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THE NAME
"I know 'Pandita'. What is 'Râma'?" he asked.
When we first came to the Shwe Taung Gon Sâsana Yeiktha there were two young workers. It was one of them who asked this question. He pronounced it 'yâma'. In Myanmar, the character used for the 'r' sound in Pâli is pronounced 'y' in Burmese. In pronouncing Pâli and English, though, one has to pronounce that character as 'r'. The name is written 'Panditârâma' on the sign at the entrance, on the signs on the street and on the cars.
'Panditârâma' is a conjunction of two words, 'pandita' and 'ârâma'. 'Pandita' refers to Sayadaw U Pandita. 'Ârâma' means a monastery. Most will conclude it that way. That's the meaning they will take. There have certainly been these kind of names in the past. The Visuddhârâma was the monastery of Sayadaw U Visudda. The Dhammikârâma was Sayadaw U Dhammika's monastery. Janitârâma was the monastery of U Janita. Most Myanmars will have heard these names before. Most will take the meaning of Panditârâma as 'Sayadaw U Pandita's monastery'.
Sayadaw U Pandita, though, does not give it this meaning. This is how he explains the meaning:
"Those wise people who can discern beneficial from unbeneficial, appropriate from inappropriate, are called 'pandita'. Young people who have the wisdom which can discern beneficial from unbeneficial, appropriate from inappropriate, are called 'pandita', too. Middle aged people are 'pandita'. Elders are also 'pandita'. Men are 'pandita' and women are 'pandita'. Nuns, novices, monks, and Sayadaws are 'pandita'. Whether from this country or abroad, whomever they may be, those who have the wisdom which can discern beneficial from unbeneficial, appropriate from inappropriate, are 'pandita'," he says.
Thus, the word 'pandita' does not refer to just the Panditârâma Shwe Taung Gon Sâsana Yeiktha Sayadaw U Panditâbhivamsa after all. It's quite expansive. The way Sayadaw gives the meaning is not like others, his is unique. This is how he gives the meaning of the word 'Ârâma'.
"Ârâma means a place of happiness."
There are many kinds of happiness in the world. There is the happiness of having sons, daughters, the happiness of having wives and husbands, and the happiness having of things, and so on. The kind of happiness contained in the word 'Ârâma' is not of that kind, he says. It is the happiness of the Dhamma. The happiness of having children
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