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                                  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 2)

               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

There was a great forest officer.  He was earning 4000 rupees salary those 
days.  He was a forest officer in the big forest where elephants were roaming.  
He was the only officer.  The others were workers who had jobs like cutting 
trees etc.  It was a dense, deep forest.  That is where he was posted with a 
salary of 4000 rupees.  He probably earned more by selling trees etc. (big 
laughter in the audience).  Leave that alone.  He was earning 4000 rupees. His 
accounts had to be scrutinized to see if they were okay.  Central government 
had sent another higher official earning 10,000 rupees to check his accounts. 
He came to this forest.  He could not eat anywhere.  He had to eat in this 
first officer's house. He stayed for three days and went over the first 
officer's accounts.   No mistake could be found.  All the incomes, expenses, 
tree/bark accounts etc were all right.  He declared they were all correct.  
There was no messing up with two different
 accounts.  There was only one account and he had kept it perfect. 

The higher official was eating in his house for three days.  He said he wanted 
to leave home the next day.   The forest officer asked him to have a feast 
before leaving.  The higher official agreed and enjoyed the elaborately 
prepared meal. It was a great, sumptuous feast.   mOr kuzhambu [buttermilk 
soup], taro root, delicious sAttumudu [/rasam] that had well cooked lentil - 
normally, the lentil [toor dhal] will be individually visible - not like that;  
it was prepared well flavored and garnished with lemon juice, asafoetida, 
cilantro etc and the flavor was enticing the nose. The higher official took 
that sAttumudu and everything else.  He then lied down.  He started vomiting.  
The sAttumudu was done in a vessel which was not quoted with lead [contrary to 
present day belief that food must not be cooked in a lead quoted vessel, 
traditional sAttumudu or rasam was made only in lead quoted vessel called Iyap 
pAttiram].  Since so many items had to be cooked,
 the wife had cooked the sAttumudu in a vessel that had no lead coating.  

The higher official was really sick with gurgling of the stomach.  He was taken 
to the doctor.  He left for his own place.  He was extremely angry and felt 
that the forest official had deliberately created a food poison.   So, he did 
not give him a promotion and did not respond to him at all; he also transferred 
him to Orissa.  

The forest officer furiously asked his wife why she had committed that mistake. 
 There was no problem with his accounts. Just because of the sAttumudu not 
being made in the right vessel, he was transferred to a place 1000 miles away 
with a de-promotion.

After the forest officer got transferred, he was working there; a few days 
passed by.  His father felt like visiting his son in the new place; he sent a 
letter saying he was coming because he had not seen him for a long time.  He 
came and stayed for ten days.  He said, "I do not like this place.  I want to 
go and take a bath in my place in kAvEri river. I want to go home".  So, the 
daughter-in-law offered to cook a special meal.  That day also, she made 
sAttumudu in an ordinary vessel (not quoted with lead).  The father started 
feeling feverish and vomited.  The forest officer chided his wife saying that 
it was all because she did not cook in the lead-quoted vessel.  The father told 
him, "How can be this be her fault?  When you got married and started the 
family, if a nice 'Iyam' [lead] quoted Kumbakonam vessel had been bought, this 
would not have happened.  Normally, girl's mother buys the family things, 
vessels etc from cities like Bombay and arranges
 to start her daughter's family instead of the boy's mother.  So, who is 
responsible for the mistake of making sAttumudu in non-lead-quoted vessel?  The 
fault is ours."

What did the higher official do?  He gave him a de-promotion.  What did the 
father say?  "It was all our mistake.  When the newly married couple started 
the family, it was our fault that we did not get you both a good set of 
vessels, stainless steel, brass and lead-quoted ones."  He went to the store, 
sold some old vessels and got a new vessel quoted with Iyam and gave it to 
them.  Why?  Because he was a father.

A third person found fault with this son; who?  The higher official. He did not 
have a forgiving nature. Being the forest officer's father and a relative, the 
second person felt it was his own family's fault.

