Padhuka Sahasram:301-308 (Additional Cooments by Sri V. Sadagopan Swamin)

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Sri:

 

SrimatE Gopaladesika MahadesikAya Namaha,

 

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

 

Sri Ranganatha PaadhukA Sahsram SlOkams ( 301-308)

 

301. sharadhupagamakAlE santhyajan yOganidhrAm

sharaNamupagathAnAm thrANahEthO: prayAsyan

jalaDhidhuhithurankAnmandhamAdhAya dhEvi!

thvayi Khalu nidhaDhAthi svam padham ranganAtha:

 

Oh Paaduka Devi! At the advent of autumn, Lord Ranganatha leaves off

his yoganidra, starts on His mission of protecting His dear ones. He

gently withdraws His foot from Mahalakshmi. And then does He not place

the Feet on You? You are the saviour to all.

 

302. sprushasi padhasarOjam pAdhukE! nirviGhAtham

pravishasi cha samasthAm dhevi! shuDdhAnthakakshyAm

aparamapi murArE: pUrvamABhIrakanyA-

svaBhisaraNaviDhInAmagrimA sAkshiNI thvam

 

Oh Paaduka! You have contact with the Lord's Feet, without a

hindrance. You can enter all the

areas in the harem freely. Furthermore, You were the standing witness

to the Lord's freely

mixing with the gopa damsels, in games you liked.

 

303. prathiBhavanamananyE pAdhukE! thvathpraBhAvAth

viviDhavapuShi dhEvE viBhramadhyUthakAlE

aBhilaShithasapathnIgEhayAthrAviGhAtham

glahayathi rahasi thvAm ShOdashasthrIsahasram

 

Oh Paaduka! I recall an instance to establish Your greatness. Krishna

took myriad forms;

each one spent his time with one Gopa damsel; while doing so, he did

not ever think of any one

else; there were sixteen thousand damsels engaged by Krishna in as

many identical forms; each

would like to prevent Krishna from going out to another, when a game

of dice was being gone

through. Each in every home demanded You as the stake against Krishna

leaving in the midst.

This, in secret!

 

304. thataBhuvi yamunAyAshChannavrutthoU mukundE

muhuraDhigamahEthOrmuhyathAm yoUvathAnAm

shamayithumalamAsIcChankachakrAdhichinhA

prathipadhavichikithsAm pAdhukE! paDdhatisthE

 

Oh Paaduka! During Krishna's sport with the Gopa damsels on the banks

of the river Yamuna, He

used to hide himself; the disappointed women would search for Him,

tracing the imprints of

the Paaduka on the sands; then the emblems of the Chakra, Sankha,

etc., would suffice to betray

the Lord's hideout!

 

305. aDhigathabahushAKhAn manjuvAcha: shukAdhIn

sarasijanilayAyA: prIthayE sangrahIthum

prakatithaguNajAlam pAdhukE! rangabanDhO:

upaniShadhatavIShu krIditham thvathsanATham

 

Oh Paaduka! Lord Ranganatha plays a live game with You; He catches

parrots sitting on many

branches, talking sweetlyto present to Mahalakshmi to please her. For

this He casts nets of

yarn in the forests.

 

(The Lord is found in the Upanishads. He catches Suka and other sages

who revel in Vedas, by

attracting them by His charming gunas; He gets their company which

pleases Mahalakshmi)

 

306. munipariShadhigItham goUthamIrakshaNam thE

muhuranukalayanthO manjuvAcha: shakunthA:

uShasi nijakulAyAdhutthithA dhandakEShu

svayamapi padharakshE! svaIramAmrEdayanthi

 

Oh Paaduka! The miracle that You showed in protecting Ahalya, which,

once repeatedly spoken

of in assemblies of sages in Dandaka forest has become popular among

birds, which repeat it

many times, even to-day, when they wake up in their nests, in sweet

chorus, but as they like,

that is, in their own way.

