SrIH
SrImate raângarAmAnuja MahA deSikAya namaH
SrImate SrInivAsa rAmAnuja MahA deSikAya namaH
SrImate VedAnta rAmAnuja MahA deSikAya namaH
SrI raânganAtha divya maNi pAdukAbhyAm namaH
AcArya rAmAmRtam - (from SrI raânganAtha pAdukA dt. October 08 Part 3)
English Translation of
SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam in tamizh by SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan
As published in SrI raânganAtha pAdukA by
SrI u.ve. nATTEri KiDAmbi rAjagopAlAcAriyAr (Editor of SrI raânganAtha
pAdukA)
(Please set your encoding to Unicode UTF-8)
SrImad ANDavan tiruvaDi,
kalyANi kRshNamAcAri
=====================================
SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavanâs SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam
vIryavAn na ca vIryeNa mahatA sveta vismitaH (ayodhyA.1.13)
vIryavAn - He was superbly valorous. He won great fights. But, He never
boasted about His own heroic spirit. He never proclaimed, 'I did this; I did
that' etc.
Look at what happened in the last battle! The folks in the other side always
talked a lot. The advice given to them was, " Words cannot win a battle.
Fight! Why do you talk? You cannot win a battle by just talking". Only
elections can be won by talking!
kara and rAvaNa bragged too much. But, vIryavAn na ca vIryeNa mahatA sveta
vismitaH - even when He had great gallantry, rAma never felt haughty,
bewildering about His own bravery - na vismitaH. Some develop arrogance and
become snobbish even when they have a little strength.
There were five or six girls in one house. If I do not say a story, the
meaning will not be clear (audience laughs). All the sons-in-law had come.
There was going to be a marriage function. iDli [steamed rice cake] was being
served. They were all invited to go and eat iDli in the morning. One of the
sons-in-law got ready to eat; he said he would go to the backyard [open] toilet
area and wash his feet first. When he went there, there was an 'ONAn'
[blood-sucker, a common, agamid lizard]; he was terrified about the lizard. How
could he relieve himself? What if the lizard came near him? He was scared
stiff. He was holding it in for fifteen minutes. Then, he waited for half an
hour. Then he decided he could not stand like that forever. The other
sons-in-law would have eaten iDli and left. There was a stone close by. He
took that and dropped it on the lizard. It fell on the lizard's life spot and
it died immediately. The son-in-law finished his
work and washed his hands and feet.
He was extended another invitation to come and eat iDli. He refused and went
and sat down in the village munsif's house at the end of the street. The
father asked, "Why is he not coming? There is a marriage to be conducted.
Call that son-in-law". Son-in-law said, "No, I will not come; this
father-in-law is useless. I do not want to come. I took a creature's life
with just one blow. I have taken a life. Shouldn't I be shown courtesy? The
others have eaten and left. I have taken a life with one blow. Don't I have
honor?"
Report came back to the house - that son-in-law says that he had killed a life
with just one blow and he was not honored; so, he is not coming.
"Well, what can we do?"
"You can appease him with a gift of 10 x 6 sized dhoti [garment]; only then he
will come. Otherwise, he will not".
The father took a plate filled with lots of fruits and the dhoti (the dhoti
which he was going to present to him later for his daughter's wedding) and went
to see this son-in-law with pompous ostentation [to the accompaniment of drum
and nAdasvaram - musical pipe]; he recited pancAti [sections of Yajur veda each
containing about fifty words] and said, "I am sorry; I committed apacAram
[behaved with disrespect]. Please come and eat iDli".
He came and ate iDli. Another son-in-law became annoyed that the previous one
got a 10x 6 dhoti and he left the house. He went and sat in another house at
the end of the street.
When he was asked why, he said, "I have killed seven lives with one blow. The
one who killed just one life got the dhoti before the marriage function.
Doesn't the one who killed seven lives get a dhoti earlier too?"
The father thought, "What kind of tyranny is this? Why did I get these kinds
of sons-in-law? Let me do the sambhAvana [gift for honoring] to this
son-in-law also". He presented his dhoti also and requested him to come and
eat iDli. So, two sons-in-law ate iDli.
In the afternoon, they all got together and ate betel leaves with areca-nut
parings. The first son-in-law was asked what he meant by killing one life with
one blow; he said, âI was waiting for one hour for the lizard to leave. I
threw a stone at it; it fell on its life spot; I killed it with one blowâ.
When the second son-in-law was enquired as to what he meant, he said, âI went
to gayA to do SrAddham [annual death ceremony]. They gave us food. There were
a lot of house-flies on the leaf [on which food was placed]; I captured them
all with a hand; I got seven of them; with one blow, I killed seven of them.
That is why I am asking for sambhAvanaâ (audience laughs).
vIryavAn na ca vIryeNa mahatA sveta vismitaH |
vAlmIki is going to say later â
ardhAdhika muhUrtena janastAnam nirAkRtam
rAma never felt disdainfully proud, even if within one and half muhUrttams [one
muhUrttam is one and a half hours], He could vanquish fourteen thousand
rAkshasa-s with His dauntless heroism.
nASreyasi rato yaSca na viruddha kathAruciH (ayodhya.1.17)
He never got Himself pulled into insignificant activities. He never gossiped.
uttarottarayuktInAm vaktA vAcaspatiH yathA (ayodhya.1.17)
If someone asked Him a question, He answered eloquently like bRhaspati
[devaguru] bhagavAn.
