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paramapada-sOpAnam-CONCLUSION

From the Bhakti List Archives

M K Sudarshan • February 5, 1997 


srimathE lakshmi-nrsumha parabrahmaNE namaha
sri vedanta desika guravE namaha

Dear 'bhAgavatOttamA-s',

Like our aspirant of the 'PPS', Bharatha too conquered 'vivEkam',
'nirvEdam', 'virakthi' and 'bheethi' to reach the outskirts of Chitrakoota
where Swami Desikan can be said to have founded his 5th 'pariankai' called
'prasadana-parva'.

For it is here in the sylvan Chitrakoota hillock that Bharatha could be said
to have embraced the 'prapatti-mArga' prescribed for the aspirant in the
"UpAya-parva" of the 'paramapada-sOpAnam'.

After Bharatha performed the 'paduka-pattAbhishEkam', he verily became a
'prapanna' since he elevated the Lord's sandals to the crown of his own head
-- the supreme symbolic act of a 'prapanna' who acknowledges eternal
servitude to the Lord. 

One reflexively recalls the classic phrase of Sri.Andal in the context of
this scene :

 "eRRaikUm EzEzhu piravaikkum un tannOdu uRROmEyAvOm UNakkE nAmAt tcheyvOm !"

Or even those famous lines of Poigai Azhwar in the 'mudal tiruvantAdi':

 "senrAl kudaiyAm irunthAl singAsanam; 
  ninrAl maravadiyAm neeLkadaLUL -- enrUm
  pUnaiyAm maniviLLakAm pUmpattAm pulkUm
  aNaiyAm thirumAtra karavu"

Or even those immortal lines of NammazhwAr in the 'tiruvAymOzhi' 

 "oLivil kAlamellAm udanAy manni, vazhuvilla adimai ceyya vEndum"


After this point in the Ramayana, dear 'bhAgavatOttamA-s', we know that
Bharatha lived a life of an extremely contented 'prapanna'. In fact some
commentators say that Bharatha, amongst all the other dramatis personae in
the Ramayana, lived such a secure and happy life after his 'prapatti' to the
Lord that Sage Valmiki lost interest in him altogether !! That poet found
nothing much to describe about him in the rest of the Ramayana !! While
everyone else was busy doing one thing or the other in the story, or going
'hither-thither' in the drama (remember my 'gathA-gathAni' posts, dear
friends ?!), Bharatha alone led a life of quiet piety in Ayodhya, absorbed
ever in the service of the Lord and His Command to administer the Kingdom
Ayodhya.

Bharatha lived the life of a true and 'professional' 'prapanna'-- free of
anxieties -- of either 'nirvEdam' or 'bheethi' -- exactly in the way that
Swami Desikan described in the 'prasadana-parva' of the 'paramapada-sOpAnam' !!!

In Swami Desikan's "Raghuveera-gadyam" there is a verse (#25) which alludes
to the fact that the whole world attains prosperity when filled with the
Lord's "prapanna-s" and especially of the sort that Bharatha was -- he who
bent his head and welcomed the Lord's 'padukA-s' on his head :

" praNatha bharatha makUta-thata sugha-ti-tha pAdukA-grayAbhishEka-nirvarthitha
  sarvalOka yogakshEma !!"

The whole of 'Ayodhya' too thus enjoyed prosperity during the reign of the
'pAdukA-s' !! 

And such prosperity was made possible, dear 'bhAgavatOttamA-s', because
Sri.Bharatha carried on the tasks that a real SriVaishnava, journeying
through the 'prasadana-parva' of his time on earth, cheerfully accepts. 

With that glorious moment of the 'padukA-pattAbhishEkam' in the Ramayana
ever fresh in our minds, I now conclude this series on Swami Desikan's
'paramapada-sOpAnam'.

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

Many months ago, dear friends, when I had just enrolled into the
'bhakti-list' Sriman.Vijay Srinivasan's casual remark on the "Daya-satakam"
carried me away into a reverie of the word 'jada' used in Verse#50 of that hymn.

Then Sriman.Sadagopan's wonderful musing on Swami Desikan's "Vega-setu
stotram' took me on another trip of wonderful musing of mine own.

After that there was a casual discussion on Verse #41 of the
Raghuveera-gadya where Sri.Sundar queried my remark that Lord Rama was a
mere "sabhari-mOksha sAkshi-bhuta"! That too held me captive for several
weeks and made me muse and muse like a mad-man !!

And now just a week ago, a post by Sriman Kalale on his meeting with the
45th Azhagiyasingar, led me into an intense recollection of Mukkur Swami
II's discourses on 'nirvEdam" in Swami Desikan's "PPS" !!

When I recollect all this, dear 'bhAgavatOttamA-s" I realize I should indeed
be grateful to Lord Narayana and our 'AchAryA-s" for blessing me (through
the inter-net, if not physically) with the company of 'bhaghavatAs" like all
of you. Special indeed is the company which inspires one to constantly dwell
on the Glories of the Lord !!

I thank Sriman.Sadagopan, Vijay Srinivasan, I.K.Rangarajan, Mohan Sagar and
Dileepan who were kind enough to come forward to express their enjoyment of
Swami Desikan's sterling 'rahasya-grantha' -- 'PARAMAPADA-SOPANAM'.

KAVITARKIKA SIMHAYA KALYANA GUNA SHALINE
SRIMATHE VENKATESAYA VEDANTA GURAVE NAMAHA

SRIMATHE SRIVAN SATAGOPA SRI NARAYANA YATHINDRA MAHADESIKAYA NAMAHA

sudarshan.