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From: Madhavakkannan V (srivaishnavan_at_hotmail.com)
Date: Fri Oct 12 2001 - 18:21:48 PDT
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@vsnl.com or Sri Lakshmi N
Srinivasa lsriniva@hotmail.com (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@hotmail.com . 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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