Swamy Desikan-16- Paadhuka Sahasram-ThUppul MaNi maNdapam kaimkaryam appeal

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SrI:

SrImathe Ramanujaya namah:

SrImathe Nigamantha mahadesikaya namah:

 

SrImAn venkatanAthAryaH kavitArkika kesarI |

vedAntAcArya-varyome sannidhattAm sadA hRdi ||

 

May the glorious Sri Venkatanatha, the greatest of teachers of Vedanta, and

the lion among poets and debaters, reside forever in my heart.

 

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

 

I am continuing on my appeal and posts on Swamy Desikan and appeal for

Thuppul maNdapam kaimkaryam.

URL: http://www.geocities.com/lsriniva/thoopulappeal.html It is my humble

request to please contribute your mite towards this kaimkaryam, as

remembering Acharyan, and talking alone will not suffice. OUR SINCERE THANKS

to MAGNANIMOUS HEARTS WHO HAVE LIBERALLY CONTRIBUTED AND PLEDGED.. FOR THOSE

WHO HAVE NOT YET PLEDGED, PLEASE CONTRIBUTE YOUR MITE.

 

Let us continue to enjoy Swamy’s GREAT works.

 

The samasyasahari is a work of the Acharya on completing a stanza when a

part of it is given. One thousand samasyas were given here but this is now

extant :-(

 

THE PADHUKA SAHASRAM is POEM written Swamy Vedantha Desikan on the sandals

of Lord Sri Ranganatha of Srirangam. It contains 1008 slokas. As Sri

Azhagiya Manavala perumAL Nayanar (younger brother of SrI Pillai lokAchArya)

and Sri Vedantha Desikan were worshipping Lord SrI Ranganathan at Srirangam,

both were enjoying the divine beauty of the Lord. The former was attracted

by the beauty of the Lotus Feet of the Lord and wished to praise the same.

Sri Vedantha Desikan wished to praise the Lord's pAdhukAs. It appears Swamy

Desikan felt that the Lord of Srirangam was saying that it is not enough

that the sarva tantra svathanthrar had composed BhU Sthuthi , Sri Sthuthi ,

YathirAja Sapthathi et al, but he has to compose a sthuthi on Swami

NammAzhwAr , His paadhukhai. Thus arose the illustrious SatakOpa sthuthi

known as " PaadhukhA Sahasram " . Sri Azhagiya Manavala PerumAL Nayanar was

going to compose a grantham to be named " Padha Kamala Sahasram " . Swami

Desikan went ahead and completed in record time, a sthuthi on the PaadhukhA

of the Lord, Swami NammAzhwAr .

 

Swamy Desikan composed the 1008 slokAs on PadhukAs in just about 3 hours

time (one yaamam) while it takes about 6 hours for us to recite the entire

1008 slokAs. The Padhuka sahasram could be considered as a kaavyam only for

the name; however it is better referred to as sthOthram. It is divided into

32 divisions called paddhathis. The names of these paddhathis themselves are

quite significant. PdhukA is called SrI Satajith SaTakOpa that is

NammAzhwAr. PAdhukA is NammAzhwAr himself (sloka 23, 30)- says Swamy

Desikan. As SrI Velukkudi Krishnan Swamy sued to say: it is not the four

letter NA RA YA NA which is great; It is RA MA NU JA which is greater; It is

SA TA KO PA which is greater..

Thus, AchArya is greater than the Lord.. as declared firmly and assertively

by Swamy Desikan in Paadhuka Sahasram.

 

Swamy desikan has said elsewhere " AchAryAdhiha dEvathAm samadhikAm anyaama

namanyAmahE.. "

 

We are reminded here of the message from Mettu Azhagiyasinghar at Srirangam

during Kambhan's inauguration of Kambha RaamAyaNam . Sri Lakshmi Nrusimhan

stopped Kambhan and asked him first to compose SatakOpa AnthAdhi and then

get on with his inauguration . Such is the affection of our PerumAl for His

Thiruvadi (SatAri Soori ).Just as Sriman NaarAyaNan's Paadhukai is Sri

satAri (NammAzhwAr ), Kuruhoor Nampi's Paadhkhai is Madhura Kavi ,

RaamAnujA's paadhukai is MudaliyANdAn , Swami Desikan's Paadhukai is

NayinArAchAryan , we are Paadhukais ( Thiruvadis ) of our respective

AchAryAs.

 

At many places in paadhukhA sahasram , Swami Desikan celebrates the

sambhandham of his grantham with that of Srimadh Vaalmiki RaamAyanam . The

Upanishads describe 32 ways to worship Sriman NaarAyaNan . Swami Desikan has

helped us with 32 ways (Paddhathis )to worship the Lord's Paadhukhais,Swami

NammazhwAr. This is described in the PrabhAva paddhathi wher AdhisEshan,

GarudA, the Gemset foot stool and PadhuKAs are said to be respected in the

world. Yet, it is the PAdhukAs that are most respected by receiving them

when placed on the head (slokA 58). In the SamarpaNa paddhathi, the pAdhukA

is said to be more glorious than Rama Himself, as Bharatha wanted the

pAdhukAs for administration of the Raajyam (78).

 

The Lord was able to measure the regions in a moment's time only by wearing

PadhukA and thus he won the name Urukrama (281 slokA). Fomration of

pictorial designs is illustrated in various kinds in slokAs 911-970 in the

30 th paddhathi called Chithra paddhathi. It is an excellent paddhathi and

even one who does not sanskrit will relish the rhythmic slokAs; though the

slokAs contain very deep, esoteric meanings. How ThUppul PiLLai wrote such

GREAT slOkas in thousand in such short time!. After all, VishNu GaNTAvataar

is He.. Unique powers of poetic imagery are revealed by Swamy Desikan in

describing the gems set in the PadhukA and their jingling sounds produced

when they move on. It is no exaggeration to admit that the AchArya had made

full use of his poetic talents in this poem. AchArya's poetic genius shine

with matchless skill.

 

(Sri Muralidhar Rangaswamy Swamin and Sri V Satakopan Swamin have been

writing every day on each slokA of this PadhukA sahasram for our enjoyment).

 

You may browse at the excellent web site created by SrI Achutharaman Swamy

on PAdhuka Sahasram.

URL: http://swamydesika.tripod.com/padhuka

 

(The above write up is from the extracts from Sri A. Srinivasaraghavachariar

Swamy's book, SrI VN Vedantha Desikan Swamy's book and Sri Satakopan

Swamin's write up. )

 

Please donate according to your shakthi. The money can be sent to " Thuppul

Trust " and the address is:

 

Thuppul Trust

Old No.20, New No.24, Thiruvengadam Street

West Mambalam, Chennai-600033, India

Phone No: 91-44-4741559 / 91-44-3715771

 

Please contact Sri. V.K. Sudharshan at vksudarsh or Sri Lakshmi N

Srinivasa lsriniva (He can collect and send it as single amount

in USA).

 

The address:

 

Lakshminarasimhan Srinivasa

3 Old Towne Road, #212

Ayer, MA-01432

 

For those in the South East Asia, please contact me at

srivaishnavan . Please pass on this kaimkaryam to as many people

as possible in order to complete the same.

 

kavi-tArkika-simhAya kalyANa-guNa-SAline |

Srimate venkateSAya vedAntagurave namaH ||

 

Salutations to Sri Venkatesa, in whom all perfection resides, who is the

teacher of Vedanta and the lion among poets and debaters!

 

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Regards

Narayana Narayana

NarayaNa dAsan madhavakkannan

 

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