 

307. yamaniyamavishuDdhairyam na pashyanthi chitthai:

shruthiShu chuLakamAthram dhrushyathE yasya BhUmA

sulaBhaniKhilaBhAvam mAmsadhruShtErjanasya

svayamupaharasi thvam pAdhukE! tham pumAmsam

 

Oh Paaduka! What a great achievement for You! You bring to the doors

of ordinary men, to be

visible to these physical eyes, in all His splendour to be palpable,

the GREAT LORD, WHOM the

Yogis, with a clear and clean mind, perfected by the five Yama

exercises (Brahmacharyam, Ahimsa,

truthfulness, non-stealing, and non-accumulation of wealth) and the

five Niyama exercises

(Veda-abhyasa, pure habits, contentment, tapas of observing fast etc.,

and god-remembrance) are

unable to comprehend

and

WHOSE greatness is attempted to catch by the Vedas but only as a

handful in magnitude-only to

that extent the Vedas could see His greatness. This You do of Your own

accord.

 

308. niDhimiva nirapAyam thvAmanAdhruthya mOhA-

dhahamiva mama dOSham BhAvayan kshudhramarTham

mayi sathi karuNAyA: pUrNapAthrE thvayA kim

paramupagamanIya: pAdhukE! ranganAtha:

 

Oh Paaduka! Will it be proper for you to take the Lord to any one

else, when I am here? Yes,

I have disregarded You, You, who must prove a great flawless treasure

for me. MY mind wandered

behind vulgar rewards like artha, kama, aishwarya, etc. The Lord too

might cogitate on my

deficiency as I am myself doing. But then it itself makes me the

perfect recipient for the

Lord's Grace. Who else needs His grace more? None indeed! Hence, may

you be pleased to enable me

to receive the Lord in His transit to my home?

 

Namo Narayana,

 

SriMuralidhara Dasan

 

 

 

Special Notes by V.Sadagopan (V.S): SlOkam 301:

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

 

(1) Sri Abhinava Desika UtthamUr Swamy's anubhavam :

Oh PaadhukE! The asurAs are deluded in their thinking ,

when they assume that the sleeping Lord will neither break

His yoga-nidhrA nor move His feet from the lap of MahA-

Lakshmi , where they rest . The asurAs are proven wrong in

their assumptions , when RanganAthA wakes up during

the autumn season and gently lifts His feet from His Devi's

lap and places them on You to start His journey to protect

the afflicted . He moves His feet from one Devi and places

them on another Devi (Yourself) for sanchAram to protect

His devotees.

 

(2) H.H Srimath Andavan's anubhavam: During the rainy

season , Lord RanganAthA engages in Yoga nidhrA resting

His holy feet on Sri RanganAyaki's lap . He wakes up at

autumn to come to the rescue of His devotees , who sought

His protection. At that time , He places His feet inside

You after lifting them from His Devi's lap to take care of

His sworn duties to ward of the sorrows of His bhakthA

janam .

 

(3) The scene described by Swamy Desikan in this slOkam

is a tender one. Lord Of Srirangam engages in His Yoga-

nidhrai , during which He is thinking about how He can

help

the suffering chEthanams , who have placed their faith in

Him

as their SaraNyan. His consort places Her Lord's feet on

Her lap

and presses them gently to comfort Him during this occasion

..

At the end of rainy season , Our Lord gives up the pleasure

and

comfort of His Devi's lap , slowly gets up and places His feet

slowly inside PaadhukA Devi , His other consort ( RanganAtha:

svam-padham Jaladhi-dhuhithu: angAth mandham aadhAya , tvayi khalu

nidhadhAthi ) to commence His sanchAram)…(V.S)

 

 

 

 

SlOkam 302:

***********

(1) Abhinava Desika Sri UtthamUr Swamy's anubhavam:

Oh , PaadhukE ! You touch the lotus feet of the Lord without

any hesitation . You take the Lord to His inner apartemnts

Of His palace for reunion with His consorts. There is another

kaimkaryam that You perform . You transport Your Lord , when

He goes on His secret trysts with the young girls of Gokulam .

Through such kaimkaryam , You have become the first witness

to such plays of Your Lord. You not only help Your Lord

to rush to the side of those , who seek refuge in Him , but also

help Him to get closer to those ladies , who are very dear to Him.

 

(2) HH Srimath Andavan's anubhavam: Oh PaadhukE ! You

are in contact with Your Lord's feet at all times . You travel

to the far corners of the Lord's inner chambers. You were

the first one to be present , when He had His union with

the Gopis during His KrishNAvathAram days.

