Paduka Sahasram intro – final portion

Author's vision

The poem is truly the "vision" of Paduka. Valmiki and Vyasa, says the author, are the two eyes with which we beheld the "vision". It means that unless we see, not merely eye to eye with, but with the very eyes of Valmiki and Vyasa -- the one the primate of all poets, the other the primate of all philosophers, -- we can not have the "vision" of "Sevice" in the glory of its universal soverignty. It is the one vision of all good poetry and the one truth of all good philosophy. It is the vision of the very essence of both in one and therefore a very beautiful vision. Truth was his eye and beauty was his vision, and that vision was Paduka. Such was the eye of the author and that eye was the eye of the "Poet-Philosopher". That eye in " a fine frenzy rolling" glanced "from heaven to earth and from earth to heaven and in that'glance' heaven and earth was seen as one(51). That is the "vision" of Paduka -- the integrator of earth in Heaven.

Author's art vision and creation
Poetic art creative

If Paduka was his vision it was equally his creation. Valmiki discovered it and the author recovered it and that recovery is his "creation". It was a creation in the intensity of poetic passion and in the sublimity of poetic art. Valmiki was his guide and he guided him into the creation. That creation was beauty and Paduka was that beauty. To the author Paduka is not merely beautiful but is beauty itself.(52) The poem is the experience of the aesthetic appeal of Paduka and that experience is unique in all literature. Paduka is the very crown of aesthetic philosophy and that is the author's philosophy as literary artist. Its essence , its function and its form is the one essence, the one function and the one form of "universal" service. That in essence is truth, in function is virtue, and in form is beauty. That is the author's "Paduka" and that "Paduka" is the author's creation. He created what he saw and he saw what he created. It is vision and creation in one. The poet's function is creation and therefore divine. The word 'poet' is derived from a Greek root which means "to make". He is a poet who creates......." is the author's definition of a poet(53). God is the Supreme Artist and creation is His supreme art. The author has sung the supremacy of God's creative art -- the one model for all good art, in his Yadavabhudaya. (54) God's is the creation in Himself (the One) of the Universe (the all) in all the richness of variety and in all the vitality and beauty of organic life and form. That is creation and that creation is the art of God. That is the Upanishadic art of "He saw" and "He created". In that art He not merely conceals His art, but in all His art, He conceals Himself in His own creation, his own work of art -- the universe. That concealment is the greatest art, and that art is immanence. That is His sport (lila). While He is manifesting in Himself His "all" (the universe) , He conceals Himself in His "all" (the universe) and remains concealed everywhere in that "all". That is truly the most wonderful of all arts -- the one wonder of Divine immanence . That manifestation is evolution, and evolution is His sport. It is the 'sport' of His concealing Himself in His own creation. All good art is the art of concealing the hand of the artist in his work of art. It is the immanence of the hand in its work. The artist therefore creates himself in his work of art. He is as much the creator as the creation of his own work. It is his "recreation". It is truly art for art's sake. That is creation and that creation is God's lila. It is the lila of Divine Love and 'Nature' is God's creation in that lila. It is the sport of God's concealing Himself in "Nature" and revealing Himself in "Grace". Concealment is the nature and revelation is the grace of poetry. Hence the divinity of literary art.

