Paduka Sahasram - An overnight miracle

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!! Sri Rama Jayam !!Paduka-Sahasram'Paduka Sahasram' means one thousand verses on the sandals, is in praise of the sacred sandals of Lord Sri Renganatha's lotus feet at Srirangam by his holiness Vedanta Desika. The whole work is a monument for supreme devotion and superb poetry, all in one night’s intuition, - an overnight miracle of one thousand verses! It was composed by him on request of the learned scholars of Srirangam realising that there was no strong Shloka on Sri RenaganathaSwamy at Srirangam. All this was composed by Desika (as he puts it, by the Grace of the paduka of the Divine) in just one quarter of the night, actually the third quarter. The earlier two quarters were devoted by him, as soon as he accepted the commitment, to yoga and yoga-nidra (=sleep induced by yoga and resulting in intuition). The wonder of this work is the ability of Acharya to compose 1000 verses on just the lotus feet of Lord Renganatha and that too in different ways, ultimately capturing the interest of the audience.Eulogy of Divine SandalsThe spirit of the Paduka-sahasraM is unequalled in any religious literature. The paduka of the divine is equal to the guru or the AchArya whose grace is more powerful than the grace of the Lord. The Acharya implied in every verse of the paduka sahasram is Nammalvar, the great author of Tiru-vAi-mozhi, who is generally considered as the paduka of the divine. Here are a few examples of this unusual eulogy.PerumÄl and ÅšaÅ£hÄriThe Tamil word Perumal (pronounced 'PerumaaL') is used by Vaishnava tradition to denote the Supreme Divinity as well as the idol -- arcA -- of the Divine. The two words which compose to make perumal are perum, which means ‘the great’ ‘the gigantic’ ‘the supreme’ and ‘aaL’ which means ‘personality’. The corresponding Sanskrit word is ‘purushottama’. The sandals of Perumal are known as the ÅšaÅ£hÄri. The ÅšaÅ£hÄri is like a crown placed reverentially on the heads of devotees in all Vaishnava temples, and they receive it with humility, with one hand on the mouth as if to keep it shut.Desika's depiction of Bharata receiving the PadukaThe classic instance of this act was first done by Bharata (in the Ramayana) when he received the sandals of Lord Rama. But before he receives it, he requests the Lord to wear the sandals once and remove it. The act of Rama that is requested here is to step on the sandals and step down. This drama does not find a place in either the Tamil Ramayana of Kamban or the Hindi Ramayana of Tulasi. But the original poet Valmiki describes it. ‘Oh Lord’, says Bharata, ‘Please step on these sandals and step down. These sandals are the ones which support and sustain the welfare of the three worlds’. And Rama obliges. Imagine this scene in your mind. What does it mean? Does it have an esoteric significance? The obvious significance that suggests itself to us is that Rama is requested to step on the sandals and step out so that the sandals may receive the spiritual vibrations from the Lord and therefore become sacred so as to be venerated and be able to receive the honour of being the object of worship from Bharata for the next fourteen years, the period of Rama’s exile. This is what Vedanta Desika, also thinks and weaves in his verse No.113 of his paduka-sahasram. But three verses later he eulogises the paduka to such heights that this scene of Rama's stepping on and stepping down from the sandals obtains an enormous significance, revealed only by the great intution of the super-devotee Vedanta Desika. The why of that divine act as explained by the master-poet is wonderful.The power of PadukasWhen the Lord is on the point of embarking on a commitment to walk through the forests of the country for the next fourteen years, he was relying on the power of the paduka to protect him and his feet. Now that Bharata is asking for the padukas, and that means separation from them, as far as Rama is concerned, He is now stepping up on them and stepping down so as to receive the spiritual vibrations from them and thereby the energy for him to sustain the challenge of walking barefooted through the entire forest. So the poet says: If he did not do it, how could he have walked through the rough ground and dense shrubbery of the Dandaka forest with bare feet for so long? Is this not the height of devotion to the divine sandals on the part of Desika?The paduka is greater than even Vibhishana and Sugriva - says the poet in another verse. (Verse No.231) You are even greater than Rama, continues the poet again: Oh sandals, You are even more glorious than Rama whose glory pervades all the three worlds. For, if not, how did Bharata, who wanted only Rama, accept you as security for Rama’s return? (Is it not common knowledge that a thing accepted as security for money promised to be returned, must have a value greater than the money lent?) (Verse No.108)At the holy feet of Sri Guruvayurappan.Hare KrishnaHare Rama