 

(3) Oh PaadhukE ! You are in contact with Your Lord's

lotus-soft feet without any hesitancy ( MurArE: Padha-

sarOjam nirvighAtham sprsasi ) . " NirvighAdham " means

without obstacles , hindrance or interruption . The salukai

of the Paadhukais arises from the unique affection that

Lord RanganAthA has for His PaadhukAs ( Swamy

NammAzhwAr). Not only does the Paadhukai transport

the Lord to every section of His antha: puram (Samasthaam KakshyAm

pravisasi ) but it also has been the first witness

(agrimA SaakshiNI ) to His secret visits to the chambers of

the girls of Gokulam during His avathAram as KrishNan .

Swamy uses a special name to describe the GoPis here:

AabhIra kanyA: ( Cowherd maiden ) . AabhIra Pallee

means the abode of the Cowherdesses . AbhisArakan is

a lover , who goes to a secret rendezvous . Lord KrishNA's

many trysts on the banks of YamunA river described in

Geetha Govindham are referred to here . The SrungAra- BhOgam of the

Lord (SuprItha PithAmbharan) was

all the more interesting to Him because , He had to

travel secretly with His dear Paadhukais to the thicketson the banks

of YamunA as an abhisAraka Naayakan .

SlOkam 303:

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

(1) Abinava Desika UtthamUr Swamy's anubhavam:

Oh PaadhukE ! During His stage of life as a married man

( grahasthA) , KrishNA took 16,000 forms and stayed in

each of the house of His 16,000 wives. They all believed that

He was with them and with them alone . They got His pledge

that He will not leave them to travel to the houses of His

Other wives. He observed His dharmA as GrahasthA and

played with every one of His wives at their houses. The Devis

bet on You to prevent the Lord from leaving their presence

in favor of others. If You could not take 16,000 forms and

stayed at each one of those houses of Your Lord's consorts ,

Your Lord could not have succeeded in spreading Himself at

each of those residences. Oh PaadhukE ! such is Your

Unlimited glory !

 

(2) Srimath Andavan's anubhavam: PerumAL took many

AvathArams since the Paadhukai was capable of taking

many avathArams . It is not possible for a single person

to be the AchAryan for the whole world . Therefore , PerumAL makes use

of many SadhAchAryAs to grant

Moksha Siddhi to many prapannAs.

 

(3) During KrishNavathAram , our Lord defeated NarakAsuran

and released the 16,000 women(shOdasa-sthree Sahasram ) held in prison

by him . On their release from the prison , the young women begged

KrishnA to marry them and the Lord acceded to their prayerful request

.. He brought them to DwArakai , married them there according to Vedic

rites and housed them in individual houses and observed GrahasthA's

dharmams with each one of them by taking 16,000 forms of Himself . He

was playing games of chance (rolling dice) with them for entertainment

, where money or material is laid out as a bet . The wives at each of

the house bet on the Lord's Paadhukai in the hope of winning it and

thereby preventing the Lord to leave their houses to enjoy Himself

with the other wives. The Paadhukais took 16,000 forms and stayed at

each one of the 16,000 houses with the Lord and His wives there

for that purpose. Our Lord had Vividha Vapu ( many clones)

and the wives did not want the Lord to leave them for

sapathni grahams (sakkaLatthi houses) and therefore used

the ruse of placing the Paadhukai of the Lord as the wager

to prevent the Lord from leaving their sides at each of

these houses. This happened at every house , when the Lord

played with them ( prathi bhavanam rahasi thvAm glahayathi) . Their

hope was to win the Paadhukai and

cause obstruction for the Lord's travel elsewhere ( sapathni

gEha yAthrA vigAtham thvAm glahayathi)….V. S

 

SlOkam 304 :

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

(1) Abhinava Desika Sri UtthamUr Swamy's anubhavam:

 

In the previous verse , Swamy Desikan referred to the services

rendered by the PaadhukAs to His 16,000 wives to retain Him

in their houses. Here, He describes the service rendered by

Paadhukais to find where He was , when He escaped from

their midst. Swamy Says: " Oh PaadhukE! Your path is

marked by the signs of Conch , Disc , Flag , Kalpaka tree

and other divine marks associated with the Lord's Thiruvadi.

When he travels on Your back during the occasion of those

trysts , He does not want other gopis to know where He is .

The suffering young gopis left behind follow Your divine

marks on ground at the banks of YamunA and have no

difficulty in tracking down Your Lord and reunite with Him.

 

(2) Srimath Andavan's anubhavam : The inner meaning is

that people , who are unable to comprehend the Lord

follow the steps of SadAchAryAs and attain Him .