Creative and Figurative Arts -- Difference

Literary art differs radically from figurative and pictorial arts in that it is essentially creative. The latter are merely repetitive. There can be no true aesthetic philosophy in repetitive arts. The geometrical symmetry of mechanical patterns is usually mistaken for the aesthetic of organic forms. The former are soulless imitations and counterfeits. They are merely the "creations" either of biological necessity or of business propaganda. They are vocational or commercial activities and not aesthetic creativity. Figure is not form and symmetry is not beauty. Being soulless, "figures" have no aesthetic value, It is because of their soullessness and therefore of their "untruth" and "counterfeit" character that Plato in the tenth book of his Republic has excluded 'poets' from the philosopher's state. Plato's criticism is directed against arts for the reason that they are soulless and therefore counterfeits. It does not matter to him whether that art is figurative or pictorial or literary. It is a fallacy that because the art is literary, therefore it is necessarily different from or superior to, the figurative or graphic art. Plato's criticism concerns itself, not so much with the form or the technique of the art, as with its substance. That substance is life. In so far therefore as any art has no live in it but is merely a shadow, be that shadow figurative or literary, it is a counterfeit. Both are to Plato mere figures, the one being pictorial the other literary. Both are equally conterfeits for the reason that they are mere shadows without any substance, mere figures without any life, and both should therefore be excluded from the philosopher's republic. His objection is to mimicry and it is founded on its soullessness. That objection remains unanswered. His criticism does not touch the art of literary creation, the creation of organic life and form. He is in effect, if not in truth, driving by that criticism to that conclusion. That is Plato's art, and he is the very master of that art. That is the art of concealing his conclusion in his objection. That is the art of tenth book which is an attack on 'poetry' and which ends with a poem. It is a poem on life and it is life itself. His objection is not to creation, but to imitation. In his very attack on poetry by the method of extension by analogy of the figurative to the literary art is implicit his assumption that the attack applies only in so far as the analogy of that figurative is applicable to the literary, and no further. That the distinction between literary and graphic arts consists in that the former is creative and the latter is imitative, is beautifully voiced by the present author in his Subhashita Nivi.(55) Much of the "poetry" (and we may add also "philosophy") that we hear so much talked of and advertised is mere "counterfeit" for the reason that it is soulless repetition. Hence the condemnation of such "counterfeit" poetry as much by our sages as by Plato. It is "counterfeit" aesthetics that is condemned and condemned deservedly.

Beauty Goodness Service Joy

What man needs is not sensual excitement but spiritual equipoise and all aesthetic appeal is the appeal, not to the sensuality of the body, but to the spirituality of the soul. While imitations pander to the craving of the senses, creators minister to the longing of the soul. That longing is for beauty and that beauty is the creation of the poet. That is the beauty of truth, that is the beauty of goodness. That is the one beauty of "Service". Service is the function of selflessness in the height of spiritual equipoise and it is in that function that the universe is maintained in its moral anchorage and sustained in its organic form. That service is joy. It is ananda (abiding happiness) Happiness, according to Aristotle(56), is not the sum total of pleasures but "unimpeaded activity of the natural state of one's being". "No activity" according to him "is perfect if it be impeaded and happiness in its nature is perfect". It is the perennial activity of soul in the spiritual equipoise of selflessness, and "service" is that activity. It is perennially creative and beautific. It is in the height of spiritual equipoise that the author served and the poem is that service. That is the beauty of the poem. The author is the servant, service is his art and beauty is his creation. "Paduka" is that beauty, and here it is for the aesthetic philosopher to marvel: "Beauty! Thy name is Paduka!"

Tamil translation

Such is the appeal which the poem makes. That is the reason for this humble service in translating the original Sanskrit into Tamil. Translation is a creative art. It is not a repetitive work in word--substitution. To be true to the original is to be true to its soul and not to its figure. The author is a saint and teacher, a poet and philosopher, a creator and artist. He is the "Teacher of Vedanta". His teachings is "Surrender"(Anjali) and his gospel is service. He has taught the law of eternal survival in everlasting service. Anjali(surrender) is the weapon (astra) with which alone God could be 'won'. It is the glory of that "weapon" (anjalivaibhava) that he taught and taught to all. His is the teacher's voice and that is the voice of universal love (57). It is the symphony of Sanskrit, Tamil and Prakrit. The poem is that symphony in all its charm and sweetness. Service is its soul, music is its voice, and rhythm is its march. It is the vision of glory, the experience of purity, and the expression of sweetness -- all in one. That one is Paduka -- thousandfold. Hence the difficulty of its translation. It is therefore in a spirit of humble service that the original Sanskrit has been rendered into these Tamil songs, such as they are. May Paduka be pleased with the gesture of service!

(51): Paduka 974,977,979,1001 et passim

(52): Paduka 898. (53). Yadavabhudaya I.15 (54). I. I9. (55). Subhashta 2.3 (56). Nicomachean Ethics. Book VII. Ch 13. (57). Desikamalai: Adhikkarasangraha 17.

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       This introduction ends here and sri R. Kesava Iyengar continues his magnum opus “Thiruppaduka maalai” from here. That has already been posted here.

  adiyen sincerely thank for those handful of few who followed this introduction and the Thiruppadukamaalai  and pray Srimad Andavan to shower all the best on you.