That is the case with rAma.  na  smaratyapakArANAm Satam apyAtmavattayA |  The 
stress is on the word 'AtmavattayA'.  This Slokam can be understood only with 
an example story.  It means 'because He is AtmA'.

rAma never thinks about a person's mistakes.  If he makes a mistake or steals, 
rAma thinks, ' We gave him that kind of an intellect to steal.  We did not give 
him a good mental attitude.  That is why he committed this blunder.  He is 
living in prthvI maNDalam (earth) and is suffering.  May be, We have not 
directed him right in Our role as his AtmA.  That is why he is behaving like 
this'.

 na  smaratyapakArANAm Satam apyAtmavattayA |
 katha'ncit upakAreNa kRtena ekena tushyati   | (ayodhyA.1.11)

He feels satisfied if a person does any kind of act.  Even if that act is 
apakAram [offense], He does not take it into consideration.  He will think that 
he did that because He did not give good intellect to the person - AtmavattayA; 
   "dadAmi bhuddhi-yogam" (gItA 10.10) and that if He had given him good mental 
disposition, he would have acted in the right manner.  He never thinks about 
any one's fault.

na  smaratyapakArANAm Satam apyAtmavattayA |

rAghava will think - what fault has he committed?

SIla vRddhaiH jn~AnavRddhaiH vayovRddhaiH ca sajjanaiH |
kathayan Asta vai nityam astrayogyAntareshvapi || (ayodhyA.1.12)

He liked to converse with the great elders of proper conduct, knowledge or age. 
 He could learn AcAram [proper conduct] and obtain knowledge from them; He 
liked to talk to elders to learn from their experiences.  He kept company with 
great elders.  buddhimAn  (ayodhyA.1.13) ; He had a superior intellect and 
quickly grasped what was said to Him. 

There are three kinds of intellect - 1. taila buddhi, 2. mRdpiNDa buddhi, 3. 
saikata buddhi.  

saikata [sand] buddhi - if you pour water over kAvEri river sand, the water 
will be absorbed right away;  it will not be there the next day.  Like that, a 
person may be taught something today, he will grasp them immediately; but he 
will forget what he learned the very next day.  That is called saikata buddhi.  
He will understand the subject even the first time he hears; but he will not 
know if asked later - just like the sand.  That is saikata buddhi.

mRdpiNDa [clay lump] buddhi - It is the greatest kind (AcAryar's humor).  Clay 
used to be utilized for making ovens in olden days. We have forgotten now 
because of the advent of cement ovens. Clay lumps will be broken into pieces, 
collected and pounded; water will be poured into hand-poked depressions in the 
clay. The idea is to grind them all together. The water will not soak through 
even for ten days.  It will stay put.  It will even stay like that for a month. 
 Slowly, the water will seep in; when this happens, the clay lump become wet 
and it will not dry in that state; it will take a month for it to become dry.

Sometimes I visit some places to do upanyAsam.  I will say some jokes.  Some 
will laugh after two or three minutes.  If asked why they are laughing so late, 
they will say, "Doesn't it need time to soak in?" (Laughter in the audience)  
That kind of intellect is called mRdpiNDa buddhi.

taila [oil] buddhi - that is the best one.  Place a drop of oil in vessel 
containing water.  It will form red, blue, green and black colors and spread 
over the whole water surface.  Like that, it is enough if you teach just one 
point to some people, like lawyers.  All a lawyer needs is one point. For the 
sake of his client, he will delve deep into law books for five hours and talk 
on behalf of him.  That is termed taila buddhi.  It is enough if he is given 
one subject. He will say that he will take care of it and go and give a 
detailed talk.  That is taila buddhi.  rAma is a buddhimAn.  What kind of 
buddhi?  It was taila buddhi.

buddhimAn madhurAbhAshI - Whenever He talked, He was a sweet conversationalist. 
He never knew how to hurt others with words. There are people who hurt others 
by indulging in verbal abuse. rAma never knew that. 

buddhimAn madhurAbhAshI pUrvabhAshI priyam vadaH | 
                                                               (ayodhyA.1.13) 

If He meets a person,  He will be the first one to initiate the conversation.  
He will not wait for the other party to begin.  
pUrvabhAshI priyam vadaH;  He will speak only about good things even in the 
case of truth and never deliver unpleasant news with His mouth.  

There are some typical characters.  A person visited a friend's house; he asked 
his friend why he was sitting at 10 am in the morning.  The friend said that it 
was SrAddham day, a cook was cooking inside and was half-way done and that he 
was waiting for the svAmigaL [officiating priest].  

"Is it today?"

"Yes, today."

"You have tITTu [pollution from the death of a relative] today!  Today is the 
fifth day."  [This visitor is indicating that some relative has died and so 
this friend has tiTTu; he should not be doing SrAddham that day]. (Laughter in 
the audience).

priayamvadaH - This kind of news must be told another day; the relative might 
have died, but should this visitor announce it at that time [when the friend 
was ready to do SrAddham]?

buddhimAn madhurAbhAshI pUrvabhAshI priyam vadaH |

rAma will always present only pleasing messages; He will never deliver 
unpleasant news. 
=============
(To be continued)



      


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