Guest guest Posted July 22, 2006 Report Share Posted July 22, 2006 SrI: SrImate ra’ngarAmAnuja mahAdeSikAya nama: SrImate SrInivAsa rAmAnuja mahAdeSikAya nama: SrImate vedAnta rAmAnuja mahAdeSikAya nama: SrI ra’nganAtha divya maNi pAdukAbhyAm nama: SrI ra’ngarAmAnuja mahAdeSika divya pAdukAbhyAm nama: AcArya rAmAmRtam - Jan 06 - 3 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) SrImad ANDavan tiruvaDi, kalyANi kRshNamAcAri ===================================== SrI: AcArya rAmAmRtam SrImad rAmAyaNa upanyAsam by SrImad tirukkuDandai ANDavan Like that (just as yama was the appropriate person to ask about what happens to people after their death), nAradam paripapraccha vAlmIki: munipu’ngavam – only those who are wandering all over the town, only people like these, should be asked questions (about who is the best among al the people living in this earth). What will people who sit in the house all the time know? If a person who is staying in the house (all the time) is asked (this question), he will say: “My wife is the one who has all these 16 characteristics” (audience laughs). Only one who wanders around will know the answer. That is why he asked - nAradam paripappraccha: konvasmin sAmpradam loke guNavAn ka: ca vIryavAn | dharmaj~naSca kRtaj~naSca satyavAkyo dhRDavrata: || This is the first Slokam that vAlmIki asks of his AcAryan: “konvasmin sAmpradam loke”. vAlmIki told his AcArya that he is very desirous of knowing the person who has these 16 characteristics. vyAsar has made 545 brahma sUtrams. The first sUtram is “athAto brahma jij~nAsA”. Brahma jij~nAsA means one should have a desire to know Brahmam. One should have the desire to inquire about paramAtmA and to know Him. That is why he (vAlmIki) says here “konvasmin sAmpradam loke”. The same depth of meaning that is conveyed for the brahma sUtram applies here also. The vyAkyAnam that applied to brahma sUtram applies here too. The desire is to know paramAtmA. There is a funny thing to note in the Slokam itself. What comes first? He said: konvasmin sAmpradam loke guNavAn; who is virtuous? Then he asked: kaSca vIryavAn? dharmajn~aSca kRtajn~naSca - first he asked for guNavAn, but then he followed with 15 more guNa-s! What is the first reference to ‘guNa”, followed by 15 more guNa-s? Or are these 15 really dosha-s? Is it wrong to be a dharmjn~nan? Is it a fault to be a kRtajn~an? Is dRDhavratam wrong? He already asked for a ‘guNavAn’ first. Are the other characteristics not virtuous? He asked for guNavAn separately! What is the meaning of this? That is why the vyAkyAnam follows. rAmAyaNam is “samudramiva rathnADhyam”. That is what we should understand. That is the specialty of rAmAyaNam. He first specifies ‘guNam’! What guNam is that? guNyate iti guNa: guNavAn. We have to separate the syllables and give the meaning. It is not to be understood as a generic term here, but as a term that refers to some specific guNa. ‘guNavAn’ is not an iDukuRip-peyar here – not an arbitrary and generic use of the term. Specifically, the term ‘guNa’ here it refers to that specific guNam that is universally considered as the best guNam; the others are guNa-s also. What is that guNam? guNyata iti guNa: Elders have determined that this guNam is souSIlyam. What does souSIlyam mean? It is a word in samskRt language, and so we have to explain the meaning. “souSIlyam” refers to the virtue of a person of top rank that enables him to move without distinction with all persons irrespective of their level – high or low. This person is well known all around, and he is of a very high level in all respects. There is another one who is very lowly. The person at the very high level must be able to associate himself freely and without inhibition with the lowly person. That guNam is called souSIlyam. If it turns out that a person with 16 guNa-s is unapproachable for most people, then it is of no use. That person must be one who can associate himself comfortably with very lowly people. What is an example of that? nishAdAnAm netA kapi kulapati: kA’pi SabarI kucela: kubjA sA vrajayuvatayo mAlyakRditi | amIshAm nimnatvam vRshagiripate: unnatimapi prabhUtai: srotobhi: prasabham anukampe samayasi || (dayA Satakam 65 ) A beautiful statement – a person at a very high level must be able to move intimately with a low level person - that is that guNam. Let us look at rAmAvatAram, and see whom He associates Himself with. Ezhai Edalan kIzh magan ennAdu ira’ngi maRRavaRkku innaruL Surandu mAzhai mAn maDa nOkki un tOzhi umbi embi enRu ozhindilai – ugandu tOzhan nI enakku i’ngozhi enRa SoRkaL vandu aDiyEn manattirundiDa Azhi vaNNa nin aDiyiNai aDaindEn aNi pozhil tiru ara’ngattammAnE! (periya tirumozhi 5-8-1) tiruma’ngaiAzhvAr does SaraNAgati at SrIran’gam. PerumAL asks him why he is doing SaraNAgati. AzhvAr replies that it is because He, who is at the highest level, is mingling freely without any conceit with very lowly persons – It is for that quality that AzhvAr is doing SaraNAgati – he wants bhagavAn to move with him the same way. Ezhai Edalan kIzh magan ennAdu ira’ngi maRRavaRkku innaruL Surandu Surandu… aruL Surandu….. innaruL Surandu…. mAzhai mAn maDa nOkki un tOzhi umbi embi enRu ozhindilai - ugandu tOzhan nI enakku i’ngu ozhi enRa SoRkaL vandu rAman tells guhan. What kind of caste does guhan belong to? He is of mixed (sankara) caste. His body is covered with blood from killing animals and birds. He is that lowly a person. He had no AcAram (purity). rAman is purity personified; He is vasishThar’s student; He would keep taking bath many times. One day, vasishThar told Him: “You have