Paduka Sahasram intro

Paduka Rajya Philosopher’s state civita Dei

That a good state is civitas dei  is readily accepted. It is, however, the distortion of its purport, the perversion of its essence, and the prostitution of its purpose for the most unworthy of the selfish ends of individuals and cliques that is repudiated. All civitas is dei. Deus – the great God, is one, and “One only without a second”. That God is neither tribal, nor local nor sectarian. He is one and universal. There is no “private” ownership in God. “Private” ownership is itself ungodly. God (Deus) is one and universal. The unity and universality of God can not be over emphasised. If Deus is one and universal there can be no civitas dei which is either tribal or local or sectarian. The civitas, if it is to be dei, must be as universal as the Deus whose civitas it is. To speak of a tribal or a local or a sectarian civitas dei  is a self-contradiction. Civitas Dei   is a “state” of all-inclusion and no-inclusion. It is the function of that state to sustain the all-inclusion and maintain the no-inclusion; for that sustenance and maintenance is the function of Deus. All-exclusion and no-inclusion is civitas diaboli. To the extent to which a civitas is inclusive it is dei and therefore divine. To the extent to which it is exclusive it is diaboli, and therefore diabolic. Law includes all and all are included in law and in accordance with law. Lawlessness excludes all and excludes them all from law and therefore from each other God wants all and wants them all to be good and useful; for they are all the "offspring of His own body" and therefore cannot be excluded from that body. It is the body of Virat-Purusha. That is the body.politic. and that body-politic is all inclusive and all-sustaining. It is universal. Nothing is a surplusage to God. Everything exists in His will and as His wealth to His greater glory That is the glory of everything in existence. The man who does not see the usefulness of another only sees his own uselessness. It is a useless mind that does not see the usefulness of others "Everything that stands, stands in God, and stands for God. To know that is alone true knowledge; all else is mere dross". So proclaims the great Saint (43). "Every tender soul that blossoms into corporeal form is but the blossom of the Lord's form" is the hallowed articulation of Sathakopa ~ the Paduka-lncarnate 44 Truth is the truth of "all" and God is the God of all. By making truth and God tribal or local, or sectarian, we are only exhibiting our own pettiness and thereby making "truth" and "God" as petty as ourselves. In that pettiness we are degrading "truth" and "God" to our own level of pettiness so as to make them worthy of our petty worship in exclusion. Such a worship is the most degraded form of worship. The good, the virtuous, are great, and their greatness is the greatness of their mind. It is Magnanimity The Lord, in His magnanimity, has been pleased to call the magnanimous by the hollowed name of "Mahatmas' (45). It is for 'Mahatmas' that the Lord says He is thirsting. It is those rnahatmas for whom the Lord and the Lord for whom the mahatmas are mutually thirsting, that the petty man excludes and it is their place that he takes in his exclusive theocracy. The  theoretical form of that theocracy is, in its ultimate analysis, either political pantheism orpolitical acosmism. They are kins, if not twins, and is really very little to choose between them. Let us not, however, trespass into political metaphysics  which is more metaphysical than metaphysics itself. Rajya or Raj (its abbreviated  form)which is the equivalent of "State", is neither regional nor tribal. It is essentially functional. "Rajya" is a Sanskrit word and in Sanskrit it means "The function of the ruler". The great sageParasara has described that function as the function "delighting the people" (46). The ethics of the ruler is the aesthetics of the people. It is the virtuous function of making people happy in virtuous company. It is the one function of synthesising and unifying man into a society in the dharma of complementarity in which the existence and  function of every member needs the existence and function of every other member and in which all live an abundant life in mutual cordiality. All truth- is the truth of, organic unity, all ethics, is the ethics of organic function, and all joy. is the. joy of organic membership.  The State is a single anatomical structure living in the abundance of its moral vitality. It is its life that all people breathe alike and together. Anything to the extent to which it tends to be disruptive of the integrity of that constitution, of that principle of integrating vitality, is repugnant to the constitution, and tends to its emasculation. That vitality which is essentially integral and functionally integrating.the State into a "union"  is impartible and  inalienable. It is intolerant of any division or distribution of that  vitality  in  terms  of regional  disruption which are euphemistically called local or provincial autonomy. The theory that in a single body politic there can be several autonomous sovereign bodies is radically vicious. It is constitutional heresy and nomenclatorial extravagance. It is that heresy and extravagance that has been responsible for the creation of  interpugnacious eruptions territorial and tribal, within the single unit of one body politic. They are the very eruptions of the body politic which are subversive of the integrating vitality of that body. No state, which in its constitutional essence is integral, can be cut into autonomous parts in terms either of tribality or of territoriality. Every good and vital state is an integration and a,union of all .places and tribes within the sovereign jurisdiction of the state in which everyone breathes the single life of the state. The life of the state is the breath of the people. The principle of all good constitution is the one vital principle of goodness, and all goodness is the goodness of integrating vitality. To constitute  is to integrate in  vitality.All ease is the ease of integration~ and all disease is the disease of disintegration and it is as true of the biological body as of the body politic. A state is not a geographical or a tribal entity. It is the integral unity. That unity is  moral  essence - the very essence of dharma. That great polltical philosopher Burke  says:- "Nation is a moral essence not a geographical arrangement or a denomination of the nomenclator".   