 

(3) Swamy Desikan shifts here from what happened at

DhwAraki and recalls the incidents that happened

earlier at BrindhAvanam . KrishNan used to escape

from the Gopis and hide at the banks of Yamunai

(YamunAyA: TaDa-bhuvi channavruthou sathi) .

The Gopis were distraught over separation from Him

and looked for clues on His hiding places

everywhere

to unite with Him ( Adhigama hEthO: muhu: muhyathAm

youvathAnAm ) . The Paadhukais came to their

rescue

since it left behind the " sankha chakrAdhi

chihnams "

for the Gopis to track their Lord down . They

followed

those VishNu PaadhukA chihnams and located

KrishNaa

and enjoyed Him…V.S

 

SlOkam 305:

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

(1) Abhinava Desika Sri UtthamUr Swamy's anubhavam:

 

Oh PaadhukE ! Just as He roamed with Your help on

the banks of YamunA to gather Gopis in His net of

love ,

He collected other birds as well through His hunts in

nearby forests , while being transported by You. The

net for

these bird hunts was made up of the ropes , which are

nothing

but His kalyANa GuNAs . He roamed in Your company with

this net and collected birds like VyAsa , SukA ,

VaalmIki ,

SounakA and others in the forest of VedAnthA ; He

captured

birds like Naatha Muni, YaamunAchAryA and RaamAnujA

in the forest of Tamizh Vedam . Oh PaadhukE ! He

enlists

You for co-operation in these adventures to please

His

consort , MahA Lakshmi . You readily help him in these

endeavours of Your Lord .

 

(2) Srimath Andavan's anubhavam: Oh PaadhukE !

Periya PerumAL roams in the forests of Upanidhads

to gather the great sages like Sukhar ,

VyAsar , who

are authorities on VedAs and SaasthrAs for

gladdening

the heart of MahA Lakshmi . He attracts the sages

through His radaint KalyANa GuNams .

 

(3) " Sarasija nilayA: PreethayE Ranga Bhandhu:

manjuvAcha: SukhAdhIn sangrahIthum " icchasi

( For pleasing MahA lakshmi , RanganAthan collects

the assembly of sages like SukhA , who are known

for

their auspicous speech . How does He do it ? He

enlists

the help of the PaadhukAs to roam in the forests

of

Upanishads for that reason (Upanishad-aDavishu

Tvath-sanATam kreeDitham) ; further , the Lord

enhances the radiance Of His kalyANa guNams

to enchant the great sages to get them in his

" net " as

" present " for His dearest Consort , MahA Lakshmi

..

SlOkam 306:

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

(1) Abhinava Desika Sri UtthamUr Swamy's anubhavam:

 

Oh PaadhukE ! In the DandakA forest ,Your Lord

performed

a miracle with Your help. He dispelled the curse of

AhalyA

and brought her back from the state of bring a stone

to her

former self as a beautiful woman and reunited her with her

husband. Your intercession on behalf of AhalyA was

praised

by the sages of the DandakA forest. The birds of

that forest

listened to the songs of the sages about Your

magnanimous

act and learnt them by heart . Even today , these

birds

1. wake up at each dawn and sing with their melodious

voices the songs that they had learned earlier about Your

mahimai.

 

(2) GouthamI RakshaNam ( the saving of AhalyA from her

curse to be a stone ) was sung by Maharishis of

Dandakaa

forest ( Muni parishadhi GouthamI rakshaNam geetham

).

The sweet voiced birds of Dandakaa forest ( manju

vaachA:

sakunthA: DandakEshu ) repeat often what they have

heard about AhalyA Saapa vimOchanam just after

arising at dawn ( Ushasi svayamapi svairam

aamrEDayanthi) . In the previous slOkam , Swamy

described the Rishis populating the VedAnthA forest

as manjuvAcha: SukhAdhIn ; here , Swamy describes

the sweet tongued birds of DandakA as " manjuvAcha:

sakunthA: " . Both are " manju vaacha: " …V. S

 

SlOkam 307:

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

 

(1) Abhinava Desika Sri UtthamUr Swamy's anubhavam:

Oh PaadhukE ! You transport and bring before our human eyes

that Supreme One , who can not be easily seen through either

strict observance of celibacy , penance or studies of the

sacred

VedAs . Infact , VedAs hardly succeed in describing His

mahimai.

We recognize the valiant attempts of the VedAs to describe

Him .