to keep yourself AcAram till 10 o’clock tonight”. rAma took bath at 9:30. vasishThar asked Him: “Why should You take a bath if You are asked to keep Yourself AcAram?” He responds: “When I started coming out, the tip of sItai’s sari touched Me; so I took a bath”. vyAkyAnam is “sItaiyin mundAnai paTTAlum muzhugi niRpariRE” (He will take a bath if even if the tip of sItai’s sari touches Him” - just the tip. They also walk in such a way that it should touch (the whole audience laughs). In rAman’s case, it was only sItai’s sari’s tip; nobody else touched Him. He is bhagavAn who is the personification of purity, and the Sishyan of vasishThar, His whole ancestry is established in AcAram. That is the level of AcAram of cakravarti tirumagan. Who is he (guhan)? “Ezhai Edalan kIzhmagan ennAdu iran’gi” …. guhastu Atmasama: sakhA Atmasama: sakha – kamban writes “uyirt-tOzhan” - a friend who is dear to Him as life itself”; a friend who is considered as important as one’s own soul. Just as a cow spontaneously secretes its milk as soon as it sees its calf, rAman’s compassion welled up as soon as He saw guhan. That is the only way to explain the word “surandu”; it cannot be explained any other way ….. innaruL Surandu…. mAzhai mAn maDa nOkki un tOzhi – “sItai is your friend” said rAman. She is the daughter of janakar, who is described as among the most eminent in AcAram in gItai (“karmaNaiva hi samsiddhim AsthitA janakAdaya:). rAman is pointing this sItai to guhan, and says: “ guhA! mAzhai mAn maDa nOkki un tOzhi”. He is dragging Her too. As if it is not enough that He is mixing with everyone without distinction (ANDavan puts this humorously as “ He is eating in every club”), He is dragging Her also to the same clubs. (audience laughs). He says that She is also guhan’s friend. He further declares to guhan: “My brother is your brother; you are my loving friend (ugandu tOzhan nI enakku in’gu)”. tiruma’ngai AzhvAr tells bhagavAn: “You lovingly told guhan that he is Your friend, and there is nobody else that is dear to You as much”! AzhvAr comes to SrIra’ngam at the age of 80, and falls at the feet of Lord ra’nganAthan so that He can say that word to him also. “soRkaL va’ndu aDiyEn manattu iru’ndiDa” – there are 24000 Slokams in rAmAyaNam; out of these only the words spoken to guhan appeal to the mind of AzhvAr and stay in AzhvAr’s mind; all the rest fell in one ear and escaped through the other ear. “Azhi vaNNa! nin aDiyiNai aDaindEn aNi pozhil tiru ara’ngattammAnE! “ ‘Ezhai Edalan’ – the attribute of moving with people at very low levels is called ‘souSIlyam’. Look at sugrIvan. Is friendship between sugrIvan and rAman appropriate? Is this right? A’njanEyar came and said: “rAma! mahArAjar sugrIva would like to have your friendship”; SrI rAma said: “Sure!”. A’njanEyar left his brahmaNa form and took them (rAma and lakshmaNan) both to sugrIvan, who was in a cave. He told sugrIvan “He is the one who has come to form friendship with you. He would like to be your friend. Go and hold out your hand! He will extend His hand. Make friends with rAman”. sugrIvan said he does not want it. Why? Can one have Him as a friend? How great is He! How can I make friends with Him? Look at His guNam; look at my guNam. No.“ A’njanEyar told sugrIvan: “I myself will tell Him”. sugrIvan says “No!”. rAman says: “I really want to have you as My friend”. “rocate yati te sakhyam bAhuresha prasArita: “ said sugrIvan. rAman said: “Whether you like it or not, I like it”. A boy went to look for a bride. Everybody else said they did not like the girl. The boy is very handsome. But, he said okay to the girl. She asked: “Do you like me?” ‘rocate yati te sakhyam bAhuresha prasArita:’ He asked the girl: “Do you like me?” [[This is what is happening between rAman and sugrIvan here!]] sugrIvan said: “How to make friends with Him? He is Isvaran.” rAman said: I like to be your friend”. sItai asks: “vAnarANAm narANAm ca katham AsIt samAgama:” - A’njaneya! Are you spinning a story? You say you came from rAman. You gave a memorabilia. How can there be friendship between man and monkey? Monkey keeps hopping among the tree branches; man walks on the ground. One person asked in tEnAmpETTai how to go to MylApore. He was told: Go that way. You will see a street. If you continue straight up, you will be in MylApore (“mElODa pOnA mylApore vanduDum”). He started climbing on the “ODu” or rooftop because he was told “mElODa pOnA” (audience laughs). Like that, monkey is a creature that goes on rooftops and tree branches. sItai asks how the friendship came about between man and monkey. vAnarANAm narANAm ca katham AsIt samAgama: my AcAryAL used to joke. There is a sakhyam (connection) between ‘vAnaram’ and ‘naram’. How? If one says ‘vA’ (come here), there is friendship (add the tamizh letter ‘vA’ to the tamizh word ‘naram’ and it becomes ‘vAnaram’). If there is no ‘vA’, there is no friendship. What kind of friendship? rAma sugrIvayor aiykyam devyevam samajAyata – not an ordinary friendship. rAma sugrIvayor aiykyam - aiykyam evam – that kind of friendship. evam aiykyam samajAyata! It was that kind of friendship where events not known to iLaiya perumAL (lakshmaNar) were revealed to the messenger monkey. “The secrets that you and your husband had were revealed to me; that kind of friendship was born.” rAman has that much souSIlyam; kapi kulapati: (a reference to sugrIvan). Next, kApi SabarI; lets us look at SabarI… ========== End of January 2006 To be continued……… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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