Mere locality does not constitute a body politic.....The body politic of France existed  in the majesty of its throne; in the dignity of its nobility. in the honourof its gentry, in the sanctity of  its clergy, in  the reverence of  its magistracy, in the weight and consideration due to its landed property in the several bailliages, in. the respect due to its movable substance represented by Corporations of the kingdom. All these particular moleculae united form the great mass of what is truly the body politic in all countries" 47. It is the duty of the ruler to maintain in his moralmight the purity of  that moral: essence. That a polity is moral essence and that the  virtuous are its guards and guides is a vltal constitutional truth. The greatest and noblest of minds Of all countries and  of all ages have proclaimed thy sanctity and the inviolability of that truth.  They have  declared with one voice that earthly rulership inheres in  the virtuous. Whatever be the form of government, the soul of all good  government is selfless service to God and to God's humanity in all love and loyalty to God. The virtuous are the servants of God and in their service they are on the side of God. God is therefore on their side and has committed His world to their care and guidance Arjuna was on the side of God and therefore God was on his side. Asked, if he believed whether God was on his side, that noble soul - Abraham Lincoln, is said to have replied in all the strength of his love of God, that he was not ccncerned with whether God was on his side, but that he was concerned with whether he was on the side of God. That is how selfless nobility concerns itself. All authority is God's and it is God's authority that is being served by the virtuous in their service to God as the guards of the moral essence of State. It is for that service that God has invested the virtuous with His own authority -- an authority to serve Him and His servants, and in that authority, the virtuous have been constituted the authorized servants of God. It is in that investiture and constitution that true servants are marked off from counterfeit servants whose rule of "service" is self-service In that investiture by God the virtuous are constituted the "Paduka" of God. It is the "vision" of that investiture that the Celestial Bard Valmiki saw, and it is the glory of that investiture that he sang. "Verily, it is these Padukas that assure the abiding happiness of the whole universe" is the message of the Poet. Paduka in its service is the one friend, philosopher and guide of God and in its rule is the one friend, philosopher, and guide of man. It is the service of bringing God to man and the rule of taking man to God, and in that service- rule, Paduka brings about the abiding union of human service with Divine essence. It is a union of earth and Heaven, Of Nature and Grace. It is a union of both the realms in one and that one realm the one union, is Paduka's. Paduka is truly the "Philosopher' and the true 'philosopher'. The phllosopher's state of Plato is the echo of the Padlukaraj of Valmiki and of the present author and will find in it its full elucidation. That 'Philosopher" is the later "Peter" and 'Caesar" in one. The later- day conflict between "Peter" and "Caesar" was due to adventitious circumstances. It is in  no way detracts from the essential identity of the serving personality of the "Philosopher". One of the papal titles is "servus servorum" (the servant of servants). It is by that title that Dante in his "vision' has named Boniface VIII.48 .That is the  glory of Dante's vision. The conflict between "secular" and "religious" is as unfounded as it is unreal.. The conflict is a very "secular" one brought about for securing very "secular" ends. Governance is a very sacred act and therefore a very great act of sacrifice. It is in sacrifice that Paduka rules49 . Paduka wills that it should 'serve'. God wills that it should 'rule'. The serving will of Paduka is the ruling will of God. Rule is the sacrifice (yagna) of Paduka - the Philosopher, and in that sacrifice the State becomes consecrated and blessed (yagnasishta). One of the greatest saints of all times, himself a king-philosopher, Kulasekhara Alvar, says- "O Lord! Verily do l, Thy humble servant. thirst for Thee alone, even as all  earthly power and wealth thirst for those alone  who in their  thirst for Thee alone have no thirst for them at all"50  It is for that reason - for the reason of the consecrtion of the state in the  sacrifice of the "philosopher" - that the state covets the "philosopher". Those who covet the state are "robbers" and those whom the state covets are "philosophers". Paduka is the "Philosopher" and the state is therefore Paduka's . Paduka is a union and it is in that union that peace (santi) reigns supreme. It is the reign of the Upanishadic "santi, santi,santi"(peace ,peace, peace). May 'santi' reign supreme in our "union". May Paduka reign supreme in that "Union" in the meridian splendour of its moral might and bring about, in fulfilment of the Poet's Prophecy, peace and happiness to the whole universe.

