Padhuka Sahasram-1000

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Sri:

 

SrimatE Gopaladesika MahadesikAya Namaha,

 

Translation by U.Ve. Dr. V.N. Vedanta Desikan Swamin:

 

1000. krIdAloUlyam kimapi samayE pAdhukE! varjayanthI

nirvEsham svam dhishasi BhavathInAThayO: shrIDharaNyO:

mAmapyEvam janaya maDhujithpAdhayOrantharangam

rangam yAsoU janayasi guNaIrBhArathInruttharangam

 

Oh Paaduka! You are wont to concede the opportunity, to the consorts

Sri and Bhoomi, who feel they are subservient to You, of privately

serving the Lord's Feet, by subjugating Your own desire to serve the

Lord, say in a stroll, to their longing. I am Your subservient. You

ought to grant me too, the opportunity of privately rendering

service to those Holy Feet! You will do it, I know. You have enabled

me to complete this work and become the instrument of making this

Ranga a stage for Saraswati to dance in delight on hearing this

work.

 

Namo Narayana,

 

SriMuralidhara Dasan

 

Special Notes by V.Sadagopan (V.S):

 

SlOkam 1000

 

1) UtthamUr Swamy's anubhavam: When Swamy Desikan began to compose

the thousandth verse, Sarasvathy Devi was happy to know that the

poet (SrI VenkatEsan) had completed his pledge to create one

thousand verses in a single night in praise of the Paadhukais of the

Lord. The aasthika janams of Srirangam assembled in front of Lord

RanganAtha also appalauded his (Swamy Desikan's) extraordinary

success. Swamy Desikan was also very pleased and grateful that such

an effort was concluded and sought a boon of closeness to the holy

feet of the Lord and sing about their glories. He says: "Oh PadhukE!

When Lord RanganAtha wants to give His DEvis the pleasure of

pressing His feet, You cast aside Your desire to roam outside

carrying Your Lord's Thiruvadis. You defer those duties in favor of

the Lord's consorts. Similarly, May Thou bless me to become close to

Your Lord's Thiruvadis ! Your powers are such that You have made

Srirangam, the dance theatre for Sarasvathy DEvi".

 

2) Srimath Andavan's anubhavam: Swamy Desikan has now reached the

stage of completion of the 1000 slOkams to eulogize the vaibhavam of

the Paadhukais (Sankalpitha sahasram sampoorNam) .He has been

blessed with Bhagavath prApthi through the upAyam of PaadhukA

prApthi. He is joyous and concludes the Kaavyam from the subject

matter point of view. The remaining 8 slOkams are epilogues .

 

The inner meaning of this thousandth slOkam is to instruct us that

the SadAchAryAs of the Lord are dearer to the Lord even more than

His divine consorts. Those SadAchAryAs are celebrated as well by the

Divine consorts of the Lord. SadAchAryyAs are capable of blessing

their sishyAs with Bhagavathanubhavam similar to the one that they

enjoy. Swamy Desikan hints that AchArya Saayujyam is better than

Bhagavath Saayujyam. The glories of such AchAryAs fill all the

world.

 

Swamy Desikan asks a rhetorical question in this concluding

slOkam: Oh Paadhuke! What else do I need here, now that You have

blessed me to enjoy SrI RanganAthan with my body, speech and mind

and prepared me to be fit to perform kaimkaryams for Him ? There

seems to be one more thing that You can bless me with so that I can

become complete (PoorNan). You are known for Your total devotion to

Your Lord and for Your assembly of auspicious aathma guNams tuned to

serve Your Lord without interruption . Recognizing these splendid

set of attributes, even the Devis of the Lord pay their respects to

You. They recognize that Bhagavath anubhava roopa PurushArTam is

also under Your control. They are thankful to You for stopping the

Lord's sanchAram and returning Him to His inner chambers

for union with them ( the Devis). Thus You confer the bhOgam of the

Lord's lotus feet for the Devis instead of monopolizing them by

going on long sanchArams with Your and Their Lord. My prayer to You

is to bless me further with the Bhagavath PadhAravindha anubhava

bhOgam just like You facilitated such anubhavams for the Lord's

divine consorts. You may ask how I came to know of Your generosity

to share the Lord's divine feet with His dear consorts. Oh PaadhukE!

Your vaibhavam is so well known (lOka prasiddham) in this world

through the joyous efforts of Saraswathi Devi to bless the poets to

sing about Your vaibhavam through their SrI Sookthis. Therefore,

Your generosity, KaaruNyam and othe subha guNams are no

secret to the people of the world. Therefore, You must bless me with

the additional boon of the closest presence(Parama saamyam ) to

You. That enjoyment would even be greater in my estimate to what

adiyEn will enjoy in the Muktha dasai (Bhagavath Saamyam ). Thus ,

Swamy Desikan concludes this Sankalpitha Sahasram (SrI RanganAtha

PaadhukA Sahasram) with the statement that the ultimate enjoyment of

PaadhukAnubhavam is the Lord adorning His Paadhukais ( Swamy

NammAzhwAr) at SrIrangam, the BhUlOka Vaikuntam . Here at Srirangam,

the Paadukai blesses aasrithALs with the sacred feet of the Lord,

which is its Sarvaswam ( Sarva savadhAnam gift ).

 

3) Oh PaadhukE ! On special occasions , You stop Your delectable

sanchArams with Your Lord and bring the Lord back to His antha:

puram so that His devis can enjoy the same pleasure that You enjoy

through Bhagavath Padha parcicharaNa sukham ( samayE kimapi

kreeDAloulyam varjayanthee sathi, Bhavathee NaaTayO: SrIdharaNyO:

svam nirvEsam disasi). May I request You to confer the boon of

qualifications for such antharanga kaimkaryams to Your Lord's

Thiruvadi? (yEvam maamapi Madhujith paadhayO: antharangam janaya).

You of such sarvasvAdhanam glory and auspicious guNams have made

Sriranga KshEthram, the dancing stage for Saraswathi Devi ( Yaasou

Rangam GuNai: BhArathee nruttha rangam janayasi)...(V.S).