Swami Desikan's PadhukhA Sahasram --Part 2

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SRI RANGANAATHA MANI PADHUKHE ! NAMASTHE !PUNASTHE !

 

Dear Members of the Prapatthi Group :

 

In this posting , I will start with a salutation to THE ILLUSTRIOUS

GLORY OF SRIRANGAM , the abode of Sriranganatha and His inseparable

consort , Sri RanganAyaki . For illustrating the incomparable glory

of the abode of the Lord , we can take Swami Desikan's own citation

in Sanchara Paddhathi of RPS . In this paddhathi , Swami Desikan

enjoys the uthsavams of Sri Ranganatha from viswarupa darsanam

to paryankAsanam (i.e )., from suprabhAtham ( ThiruppaLLIyezucchi)

to the Lord being to sung to sleep at night . The particular slokam of

Sanchara Paddhathi extolling the glories of Srirangam is the 312th slokam

of RPS :

 

satyAlokAth sakalamahithAth sthanathO vaa RaghUNAm

sankhE maatha: ! samadhikaguNam saikatham sahyajAyA : I

poorvam poorvm chiraparichitham paadhukE ! yath tyajanthyA

neethO naathastadhithamitharanneeyathE na tvayAasou II

 

(Meaning ) : O PaadhukE ! You brought BhagavAn first from

Sri VaikunTam to Satya Lokam , the world of BrahmA Devan .

Then You brought Him over to the house of Raghus at AyodhyA .

Thereafter , You carried Him to Srirangam . He has not ventured out

anywhere else since arriving at Srirangam on Your back . Therefore ,

I conclude correctly that there is no place superior to Srirangam .

 

**** ADDITIONAL GLORIES OF SRIRANGAM

 

Srirangam is indeed the Divya Desam celebrated by 11 AzhwArs

through 247 pAsurams of the NaalAyira Divya Prabhandham .

This is where AndAL , Kulasekhara AzhwAr , Tondardipodi ,

ThiruppAnAzhwAr , YatirAjar joined the Lord . AndAL and ThiruppANAzhwAr

merged with the Lord in person; the rest ascended to Sri VaikunTam

at this Divya Desam . Periya Nambi , ParAsara Bhattar , Vadakku

Thiruveedhi PiLLai , Pillai LokAcchAr , his brother and author of

Acharya Hrudhayam and many other AcharyAs were born here .

AcharyAs like Natha Muni , AalavandhAr , Swami Desikan ,

MaNavAla MaamunigaL and other Acharya PurushAs lived here

and offered their worship to Sri RanganathA and His PaadhukhAs .

 

***** IMPORTANCE AND GLORY OF ACHARYAS

 

In our tradition , the Lord's Paadhukais are considered identical to Acharyan

and particularly , NammAzhwAr , who is revered as SatAri Suri .

The PadhukhAs are HENCE known as "Satakopam " and is placed on

our heads at the sannidhis of BhagavAn to remind us of the Acharya

Sambhandham . It is our deep belief that a Jeevan can attain

sathgathi only through the strength and power of one's Acharya .

The definition of an Acharyan is accepted by us as follows :

 

" Nalla sangathikaLai arindhu , anthappadi nadanthu ,

appadiyE pirarukkum therivitthu , nadatthi vaikkiravan "

( One who understands the right messages form his acharyAs , practises them ,

intreprets and passes them on to his own disciples ). The practise of AchAram ,

AnushtAnam and helping others to understand them through personal

example and uniting us with the Lord through the power of their own Tapas

are the hall marks of a sadhAcharyan. Swami Desikan has covered

the extraordinary and unique role of AcharyAs in his 32nd (final )

chapter of his Rahasya traya Saaram to emphasize these doctrines .

 

**** THE IMPORTANCE OF NAMMAAZHWAAR IN OUR TRADITION

 

It is well known that it is very difficult to obtain a SadhAcharyan.

The SEQUENCE OF STEPS leading to Bhagavadh Anugraham are

recognised to be : SadhAcharya KatAksham , SadhAchArya

anugraham (PrasAdham ) , Bhagavadh Anugraham , Moksham .

 

Swami Desikan emphasised like the SadAchAryas before and after

him that the attainment of Sadhgathi by the Jeevans is due to the strength

and power of the AchAryAs and sambhandham with those AchAryAs.

At he very end of his Magnum opus , Rahasya Traya Saaram , Swami

Desikan concluded therfore " manyE Balam ". We have to

understand and revere the Guru paramparA (Acharya VamsO

j~nEya : ) fo that reason .

 

The first Acharyan in our tradition is SRIMAN NARAYANAN ,

THE SARVESWARAN . He lights the eternally shining lamp

of sampradhAyam and illumines the mind of the next Acharyan .

Through a line of succesion, NammAzhwAr or Thirukkuruhoor

Satakopan occupies a key place in our Acharya paramparai .

He is celebrated as the Prapanna Jana kutasthar and our

Kula pathi (founder-seer ) . He himself has stated in his

Periya ThiruvandhAdhi ( paasuram 31 ) that " By becoming

servants of the Lord , we have verily become as it were HIS

sacred sandals (paadhukhAs ) ". THAT IS OUR KEY REVELATION

ON NAMMAZHWAR BEING CONSIDERED AS THE PADHUKAI

OF THE LORD AT SRIRANGAM . Swami Desikan elected therefore

to celebrate the Padhukais of the Lord of Srirangam instead of

the Lord's Lotus feet themselves .

 

In the subsequen postings , the summaries of the 32 chapters

of RPS of Swami Desikan will be given and illustrative verses

from each of the Paddhathis will be included .

 

Sri Ranganayaki sametha Sri RanganAtha ParabrahmaNE Nama:

 

Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan