Dhivya mani-pAdukAs

Dear Friends, srI: I am very pleased to start this blog dedicated to my saptharathnAs of carnatic music.These souls were able to experience and share the bliss that the vedas refer to as "Anantham Tvam" or "Endless Thou ArT". These were the souls who delighted in the sight of their Ishtadeivams ,offered garlands of su-swara sangeetham and worshipped them heartfully with the nava vidha bhakthi mArgAs as recommended by Srimad BhAgawatham. DhyAnamu KRitha Yuga dhalli YAga Yajnamu TRetha yuga dhalli Archana dWapara Yuga dhalli KEERTHANAMAATHRATHI KALIYUGA dhalli thus, strongly emphasizing the greatness of bhakthi maarga through keerthanam/sangeetham. Why is sangeetham recommended? Sangeetham is saama vedam. Our Lord himself says in bhagawath gItA , "Of all the vedAs , i am sAma" The great ranganAtha bhakthA, swAmi vedAntha DEsikan in his Sri RanganAtha PadhukA Sahasram has most beautifully and creatively celebrated the greatness of the naadham (agreeble musical sound) produced by Lord's pAdhukAs. He says, muraBhinmaNipAdhukE! BhavathyA: sthuthimAkarNayathAm mayA nibaDdhAm avaDhIrayasIva manjunAdhaIrachamathkAravachAmsi dhurjanAnAm Meaning Oh Lord's Paaduka! IS it that You produce the melodious music to drown, with a disdain, the noise of bad men,who tend to prattle some criticism about my hymn on You? I presume so. In yet another slOkA, he questions if the lord is here in SriRangam or in Vaikuntha by refering to the naadham produced by the Lord's PaadhukE. "svadhathE kimihaIva ranganAThO mayi thiShTan yadhi vA padhE parasmin ithi prucChasi dhEvi!nUnamasmAn maDhuraIsthvam maNipAdhukE! ninAdhaI" He refers to the paadhukA as paadhukA DEvi. In "avarODhagathasya rangaBharthurgathiShu vyanjithagarBharathnanAdhA prathisamllapasIva pAdhukE!thvam kamalAnUpuramanjushinjithAnAm " he queries if the dhivya naadham is produced when Sri RanganAthan travels on the PAdhukAs to the inner chambers of RanganAyaki, the melodious sounds raised by coming together of gems adorning the paadhukAs appeat to be converging with the dhivya naadham generated by the ankle ornaments of srI ranganAyaki moving towards her Lord to welcome Him. In yet another slOka, he says very clearly that the paaDhukAs have received the greatest bliss through their attachment with the lOtus feet of ranganAthA. "muraBhiccharaNAravindharUpam mahithAnandhamavApya pUruShArtham anaGhaIrmaNipAdhukE! ninAdhaIrahamannAdha ithIva gAyasi thvam" Like this , there are many slOkAs in Sri RanganAtha paadhuka Sahasram which gloriously praise the dhivya naadham produced by the paadukAs of sri ranganAthA. In "maDhuvaIripadhAmbhujam BhajanthI maNipAdhAvani! manjushinjithEna paTasIva muhu: svayam prajAnAmaparOpajnyamariShTashAnthimanthram" our swamin says that the paadhukAs produce the naadham very much like the some powerful mantra to ward off all the evil of samSAris. In the SlOkA shruthiBhi: paramam padham* murArE: anidhankAramanEvamithyupAttham idhamitThamithi bravIShi nUnam maNipadhAvani! manjuBhi: praNAdhaI: he praises the padhukAs of the Lord which pronounce in sweet tones, "it is like this" and "it is like this" while even the VedAs only say "it is not like this " and "it is not like this". In the next slokA, munaya: praNiDhAnasanniruDdhE hrudhi rangEshvararathnapAdhukE! thvAm vinivEshya viBhAvayanthyananyA: praNavasya praNiDhim thava praNAdham our swami equates the naadham generated by the paadhukAs with the naadham the yogis meditated upon to keep their mind from wavering. This is equivalent to meditating upon the pravavAkAra naadham. Thus both the yogis and the naadhOpAsakAs meditate upon the divine nAdham generated by the paadhukAs of our Lord to keep the mind fixed upon our Lord who is antharYaamini. In maDhuram maNipAdhukE! pravrutthE BhavathI rangapathErvihArakAlE aBhayArThanayA samaBhyupEthAnavisamvAdhayathIva manjunAdhaI: he says that the paadhukEs produce the sweet sound as our Lord starts walking ,indicative of telling " Refuge has been granter, No Fear!" . Like this , the Sri RanganAtha PaadhukA sahasram is a garland of poetic beauty describing the greatness of the PaadhukAs of our Lord. In yet another slOkA, our swAmi had pointed out the greatness of NAdhOpAsana as mentioned in the Scriptures. It is believed that our Lord becomes visible at the end of NAdhOpAsanA. Even the Yogis meditate on the pranava