Their effort is like seeing the small amount of water in

one's

cupped hands , while trying to take a measure of the

vastness

of the ocean . You make it easy however to see Him and

receive

His anugraham in this human life itself. Swamy Desikan is

referring here to RanganAthA's procession through the

streets

Of Srirangam on the back of His PaadhukAs.

 

(2) Srimath Andavn's anubhavam: Oh PaadhukE ! Even with

a mind controlled by ashtAnga yOgam , saadhakAs have

difficulty in comprehending the Lord. When one understands

the mahimai of the Lord through Vedhams , even then , one

gets an insignificant appreciation of the full dimension of

the Lord's glory . Such is the profound nature of the Lord

that defies comprehension by YogaabhyAsam or VedAdhyayanam.

That difficult to comprehend Lord and His glories are made

easy to enjoy by people through Your MahOpakAram , when

You bring Him for sanchAram on Your back to the streets of

Srirangam . The people are able to see with their own maamsa-

Chakshus ( fleshy eyes ) the Lord , who is not easily grasped

..

 

The inner meaning is that the achArya SahAyam (help)

permits one to comprehend the Isvara tatthvams clearly

and quickly . It is the kalyANa guNAs of AchAryAs as

compassion for the samsAri , forbearance , reverence for

the Lord and His BhaagavathAs that permit them to help

us comprehend the glories of our Lord efficently and fully.

 

(3) " Yogina: na pasyanthi ; Tamm PumAmsam thvam

maamsa dhrushtE: janasya savyam sulabham upaharasi "

are Swamy Desikan's summation about the glories of

the Lord's Paadhukai . Yogis possess minds that are

made still by practise of Yamam , Niyamam et al and yet

they do not comprehend the Lord readily. The VedhAs

have a palm-full of the Lord's glories housed in them

( Yasya BhUmA Sruthishu chuLaka-mAthram ) . Hence ,

those , who use the Vedhic studies as a route to

comprehend

the Lord fail in their efforts (Tamm PumsAm na

dhrusyathE) .

Oh PaadhukE ! You make it easy however for all these

SaadhakAs and simple people to comprehend Your Lord and

His nithya KalyANa gunams by making them see Him with

their own physical eyes by bringing Him in front of

them …V.S

 

SlOkam 308:

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

(1) Abhinava Desika Sri UtthamUr Swamy's anubhavam:

 

Oh PaadhukE ! People say that the Lord's lotus feet are

the most desirable objective for human beings. I consider

 

however that You are even more desirable. Even if I do not

pay attention to the Lord or His devotees (BhagavathAs) ,

You still are my cherished treasure. I have been derelict

in

paying attention to You due to my preoccupations

with perishable worldly pleasures . This is unpardonable.

You

should not abandon me , who is unable to overcome my

defects. You should not reject me in favor of others , who

do not have as many defects that I have. When You bring

Your

Lord to me , He will take pity on me , when he sizes

the magnitude of my sins and will make me the subject of

His

grace . Please therefore do not ignore me inspite of my

misdeeds so far . Please make me the fitting object of

Your

Lord's compassion . There is no one , who deserves Your

Lord's DayA than myself, the mahA aparAdhi.

 

(2)Srimath Andavan's anubhavam: Oh PaadhukE ! You

are like a treasure . adiyEn does not think about You and

yet think about all inauspicious matters. Even the most

compassionate and omniscient Lord is only looking at my

aparAdhams instead of rescuing me. At this important

juncture , adiyEn is counting on You to bring the Lord

before me as a compassionate AchAryan . The inner meaning

is : adiyEn has a tendency to commit the aparAdhams of

not thinking about PerumAL and AchAryAs . It is my

prayer that the SadAchAryan , whose DayA exceeds

even that of PerumAL , should place my aathmA at

the lotus feet of the Lord , whose property it is.

 

(2) Swamy Desikan speaks for us , when he says:

" ThvAm anAdhruthya mOhAth kshudhram arTam

bhaavayan aham " ( Ignoring You due to my ignorance

and performing all deeds with insignificant phalans ,

adiyEn carries on ) . AdiyEn is the most appropriate

(fittest) one for Your Lord's daya because of my total

insufficencies ( KaruNayA poornapAthrE mayi sathi)

and yet He only focuses on my deficiencies ( Mama

dhOsham bhAvayan). Therefore You should bring the Lord

before me for my salvation …V.S