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43.Thirumalisai  Alvar  Nanmukan Thiruvantadi  54.
44. Peria Thiruvantadi 73.
45. Gita VII 19 and Ramanuja Bhashya ibid
46. Vishnu Purana I 13.93
47. Letters on a Rigicide Peace: Vol V Pp219, 220 (Bohn’s)
48. Inferno XV
49. Paduka 127
50. Perumal Tirumoli 5.9 cf Brahadaranyaka 6.4.23
     Paduka 113, 126, 127, 144, 160 etc.

Padhukasahasram

Politics continued

(FromSri Kesava Iyengar’s introduction to his own “Thiruppaadukamaalai)

Politics has become the game of Letting Ioose animality on humanity. The game has In recent  years  developed  into  a  contagious disease and has taken an epidemic form.   Many  are the individuals and states that have  already  fallen victims to it.  The survivors  have. however, in  a sense of false, perhaps dubious,  security  taken  to building air-castles.   It does not seem unlikely that they will  soon be engaged in pumping  out  the  air and in that engagement pumping themselves out of their own castles.   The phenomenon is but  the truth of history repeating  Itself,   That history  is the history of the nemesis of cuius est  regio eius est religio.  To trace that history one has perhaps to go back  to  pre historic  days.   The  Danava emperor (42)  was, the  founder  and the  first pontifex rnaximus of that religion -the imperialistic religion  of geo-ethnic theocracy.    He incorporated the entire ge in Danava  ethnos  and founded  his universal empire in that incorporation.   That  was his constitution and his law  was  the law  of  that constitution.   Vedanta (Philosophy) was  repugnant to that Yaw and he therefore  repealed  philosophy in the omnicompetence of his Legislative rage.   He not merely put his Iaw on the statute book,  which to him in  his practical clarity was a mere euphemism for the dust-heap of the legislative chamber,  but expanded  all  his   imperialistic energy on the propagation of that law.  He took particular  care not  to  Ieave  in  doubt  the  import  of the all-  important  word “cuius” in that statute. He declared that 'cuius'  means  ‘Danava's’.   He being the primate of all  Danavas and therefore of the regio, the religio was, as It  must be,  his.   None else could  poach upon his preserves,  That the regio was his was to him a fact,  an ethnic fact, from which flowed in law the conse- quence of his  religio- the political religion  of  group-egoism, and geo- ethnic imperialism   Ex facto oritur jus  (from  fact arises law).  Good Logic and  good  law.   He  was so much convinced that there was no fault  in  that logic  and no flaw In that law, that  he convinced himself of  the  infallibility of his own  political  judgment and in that  infallibility  he  effected  the  repeal of ''philosophy” and enacted his “theocracy” into a Universal religion.   That was his rule of  law  and that law was to him immutable. He thought that his security was established in the immutability of the law which he enacted.  But alas ! it  proved to be, not a· law  but an  explosive,  which  in its explosion consumed its very discoverer. All later history is but the history of the recrudescence of that prehistoric explosion. Suffice  it to mention only one such recrudescence.  It was in the year 529 A. D. during the historic reign of the ' Roman" emperor, Justinian.   It was the fitting  culmination of the process of conflict and disintegration which had  already begun  centuries  before  with the capture of Alexandria by  the  Romans  and  which  functioned in that process to such completeness  as to result In  the  words  of  Vinogradoff  in  "the Romanization of the provinces and the barbarization of Rome''.  To  the  imperialistic  genius  of the Roman,  law  and engineering alone appealed.   They alone had a value to him.  All else, and particularly philosophy, were  wholly  barren  and  worthless. The emperor therefore codified law  and  crucified philosophy.   He had  all  schools of philosophy closed in 529 A. D.  and  Ieft  Europe  to  darkness and to ‘Iaw'.  The great plague of Europe followed soon after.   The plague was undoubtedly post hoc. Whether, however, it was propter hoc  Iet discerning students of history judge for themselves. The imperialistic could only close the colleges of philosophy, but he could not close the communion of philosophers. The philosophers migrated to the east leaving the west to its law and darkness. Ex oriente lux,ex occidente lex! (From the east light, from the west law!) The philosophers of the west came into communion with the philosophers of the east and the result of that communion was the restoration to the west by east after a lapse of nearly a thousand years of its light of philosophy in integrum. What a magnificent restitutio in integrum! Aristotle was preserved and commented upon by Averroes. That commentary in Latin translation became the second Bible of St.Thomas Aquinas. The service rendered to the cause of human culture by the Jewish philosophers, who were at once great thinkers and translators of great thought by their translations into Latin was unique. It was the very triumph of cultural fellowship over geo-ethnic obscurantism. That fellowship was a union and a republic of philosophy. It was a union in cordiality of the philosophic culture of the “Pagan” Aristotle, the “Moslem” Averroes, the “Jewish” Maimonides, and the “Dominican” St.Thomas aquinas. What a luminous galaxy, what an illuminating society, of noble souls! And yet man has taken to preaching and propagating the creed of darkness – the one darkness of barrack-burial, in the smoking bigotry of his geo-ethnic theocracy.