nAdham before controlling their minds to find our Lord inwards.After they stop hearing the sound , they start hearing the sweet sounds of our Lord He says that the naadham arising out of the paadhukAs appear like upagAnam (accompanying mmusic) for the SAma VEdis who sing in praise about the glories of our Lord. In one of his slOkAs, our swami makes a very beautiful revelation. He says --Quote-- " Jeevans commit sins and PerumAl get angry and decides that they should not have the awareness of auspicios matters leading to sadhgathi but MahALakshmi, our ever compassionate ambA (mother) decides to help the suffering jeevans, who have incurred Her Lord's anger. --UnQuote-- She blesses with boons in the form of gems. When those gems collide against each other to produce soul-awakening sweet sounds, thus saving the erring jeevans to become objects of gods mercy. It is believed that mahAlakshmi is the daughter of Samudhra RAjan and Cauveri is the wife of Samudhra samudhra rAjan. Our Lord is the son-in-law of Cauveri and samudra RAjan. The parents of ranganAyaki gave the dowry of gems from the depths of oceans to their daughter. Our ambA, places them inside our Lord's pAdhukAs to alert her about the arrival of her Lord, when he visits His mother-in-law's house. The gems collide each other and make a sweet sound that provides advance information for the mother-in-law. I will get back to this sloka to make a very intersting note after visiting swAmis other slOkAs. In another sloKA, our swAmi says that the sweet sounds arising from the two pAdhukAs appear like the two paadhuKas are fighting for their superiority but our Achyuthan actually shows no difference to them. I made an interesting observation about this. Towards the end , I will start writing about my observations. Each of our swAmis verses are so beautiful that it appears as if the swAmis verses are also one of the gems in our lords PAdhukAs. In yet another slOkA, he highlights thus the importance of prapathi. He refers our lord as "Aanrusamsyan" ,meaning protecter of ALL chEthanAs. All that is requires is seeking his lotus feet where the sweet sounds are produced by his pAdhukAs. Just hearing the sweet sounds produces by the pAdhukAs won't suffice. Practising nAdhOpAsana without respecting the vEdhAs and other scriptures won't get us any closer to our Lord. Our swamy hence says --Quote-- "Oh Mother ManipaadhukA of the Lord! The sound looks to me as the words that You address the people who transgress the VEdAs ( which are the pramAnAs pointing to your greatness) with a disdain, "No, you should not do this " --Unqoute-- In another slOkA, he tells us about the greatness of the paadhukAs that represent the KArunya swabhAvam of our Lord. He says that when people around srirangam towards their end of life cry in fear, the paadhukAs just like a loving mother , offering through her musical melody, a kindly consolation. Such is our mahAtmyam of our prabhu's manipAdhukAs. He says that the paadhukAs are like the jewelbox embedded with the gems for our Lords golden lotus feet decorated with the VEdhAs. He goes further to explain the greatness of the pADhukA nAdham. He says that the dhivya naadham reveals to those who are close to her about the secret of the vedhAs that decorate the our lords lOtus feet, which usually takes several years to get to know otherwise. In another touching slOkA, our swami pleads for the presence of the dhiva pAdhukA naadham during the last moments of his life when he can't even request for it. Like these our great swami has composed thounsand sthOthrAs in praise of the manipAdhukAs of our Lord. He has also implied that the pAdhukAs are nothing but the great Saints like nammAzhvAr and the sweet nAdham actually comes from the recitation of his ThiruvAimozhi. Just like the great nammAzhvAr , ranganAyaki thAyAr has given a no of such gems from the banks of cauvEry, to praise our Lord. These gems are actually the naadhOpAsakAs like the trinities of carnatic music. He says that our Lord even stops listening to the music played by Saint nAradA with his special veenA and enjoys the even sweeter nAdham generated by his pAdhukA rathnams. I thus seek the kaTakshams of those dhivya nAdha upAsakAs in this blog dedicated to them and their dhivya nAdhA. ..Will be continued Credits to SriPedia sarvam sITArAmachandraarpanam