paramapada-sOpAnam-CONCLUSION

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srimathE lakshmi-nrsumha parabrahmaNE namaha

sri vedanta desika guravE namaha

 

Dear 'bhAgavatOttamA-s',

 

Like our aspirant of the 'PPS', Bharatha too conquered 'vivEkam',

'nirvEdam', 'virakthi' and 'bheethi' to reach the outskirts of Chitrakoota

where Swami Desikan can be said to have founded his 5th 'pariankai' called

'prasadana-parva'.

 

For it is here in the sylvan Chitrakoota hillock that Bharatha could be said

to have embraced the 'prapatti-mArga' prescribed for the aspirant in the

"UpAya-parva" of the 'paramapada-sOpAnam'.

 

After Bharatha performed the 'paduka-pattAbhishEkam', he verily became a

'prapanna' since he elevated the Lord's sandals to the crown of his own head

-- the supreme symbolic act of a 'prapanna' who acknowledges eternal

servitude to the Lord.

 

One reflexively recalls the classic phrase of Sri.Andal in the context of

this scene :

 

"eRRaikUm EzEzhu piravaikkum un tannOdu uRROmEyAvOm UNakkE nAmAt tcheyvOm !"

 

Or even those famous lines of Poigai Azhwar in the 'mudal tiruvantAdi':

 

"senrAl kudaiyAm irunthAl singAsanam;

ninrAl maravadiyAm neeLkadaLUL -- enrUm

pUnaiyAm maniviLLakAm pUmpattAm pulkUm

aNaiyAm thirumAtra karavu"

 

Or even those immortal lines of NammazhwAr in the 'tiruvAymOzhi'

 

"oLivil kAlamellAm udanAy manni, vazhuvilla adimai ceyya vEndum"

 

 

After this point in the Ramayana, dear 'bhAgavatOttamA-s', we know that

Bharatha lived a life of an extremely contented 'prapanna'. In fact some

commentators say that Bharatha, amongst all the other dramatis personae in

the Ramayana, lived such a secure and happy life after his 'prapatti' to the

Lord that Sage Valmiki lost interest in him altogether !! That poet found

nothing much to describe about him in the rest of the Ramayana !! While

everyone else was busy doing one thing or the other in the story, or going

'hither-thither' in the drama (remember my 'gathA-gathAni' posts, dear

friends ?!), Bharatha alone led a life of quiet piety in Ayodhya, absorbed

ever in the service of the Lord and His Command to administer the Kingdom

Ayodhya.

 

Bharatha lived the life of a true and 'professional' 'prapanna'-- free of

anxieties -- of either 'nirvEdam' or 'bheethi' -- exactly in the way that

Swami Desikan described in the 'prasadana-parva' of the 'paramapada-sOpAnam' !!!

 

In Swami Desikan's "Raghuveera-gadyam" there is a verse (#25) which alludes

to the fact that the whole world attains prosperity when filled with the

Lord's "prapanna-s" and especially of the sort that Bharatha was -- he who

bent his head and welcomed the Lord's 'padukA-s' on his head :

 

" praNatha bharatha makUta-thata sugha-ti-tha pAdukA-grayAbhishEka-nirvarthitha

sarvalOka yogakshEma !!"

 

The whole of 'Ayodhya' too thus enjoyed prosperity during the reign of the

'pAdukA-s' !!

 

And such prosperity was made possible, dear 'bhAgavatOttamA-s', because

Sri.Bharatha carried on the tasks that a real SriVaishnava, journeying

through the 'prasadana-parva' of his time on earth, cheerfully accepts.

 

With that glorious moment of the 'padukA-pattAbhishEkam' in the Ramayana

ever fresh in our minds, I now conclude this series on Swami Desikan's

'paramapada-sOpAnam'.

 

****************************************

 

Many months ago, dear friends, when I had just enrolled into the

'bhakti-list' Sriman.Vijay Srinivasan's casual remark on the "Daya-satakam"

carried me away into a reverie of the word 'jada' used in Verse#50 of that hymn.

 

Then Sriman.Sadagopan's wonderful musing on Swami Desikan's "Vega-setu

stotram' took me on another trip of wonderful musing of mine own.

 

After that there was a casual discussion on Verse #41 of the

Raghuveera-gadya where Sri.Sundar queried my remark that Lord Rama was a

mere "sabhari-mOksha sAkshi-bhuta"! That too held me captive for several

weeks and made me muse and muse like a mad-man !!

 

And now just a week ago, a post by Sriman Kalale on his meeting with the

45th Azhagiyasingar, led me into an intense recollection of Mukkur Swami

II's discourses on 'nirvEdam" in Swami Desikan's "PPS" !!

 

When I recollect all this, dear 'bhAgavatOttamA-s" I realize I should indeed

be grateful to Lord Narayana and our 'AchAryA-s" for blessing me (through

the inter-net, if not physically) with the company of 'bhaghavatAs" like all

of you. Special indeed is the company which inspires one to constantly dwell

on the Glories of the Lord !!

 

I thank Sriman.Sadagopan, Vijay Srinivasan, I.K.Rangarajan, Mohan Sagar and

Dileepan who were kind enough to come forward to express their enjoyment of

Swami Desikan's sterling 'rahasya-grantha' -- 'PARAMAPADA-SOPANAM'.

 

KAVITARKIKA SIMHAYA KALYANA GUNA SHALINE

SRIMATHE VENKATESAYA VEDANTA GURAVE NAMAHA

 

SRIMATHE SRIVAN SATAGOPA SRI NARAYANA YATHINDRA MAHADESIKAYA NAMAHA

 

sudarshan.