You are here: SriPedia - SriRangaSri - Archives - Nov 2003

SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00090 Nov 2003

 
Nov 2003 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


SrI:
SrImathE Nigamantha Mahadesikaya namah:
SrImAn venkatanAthAryaH kavitArkika kesarI |
vedAntAcArya-varyo me sannidhattAm sadA hRdi ||

May the glorious Venkatanatha, the greatest of teachers of Vedanta, and the 
lion among poets and debaters, reside forever in my heart.

Dearest Srivaishnavas,
Let us continue to enjoy other granthas of Swamy Desikan in summary form: 
PARAMAPADA SOPAANAM (article on this was written by Sri U Ve VS Karunakaran  
swamy for Sri Poundarikapuram Srimad Andavan151st Jayanthi malar )

Paramapada sopanam is one of Rahasya Granthas of Swamy Desikan. Rahasya 
granthas mean Secret texts, which are meant to be studied at the feet of a 
qualified preceptor by disciplined students with devotion. Swamy Desikan 
used maNipravALam medium here.

Title: According to Srutha prakAsika, the word Parama Pada mean:

i) Supreme Lord Sriman narayanan
ii) His eternal abode that can be inhabited only by the emancipated soul.

Sopanam in Sanskrit means stair case. So the title Paramapadha sopanam means 
Stair case to reach the Parama padham.

Sources of Inspiration:

Tradition has it that Sri Ramanuja once stated that a winding stair case 
could have been erected for all souls to climb to the eternal abode of the 
Lord if only he and his paramacharya Alavandhar had had the opportunity to 
live together for some time. There is another anecdote attributing Bhattar 
as having stated that only if he could live for some more time, he would 
have erected a winding stair case to the Parama padham. In Vajapeya 
sacrifice, it is prescribed that the sacrificer climbs the Yupasthamba with
the help of a ladder and chants manthras with both hands up saying ?I 
reached the heavenly abode?. Swamy Desikan might have blended the anecdotes 
with this act prescribed in Vajapeya sacrifice and built this concept of 
stair case to Parama Padham. One may incidentally note that the rahasya
called archiraadhi of Pillai Lokacharya and Paramapadha sopanam of Swamy 
desika complement each other.

Structure of the text:

The text if made up of nine chapters. Chapters are called ?parvas? meaning
steps keeping in line with the name ?stair case ? given for the work. The
nine steps are:
1.vivkea (Discrimination)
2.Nirveda (disgust)
3.Virakti (dispassion)
4.Bheethi (Sensitization)
5.Prasadana (Pleasing or Propitiation)
6.Utkiramana (Departure)
7.Archiradhi (the route starting)
8.Reaching the divine region
9.Union with the Supreme

The study of this grantha will
reveal that it is almost a very useful epitome of Rahasyatraya saram the 
magnum opus of Swamy Desikan.

Structure of the text:

The text if made up of nine chapters. Chapters are called ?parvas? meaning 
steps keeping in line with the name ?stair case ? given for the work. The 
nine steps are:
1.      vivkea (Discrimination)
2.      Nirveda (disgust)
3.      Virakti (dispassion)
4.      Bheethi (Sensitization)
5.      Prasadana (Pleasing or Propitiation)
6.      Utkiramana (Departure)
7.      Archiradhi (the route starting
8.      Reaching the divine region
9.      Union with the Supreme

The nine steps can be grouped into three sets, say landings. The first four 
steps (viveka to bheethi) make the soul qualified to try emancipation. 
Hence, they are known as Adhikarana Petika. The fifth step forms one set 
called Upaaya petika.

Steps sixth to ninth with the phala that is, the fruits enjoyed by the soul, 
in the process of emancipation and after it attains emancipation. These 
steps can rightly form a box or petika that can be captioned Purushaartha 
Petika.

The summary of the text:

A soul should gain analytical knowledge. This is the first step to be 
climbed. This analytical knowledge enables him to discriminate the three 
components of the universe i.e. the individual soul, the inanimate (achith) 
and the supreme (Sriman Narayanan). The Properties and nature of each of the 
three should be understood. Once the seeker understands his limitations, 
realizes that all other souls are as limited as he, appreciates the bondages 
created by his attachment to achith, and appreciates that only Sriman
Narayanan can protect and free him from the bondages, he becomes qualified 
to climb the next step.

The seeker feels for having wasted all his time in pursuit of materialistic 
prosperity and the consequent sins and the inevitable stay in hell. He is 
disgusted with the past foolishness. This leads the seeker to the third step 
which brings in detachment from all the mundane pleasures and prosperity.

This takes him to the fourth step where he is highly sensitized. He is 
scared of his future ? after this life is over. He has to do something to 
ensure that he is liberated from his oscillations between heaven, hell and 
earth , by pleasing the Lord.

Bhakti and Prapatti Yoga are means of such propitiation. Bhakti yoga needs 
knowledge, capacity and qualification by birth, etc. It gives results only 
in a leisurely manner; prapati has no such limitation. Fruits can be 
achieved at the specified by the seeker. The seeker can choose between the 
two. Adopting any of the two means forms the fifth step.

