Sri RanganAtha PaadhukhA Sahasram (RPS ) : Part 14. 17

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Dear Members of the Prapatthi Group :

 

I will conclude the musings on the Naadaha Paddhathi

of RPS with this posting There are 18 more paddhathis

to cover . Hopefully , we can cover them fairly quickly after

the deliberately slow pace so far to enjoy each and

every slokam of the Naadha Paddhathi (NP) .

 

Verse 96 0f NP/ Slokam 476 of RPS

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sveshu sveshu padhEshu niyamayasyashtou disAmeesvrAn

svairAlApakathA: pravarthayasi kim trayyA sahAseenayA I

RangEswarasya samastha loka mahitham prApthA padhAmbhOruham

ma bhaisheerithi maamudheerayasi vaa manjusvanai: paadhukhE ! II

 

Swami Desikan describes some of the many things that

the Divya MaNi paadhukhAs accomplish . He says : O PaadhukhE !

When I hear your sweet Naadham generated by the sanchAram of your

Lord"s lotus feet , It sounds like you are commanding the Lords of

the eight directions to go about their assigned duties . At times ,

it appears like an intimate conversation that you are having with

the VedAs , which are sitting at the holy feet of your Lord . At other

times , Your Naadham appears to be directed expressly at me

to state that I should not be afraid of SamsAric afflictions.

 

While asking the PaadhukhAs about the different types of

Naadham it creates , Swami Desikan pays his homage to

the Lotus feet Of RanganAthA with the passage of the slokam :

Samastha Loka mahithAm RangEsasya PadhAmbhOruham .

He describes the Lotus feet of the Lord of Srirangam as

the most celebrated charaNa Kamalam in all of the worlds .

 

Swami states that theNaadham of the PaadhukhAs appear

as though it says : Do not be afraid ( Maa Bhaishi ) in a gesture of

Abhaya PradhAnam . This reference reminds one of

the Sarama Slokam of the Lord stated in the battle field

of Kurukshetram , where He asked Arjuna not to grieve ( Maa Sucha : ) .

The PaadhukhAs according to Swami Desikan

seem to be saying that those , who take refuge at the holy

feet of the Lord have nothing to fear based on His declaration:

" Relinquishing all DharmAs , take refuge in Me alone ; I will

liberate thee from all sins ; grieve not " .Swami NammAzhwaar

declared in the Thiruvaimozhi Paasurams that there is naught

else except Sriman NaarAyaNA to grant us moksham .

 

Verse 97 of NP/ slokam 477 of RPS

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In the previous verse , Swami Desikan indicated that

the PaadhukhA's Naadham assures him of freedom

from fear. During this and the subsequent three verses ,

Swami explains about the type of fears that are removed by

the Naadham of the PaadhukhAs .

 

He says : O Paadhukhas adorning the lotus feet

of the Lord holding Sudarsanam in His hand !

May I hear your majestic sound of your naadham

resembling the roaring ocean at the time , when the servants of

YamA argue loudly with me about my many sins ! O PaadhukhE !

Your Naadham will readily answer the arguments of Yama

KinkarAs and point out that I have performed Prapatthi to Your Lord .

May Thou bless me to be in Srirangam at the time of shedding my

mortal coils , so that your Lord does not need to travel too far to

reach me! ". Freedom from fear caused by the servants of YamA

is the first of the fears that Swami has in mind . Here , he seems to

be alluding to the story of AjAmilA , who was threatened

unsuccessfully by the Yama KinkarAs at the time of his death .

 

Verse 98 of NP / Slokam 478 of RPS

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Here Swami Desikan goes on with the listing of the second

of his fears that the PaadhukhA Naadham removes . He says :

" O Mother! O Madhava PaadhukhE ! Great scholars and eminently

righteous people experience the sweetness of your naadham , which

reminds them of the sweetness of the juice of freshly pressed sugar cane.

Their minds get intoxicated with that experience of listening to

your naadham . For my part , I attempt to describe you without

fear or humility and add words that dry up in my verse . I am

afraid that the scholars may criticize the quality of my work . You

ask me not to be afraid ( Maa Bhaishee ) because of the scholars

are so intoxicated over the tasting of your delectable naadham ,

which in turn will make them ineffective to notice any defects in my work " .

 

Swami Desikan hints here that his composition was not critically

reviewed by him due to the pressure of time to compose one thousand

and eight verses in the short time frame of one Jaamam of the night .

 

Verse 99 of NP / Slokam 479 of RPS

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In this slokam , Swami Desikan refers to a third fear

that the PaadhukhA Naadham removes for him . He says

that it removes the fear about the intemperate and jealous

people criticizing his compositions about the Lord"s PaadhukhAs .

