tinbargaL

cemmin muDit tirumAlai viraindaDi sErminO.

 

Amin suvaiyavai ARODaDisil uNDArnda pin

tUmen mozhi maDavAr irakkap pinnum tuRRuvAr

Imin emakkoru tuRRenRu iDaruvar Adalin

kOmin tuzhAimuDi Adiyam cOdi guNangaLE.

 

A person is very wealthy. He has a lot of money. He has two cooks in the

house. They cook a lot of food items. The owner will eat four or five times

every day. Even though the cooks cook the food, only his wife will sit with him

and give him the food. Keeping the food by the side, she will offer food to him

sitting on a bamboo chair in the AC room; he will eat that, lying down on his

bamboo chair.

 

One day, a friend invites him for lunch; he tells his wife he is going to eat

there. Wife permits. In the friend's house, sumptuous lunch has been made –

four sweets, four savories, two puLippu kUTTu -s [a kind of curry with

tamarind], two non-puLippu kUTTu-s, eight types of vegetables, paccaDi-s [ a

kind of vegetable relish] – mango paccaDi, vAzhait taNDu [inner core of banana

tree stalk] paccaDi, cucumber paccaDi, coconut paccaDi etc, OhOrai-s [mixed rice

items], bagALAbAt with fruits etc. He eats them all so much that he finds it

difficult to walk back to his house. His stomach is upset now.

 

He comes back and lies down on the easy-chair; his stomach is [bulging and]

touching the side frames on either side. Wife comes and says - “You ate

outside today; you have eaten so little; how will your health be? You are going

to lose weight. What is this going to lead to?â€

 

Amin suvaiyavai ARODaDisil uNDArnda pin

tUmen mozhi maDavAr irakkap pinnum tuRRuvAr

 

“This is what will happen if you eat outside. You do not eat well. Your

health goes down when you eat less like this. You have lost weight in one

single day. Only food made in the house suits you. You have not eaten well at

all in that friend's place. I will bring food for you. Eat at least one morsel

well and then take rest.â€

 

So saying, the wife gives food with great love. She brings a plate full of

snacks and tiffins [light food]. Thinking about what she said about his losing

weight, the husband walks slowly towards a mirror. After looking into the

mirror, he feels that his wife had told the truth; he asks his wife for more

food; he eats what his wife offers to him [in other words, stuffs himself more].

 

Amin suvaiyavai ARODaDisil uNDArnda pin

tUmen mozhi maDavAr irakkap pinnum tuRRuvAr

 

tuRRuvAr, tUmen mozhi maDavAr irakkap pinnum tuRRuvAr -

 

This is the way it should be recited. tuRRuvAr means 'will eat'. It is not

'tURRuvAr' (will curse). It is 'tuRRuvAr'. Thinking how loving his wife is, he

will eat one more plate. pinnum tuRRuvAr. People who have that kind of wealth

will one day lose all the wealth -

Imin emakku oru tuRRenRu iDaruvar Adalin – all the riches will go away and he

will be begging for a morsel of food. Wealth is temporary only. So, before

this state comes, kOmin tuzhAimuDi Adiyam cOdi guNangaLE – enjoy the kalyANa

guNam-s of the 'primal cause', paramAtmA with a dazzling tirumEni and

tiruttuzhAi [tulasi] garland on His crown, and try to reach Him. That is how

nammAzhvAr advises in 4th centum, first tirumozhi 'oru nAyakamAi' padikam.

 

The crowds in ayodhyA are talking in groups.

 

aiSvaryasya rasaj~naH sat kAmAnAm sAgaro mahAn |

 

“Why would those who have tasted wealth leave for the forest? vaSishThar is

there; siddhArta is there; sumantra is there. If they advise, kaikeyi will

withdraw her boons. For sure. rAma will stay only in ayodhyA. Do not fear.â€

 

rAma listens to all these conversations and goes to His father's palace.

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To be continued …..