When such a seeker?s soul departs from the body, the departure can be either 
in uttarayaNam or dhakshiNAyaNam. His puNyas and papas are distributed to 
his friends and enemies respectively. The Lord provides him with memory of 
His Feet while the soul departs from the body. The eleven organs and the
praana are all assimilated and converged in the subtle form at the soul. The 
soul with all these is amalgamated with the five basic elements in their 
micro form. The soul with this group takes rest with the Lord residing in 
the heart so that it gets relaxed. (I heard that there is tremendous pain
when these five elements are extracted from the neck bone and is mixed, the 
Lord gently hugs the soul in order to lessen the suffering. How 
compassionate is our Father!) Then the Lord in the heart ? the Haarda guides 
the soul to the ?Exit? sign from the body thorugh the sushumna naadi by 
opening the Brahma Randhra (which is supposed to be in the center of the top 
of the head.)

Now the seventh step. The departed soul is offered homages enroute Parama 
padham by the controlling deities of the Fire, The Day, the waxing cycle of 
the Moon, the Uttarayana, the six months during which the Sun travels in the 
direction of north the Year and the wind. They receive the soul and guide it 
through their region with all respect. Then the soul pierces the Sun?s 
orbit. It reaches the Moon, with its guidance the soul reaches the Amanavan 
who takes the soul through the abode of Varuna, Indra, Prajapati. Amanava 
accompanies the soul to Lord Sriman Narayana?s eternal abode. The ones who 
leave the mundane world this route will not be born again.

This takes the soul to the eighth step. The river ?viraja? flows between the 
mundane (prakritha) region and the eternal region (aprAkritha), the Parama 
Padham. The soul crosses the river bi its will and reaches the Parama 
Padham. Here the soul enjoys the scenery of celestial ladies throng to 
receive the soul and decorate the soul. The soul now is full of Divine odour 
and splendor. It sees the Lord seated on Adi seshan.

The final step is the union with the Lord. The soul enjoys the Lord from His 
top to toe. The Lord crowns the soul with His Feet. Clinging to His Feet the 
soul climbs the Divine seat of the Lord. There takes place a conversation 
between the Lord and the emancipated soul. The soul narrates to the Lord all 
the blessings he had received from him and prays to the Lord to accept his 
service. The soul gets the divine grace of the divine couple and is full of 
Para Bhakti, ParajnAnam, and Parama Bhakti. He becomes as close as the 
shadow of the lord performs all types of services at all times as 
Adhiseshan, Garudan, Vishvaksenar et al. perform.

This work thus is a history of the Travel of the soul. This work like any 
other work of Swamy Desikan is a well planned and beautifully presented one. 
Each of the parvas starts with a Tamil verse and concludes with a Tamil 
verse that serves as a synopsis of the Parva. The main objective of the work 
is to teach us the taste of Lord?s physical form and His abode. Swamy 
Desikan composed a Sopanam ?The Bhagath DhyAna Sopanam? in Sanksirt on Lord 
Ranaganathan, for easy meditataion of Lord Rangan?s form.

But Paramapadha sopanam, where enjoying the Lord in Parama padha is 
described, is a blend of Sanskrit and Tamil verses mostly with the phrases 
of AzhwArs. This goes well with the declaration of Swamy Desikan that the 
language of communication of emancipated souls in Vaikunta (where medium of
communication is needed only for the mere pleasure of communication as the 
emancipated do not need any medium of communication, because of their fully 
blossomed state of Dharma bhUtha jnAnam) is only Tamil. J

In this work he sings that in Parama Padham, we will sing only Pallandu.

The Great Acharyas of Kanchi have been so fascinated by the description of 
Lord in Paraapti Parva in this text, that they have prepared a moving 
Thirumanjana Ghattiyam for Lord Varadan borrowing literally from this work, 
which is recited before Lord Varadan during abhishekam. No doubt Swamy
Desikan himself declares this work as ?Swabhava chithram?- very beautiful by 
nature, in the final sloka of  Parama padha sopanam. One of the thaniyans of 
text says that in the pretext of Parama padha
sopanam, Swamy Dseikan brought out all the Gems of Vedantha Saasthra. Any 
reader of the text will understand that this is not a flattery; BUT TRUTH. A 
study of this text will reveal that it is almost a very useful epitome of 
Rahasyatrayasaram the Magnum Opus of Swamy Desikan.

Swamy Desikan ThiruvadigaLE SaraNam
Regards
Namo narayana
dAsan
kavi-tArkika-simhAya kalyANa-guNa-SAline |
Srimate venkateSAya vedAntagurave namaH ||

Salutations to Sri Venkatesa, in whom all perfections reside, who is the 
teacher of Vedanta and the lion among poets and debaters

_________________________________________________________________
Get 10mb of inbox space with MSN Hotmail Extra Storage 
http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-sg



------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark
Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada.
http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511
http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/VkWolB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Srirangasri-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxx

 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ 



[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
srirangasri-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list