 

This slokam alludes to the incident that led to the creation of

this MahA Kaavyam by Swami Desikan as a result of the challenge

raised by a jealous poet . Swami seems to refer to the unwanted

competition to prove the superiority of one's poetic skills as

an internal agitation among the Sri VaishNavA community

of Sri Rangam . He comments that this commotion was like

the cacophony of an occasion , when hundreds of Vedic passages

are recited at the same time . He commends this competiton

inspite of the commotion , since the subject matter dealt with

Sri RanganAthA , whose feet are adorned by the PaadhukhAs

(SatAri Suri ) as well as by the VedAs , which serve as an ankle

jewelery ( Noopuram ) . Both serve the Lord in their own ways.

 

In many verses of the PaadhukhA sahasram , Swami Desikan has

praised the superiority of the Lord's PaadhukhAs over the Lord"s

lotus feet . This is consistent witht he Lord's own statement that His

BhagavathAs are superior Him . VedAs also establish this principle ,

which is accepted by the Sri VaishNavA community even today.

It is no wonder that Swami Desikan"s PaadhukhA sahasram won over

the competing Paadha Kamala sahasram from the point of view of the

subject chosen for eulogy. The challenger of Swami Desikan could not

complete however the 1,000 verses in the time set for the competition

either .

 

Swami Desikan praises the Naadham of the PaadhukhAs in this verse

as follows : " O PaadhukhE ! The gems embedded in you move , when

you transport your Lord and raise a delightful naadham in praise of

your Lord. They establish your glory and through their many notes

emanating at the same time remind one of the different sections of

the Vedas that appear to conflict with one another. Some sections

of the VedAs aver that BhagavAn's glory is superior to His BhakthAs .

Other sections insist that the BhagavathA's glory exceeds that of

their Lord . O PaadhukhE ! your naadham reminds me of this

dispute. You ( Swami NammAzhwAr) have stated in some places

that the Lord has the supreme glory and elsewhere , You have

suggested that the BhagavathA's glory exceeds that of your Lord.

Your two statements may appear contractictory. Actually , there is

no conflict . BhagavathA's greatness is included in Your Lord"s

supermacy . Same reconciliation can be made between the

positions of Vedic passages that seem to contradict one another.

 

My contestant chose to compose on your Lord's lotus feet . I

elected to eulogize you adorning the Lord's holy feet . Both of us

are of the same creed . It may appear that there is a dispute between

us in the matter of selecting the topic for the eulogy. In actuality ,

both of our efforts are all about the glory of your Lord ".

 

Verse 100 of NP / Slokam 480 of RPS

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Swami Desikan chose the shorter AryA meter in his customary

fashion to conclude this Paddhathi . The slokam describes the

fourth type of fear that the PaadhukhAs chase away . The slokam is

as follows :

 

Kshipathi MaNipaadha RakshE ! naadahirnoonam samAsrithathrANE I

Rangeswarasya Bhavathi RakshApEkshaNaviLampam II

 

Here , Swami Desikan describes the fourth fear as the delay on the part

of RanganAthA to come to his protection . He says : " O Gem-decked

PaadhukhE ! Your Naadham prompts RanganAthA to come to my rescue.

You through your naadham standing in the role of an AchAryA

recommend my salvation to your Lord. You remove this way any

delay on the part of your Lord to wait for me to request His protection

through self-surrender(Prapatthi ) at His lotus feet .That fear is also

removed now by you ."

 

The reference here is to the paasuram of Swami NammAzhwAr

in the third decad of Thiruvaimozhi ( MaatAthEyaahilum ) , where

he addresses the Lord and states that He should out of his

infinite mercy save the suffering samsAris ,since they do not know

how to go about asking for His help . The Lord wants to save them .

He knows about their sufferings and yet he wants them to make an

effort . PaadhukhA "s naadham seems to suggest that the SamsAris

do not know how to go about asking for the mercy waiting for them

and begs the Lord not to wait for that askinfg and out of the greatness

of His DayA to take the initative to save the suffering souls . One

wonders as to whose mercy is greater , the AcharyA's or

the Lord's . One is clear however that the Lord listens to

the pleading of the Acharyas to save us , when we perform

Prapatthi .

 

Swami NammAzhwAr ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Sri Ranganayaki Sametha Sri Ranganayaka SwaaminE Nama:

Sri Swami Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

 

Naadha Paddhathi SampoorNam

 

Oppilaippan KOil VaradAchAri Sadagopan