He could answer any question.
aroghaH taruNO vAgmI vapushmAn deSakAlavit (ayodhya.1.18)
vAlmIkiâs sayings are so delightful (AcAryar laughs slightly).
aroghaH â He had no disease.
When one goes for a job, medical examinations are done. One can get rejected
because of shortness in height or being too thin or having a big spectacle etc.
A job is given only after medical exam is done. How should a king be?
aroghaH â He was hale and hearty; taruNaH â He was very strong. He had
youth. vAgmI â He was very articulate.
When He talked, He waxed eloquent. vapushmAn â He had a spendid form.
deSakAla vit â He acted according to the place and time.
sarvavidhyA vratasnAtaH yathAvat sAngavedavit | (ayodhyA.1.20)
He had mastered all the good arts [archery etc] very well.
He had done adhyayanam [study] of veda-s along with angam-s [components] with
meanings. yathAvat sAnga vedavit â yatAvat [as prescribed] - there will be
no erroneous interpretations. Some people misinterpret words totally, right?
There is a Slokam in dharma Sastram. It says, âOne should not take an oil
bath in the morningâ. It can be done only after 6 nAzhigai [a unit of 24
minutes]. prAtaH apyajyate tasya nishkRtiH nAsti bhutale â after 6 nAzhigai
in the morning means 8:24 AM. SAstram says one should not have an oil bath
before 8:24 AM. If one has an oil bath in the early morning, he will no
redemption. The oil bath must be done only after 6 nAzhigai. That is the way
orthodox men do.
A person had an oil bath before the 6 nAzhigai; when asked why he did that, he
said, âSlokam says thatâ. What does the Slokam say?
prAtaH apyajyate tasya nishkRtiH nAsti bhutale |
If oil bath is taken in the early morning, there is no prAyaScittam
[atonement]. That is, there is no sin, so there is no expiation. Only when
there is sin, prAyaScittam is needed. Since there is no sin, there is no
prAyaScittam. That is what the Slokam says. So, I am having oil bathâ.
rAma will not misinterpret like this.
yatAvat sAngaveda vit (ayodhyA.1.20)
rAma will interpret only the right meaning, never misinterpret like some people.
ishvastre ca pituH SreshThaH babhUva bharatAgrajaH | (ayodhyA.1.20)
rAma was even better than His father in dhanurvedam, in the art of releasing
arrows and weapons.
dRDha bhaktiH sthira praj~naH nAsadgrAhI na durvacAH (ayodhyA.1.24)
dRDha bhaktiH â He had staunch devotion. sthira praj~naH â He had steadfast
mind. His mind was not an ever-wavering one. asthirabuddhInAm prasAdoâpi
bhayankaraH â it is like the maharAjA of tanjAvUr. Do you know that? He
wanted to personally hire a person for the tAsildAr [revenue officer] job.
Normally, only those who can ride horses were qualified for the tAsildAr job.
There is a big story; I am not going to say that. I will tell you a small story.
A person came to be considered for the tAsildAr job. The king asked him if he
could get on a horse and he said âyesâ. He got the job.
The king was watching from the top terrace; the king asked him if he will
actually ride a horse. The man said âyesâ.
He got on the horse with his back facing the horseâs face. He should have
been sitting, facing the horseâs face. He was sitting, facing the horse's
hind portion.
King: âCall that man. He said he could ride the horse well. Why is he
sitting facing the back portion?â
The reason why that man did that was â By the time he rode for half a furlong
[a furlong = 220 yards or 1/8th of a mile], there may be a cancellation order;
then he can jump right out and leave (audience laughs). sthirap praj~naH â
Some officials are like that. They will keep changing the orders every hour,
like transfer of an order, dismissing an order etc; they will not have
steadfast mind. sthirap praj~naH â rAma never had a fluctuating mind.
nAsadgrAhI na durvacAH â He was never obstinate. He never uttered malicious
words. nistandrIH â He was not indolent or sluggish. apramattaH ca â He
carried out any action with great vigilance.
svadosha paradoshavit (ayodhyA.1.24) - It is said in amaram - vidhvAn vipaScit
doshaj~naH. A vidhvAn [learned scholar] knows dosham [blemish]; whose faults?
svadosha paradoshavit â rAma knows His own mistakes and othersâ errors too,
We all know only the other peopleâs dosham. rAma knew about His own
weaknesses too.
svadosha paradoshavit â
vaihArikANAm SilpAnAm vij~nAtArttha vibhAgavit | (ayodhyA.1.28)
He knew the SAstra or rules for all games [animal riding/taming]. vaihArikANAm
SilpAnAm vij~nAtA arttha vibhAgavit â He knew finance. He knew how to
increase income, how to spend, how much to tax etc. He knew all those. arttha
vibhAgavit â He knew how much wealth to allocate to which department, which
needed more, which needed a particular amount â He knew everything about all
those.
===========
(End of translation of AcArya rAmAmRtam as it appeared in the October 2008
issue of SrI raânganAtha pAdukA)
-----------------
To be continued â..
------------------------------------
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