Paadukaa avathaara thirunaal !!! - Part 2

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Sri Ranganatha Divyamani Padukabhyam namaha !!!

Swamy Deshikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam !!!

 

Dear Bhakta-s

 

....Continued from Part 1

 

Swamy Deshikan has split Paduka Sahasram into many divisions called

" paddhathi " . Totally there are 32 paddhathi-s. The first few paddhathi-s

derive their inspiration from Srimad RAmAyanam. All the slokam-s have lot of

swApadEshArthams (inner meaning) that delve deep into the philosophy of

SharaNAgathi.

Swamy Deshikan's peak of poetic excellence can be seen in the " chitra

paddhathi " . This paddhathi has 40 verses and each follows a particular

" bandham " . A bandham is actually an arrangement of letters as a verse that

lead to many mathematical formations. For ex-

 

AshtadaLa / shOdashadaLa padmam - lotus with 8/16 petals,

SarvathObhadra bandham - an 8/8 square grid formation in which one can read

the same verse from any side of the grid,

Shara bandham - Arrow formation,

MahA yamakam, kriyA vanchanam, Garuda gathi, chakra bandham, dwichathushkam,

Bhinna vruththAnulOma-pratilOma bandham (most difficult of them all) - This

actually involves two verses. If the first verse is read in the reverse from

end to beginning that becomes the second verse and vice versa.

 

.... and many more.

 

It would be interesting to know that Swamy Deshikan introduces a bandham of

his own in this kAvyam. It is popularly known as the " Bhagavath pAdukA

bandham " .

The slokam enshrined in this bandham actually draws a beautiful picture of

perumAl's thiruvadi inside a lotus. This slokam is also regarded as the

yanthra slokam of this kAvyam.

 

tArasphAratharaswararasabhararA sA padAvanI sArA

dhIrasvairacharasthira raghupuravAsarathi rAmasavA

 

It is also interesting to note that the place where Swamy Deshikan composed

this mahA kAvyam in Thiruvarangam is none other than the present Deshikar

sannidhi at arangam, where our Swamy's archai is installed. Next to the

archai there is almost a natural formation in rock, in the form of Sri

Ranganatha paduka. This is supposed to be the place of Paduka sAkshAtkAram

which Swamy Desikan experienced after composing the mahA kAvyam in praise of

His chinthA rathnam.

 

It is really amazing as to how a single subject like the pAduka-s could be

said in so many ways with so many meanings.

 

It is also interesting to note the 1001 slokam of Paduka Sahasram.

 

ithi rangadhUrINa pAdarakshe

sthuthi lakshENa sahasrashO vimrushtA

saPhalam mama janma tAvadEthath

yadihAshAsya math: param kimEthath

 

It is interesting to note that though Swamy Desikan has innumerable works to

his credit, it is only in Sri Ranganatha Paduka Sahasram, Swamy Desikan

finally says in the 1001 st slokam-

" saPhalam mama janma tAvadEthath "

 

and not in any of his other works.

Such is the greatness of Sri Ranganatha Paduka !!!

 

One can find a mathematical recursion here.

Swamy Deshikan says, RanganAtha pAduka sthuthi has made his life fruitful.

The second part of it is , since pAduka sthuthi could make Deshikan's life

fruitful it is greater than what Deshikan said. Now, since Swamy Deshikan

composed such a stOtram his greatness again increases, due to which Paduka

sahasram becomes greater again and so does Swamy Deshikan till both their

glories reach infinity.

 

There are many vyAkhyAnams written for PAduka Sahasram.

 

Some of them are by -

H.H ThErezhundUr Andavan - Sri Vedantha Ramanuja Maha Deshikan - Tamil

H.H Mysore Andavan - Sri SrinivAsa Ramanuja Maha Deshikan - Kannada

UttamUr Swamy's vyAkhyAnam

Dr. N.S.AnanthaRangAchAriar - Kannada

Sri V.N.Vedantha Deshikan - Tamil and English

 

It is also our mahA bhAgyam that H.H PoundarIkapuram Srimad Andavan Sri

Gopala Deshika Maha Deshikan is rendering tele-upanyAsam on this kAvyam.

Since it is not possible for everybody to listen to it, it would be helpful

if some of the participants could make a summary of the upanyAsam-s and

share it with others.

At the same time it is also worthwhile to note the most noble kainkaryam-s

of U.Ve Sriman SaTakOpan and U.Ve Sriman Muralidhar Rangaswamy for their

continued service in posting pAduka Sahasram slokam-s with meanings taken

from many of the vyAkhyAnam-s. The same are also archived at

http://padhuka.homepage.com, an exclusive site dedicated to Sri RanganAtha

Paduka Sahasram.

 

Continued...

 

Sri Ranganatha Divyamani Padukabhyam namaha.

vAzhi vyAkhyAmuddirak kai |||

 

dasan,

Balaji

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