Guest guest Posted January 28, 1997 Report Share Posted January 28, 1997 Dear Members of the Prapatthi group : In this posting , I will cover the Third and Fourth Paddhathis of RPS named PrabhAva and SamarpaNa Paddhathis by Swami Desikan . In the first Paddhathi , he announced the creation of the Sthothram on the sacred sandals of the Lord of Srirangam . In the second Paddhathi , he discussed the significance of the name of " Satakopan " and related it to the paadhukhAs of the Lord . In the seventy slokAs of the third Paddhathi , he focused on the glories of the sandals of the Lord of Srirangam . ***** THIRD PADDHATHI : PRABHAAVA PADDHATHI In the very first slokam , Swami Desikan sets the tone for the celebration of the glories of the Paadhukais of the Lord . He says : vandE tadhranganAthasya mAnyam padhukayOryugam I unnathAnAmavanathi: nathAnAm yathra chOnnathi : II (menaing ) : I salute the celebrated PaadhukhAs of Sri RanganAthA, which makes the tall become small (humble ) and the small become tall. Swami Desikan points out that those , who stand tall with their display of ego are reduced in rank and humbled by the PaadhukhAs; similarly , those who humbly worship them get elevated and receive the blessings of Sri RanganAthA . Even the Lord Himself becomes taller , when He wears the PaadhukhAs and becomes shorter , when He steps down from them ! In the second verse of this paddhathi , Swami Desikan states that it is impossible to write about the limitless auspicious attributes of Sri RanganAtha PaadhukhAs . Even if the entire sky is made into the paper for writing , even if the seas are made to serve as the ink , even if the thousand-headed MahA Purushan (Adhi Seshan ) is appointed to become a writer , it is doubtful that one can complete adequately the task of writing on the immeasurable , auspicious attributes of the Lord's PaadhukhAs . In the third verse , Swami Desikan points out that the glories of the PaadhukhAs have their basis in the VedAs . That basis is elaborated by Sage Valmiki in Srimadh RamAyaNam and by Vyasa BahgavAn in Srimadh Bahgavatham . Swami says here that the works of Sages Valmiki and Vyaasa serve as the two eyes to experience the glory of the PaadhukhAs . Sage Valmiki describes with reverence the glory of Sri Rama PaadhukhAs being worshipped by BharathA . In Srimadh Bhagavatham , Vyasa BhagavAn describes the story of Uddavar , who received the instructions directly from Lord KrishNa on Moksha Dharmam ; after that , Uddavar carried Lord KrishNa's paadhukhAs on his head and worshipped them at BadarikAsramam . In many other PurANAs also , Vyasa BhagavAn has extolled the greatness of the Lord's PaadhukhAs . In the seventy seventh slokam , Swami says that there is no limit to PaadhukhA's glories and his countless sins are clearly dispelled by the power and the golries of the PaadhukhAs. The inner meaning is that even if one is a great sinner , the prabhAvam of the AchAryAs banishes the sins of those , who perform prapatthi at the sacred feet of their AchAryAs . ***** FOURHT PADDHATHI : SAMARPANA PADDHATHI There are 20 verses in this paddhathi. The central theme is the presentatioN (SamarpaNam ) of the PaadhukhAs by Sri Ramabhadran to his younger brother , BharathA . Latter begged and pressed Sri RamA to return to AyodhyA and Sri RamA had no interest in returning there . At that time , the Kula Guru VasishtA recommended that Sri RamA present his PaadhukhAs to BharathA instead of him returning in person to AyodhyA . Swami Desikan observes playfully that Sri Rama performed parasthAnam with his PaadhukhAs . ParasthAnam is typically done , when one can not start on a planned journey on an auspicious day due to unexpected developments. On that day , ParasthAnam is performed by placing the baggage to be taken on the planned journey at a place other than one's own. Similarly , Sri RamA could not journey back to AyodhyA on the day that BahrathA requested him at Chithrakutam . Therefore Swami Desikan says that Sri RamA performed parasthAnam at Nandigramam with his paadhukhAs. The inner meaning is that Jeevan begs Sriman NarAyanA to come to it or asks the Lord to invite it to His parama padham with great intensity and desire . The Lord is not ready to accede to that request and blesses the Jeevan with a SadhAcharyan , who is deeply attached to His lotus feet . When the Jeevan follows the instructions of that sadhAcharyan and receives that Acharyan's complete blessings , then the Lord joins the Jeevan with Him at Parama Padham . This inner meaning suggests that one can not be united with the Lord without the paripurNa anugraham of a sadhAcharyan . The slokam pregnant with these meanings is : bhajAma: padhukhE yAbhyAm bahrathasyAgrajastadhA I prAya: prathiprAyANAya prAsthanikamakalpayath II In the second verse , Swami Desikan points out the meaning behind Sri Rama taking his PadhukhAs with him instead of all other material things , when he left on his exile to the forest . Swami points out that PadhukhAs must be one of the most precious objects to him for taking them alone on this journey . The inner meaning is that Sriman NarAyaNA in Sri Vaikuntam worries about the Bhaddha Jeevans in the prakruthi mandalam . He places the AchAryAs (His Nitya Suris ) as ParasthAnam on His earth to redeem the Jeevans bound in the snares of SamsAram . In the seventh verse , Swami Desikan asks a rhetorical question : Who would have consoled and helped the citizens of Kosala Desam , if the PadhukhAs had joined Rama along with His brother and wife on the journey to the forest ? The PadhukhAs returned to AyodhyA to save the people from their sorrows .Here the inner meaning is that we would not have any Acharya paramparai to speak of had Sriman NaarAyaNA not blessed Natha Muni with his Paadhukhas ( SatAri Suri ) as his AcharyA in the form of NammAzhwAr. In the sixteenth slokam , Swami Desikan makes an interesting observation related to the Srimadh RamAyaNa passage that refers to BahrathA's request for Sri Rama to step on the PaadhukhAs before giving them to him ( AdhirOhArya PaadhAbhyAm ). Swami Desikan states that Sri RamachandrA did not step on the PadhukhAs to empower them , since the PadhukhAs had unmatchable power of their own . Instead , he ascended them to receive the portion of their power to overcome the pains of travelling in the forest floor strewn with sharp stones and thorns. Thus Swami Desikan celebrates the prabhAvam of the sacred PadhukhAs during the occasion of the presentation of them to BahrathAzhwan by Sri Ramachandra at Chitrakutam . Swami Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam . Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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