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42.: Hiranyakasipu: The above is an interpretation of the allegory. The
        story is an elucidation of the supremacy of universal oneness over
        individual and group egoism. It is an elucidation of the apparent
        paradox that the ethical process though born of the ‘cosmic’ process 
        is at enmity with its parent. It is an elucidation of the Upanishadic “Neti
        Neti”.

Padhuka sahasram

“Politics” (continuing from the last posting)

That is the fate to which politics has been condemned by those engaged in it. It is not the work of a day,but is  the result of the accumulated sin of man committed in the course of centuries. No one man or group of men, secular or religious in particular.,more than another is to be blamed forit. It is common to all men and groups of men and they have all to share it alike. It is the rivalry between man and man, individually and in cliques, that has taken this ghastly form and brought about this tragic result The history of politics has for ages been the history of man's plots and intrigues against man. It has been the history of exploitations and usurpations of man by man, by force if he could, by fraud if he could not. Man first started the " game" by usurping God: for God was felt to be the common rival of all men, and therethey joined some in 'society', some in Contract'. (in which perhaps 'social contract' originated in getting rid of that comnnon rival and taking his "place". Some took it in place of God, others in denial of God. Both, however, took it liar themselves In that displacement God's omni~presence was usurped by man's ubiquitousness. In that ubiquitousness man has constituted the world a "theocracy" of his own. That theocracy became his religion. To some that religion was 'cuius est religio eius est regio' (whose isthe religion, his is the region). To others it was 'cuius est regio eius est religio' (Whose is the region, his is the religon). That is the religion as much of theocratic politics as of political theocracy.If theocracy is mediaeval politics, politics is modern theocracy. Each Is a'civitas dei', the one of the 'scholastic' types, the other of the 'round table' type. Each asserts its exclusive claim to the 'regio and its religio is the religion of that assertion That assertion is aggression. The odium of al poiltics, whether religious or secular, mediaeval or modern, is the odium of the. assertion of tha claim and of the aggression of that religion. That religion, though it looks like two, as the formula would suggest, is really one, and regionisrn is that one religion. That is the theocracy of the'regional' man. The law of that theocracy is as it must be regional - the law of regional trespass ant regional expansion. In that trespass and expansion man became a law unto himself, effected the repeal cl God's law, and constituted his exclusive theocracy in an autonomy of his own.  The warning voice of saints and sages against the constitution of that theocracy was wholly unheeded. Fictions and fables exploded by the mightiest of minds and the noblest of souls were ruthlessly explored and fanatically resurrected and constituted into states, and empires, and enforced as laws, national and international. Apostacy, in the true sense of the word, became the foundation of the legislative competency of man. It is the apostasy from God's law to man's code, the apostacy from truth to convention, the apostacy from status. to contract. The great legal maxim "communis error facit jus" (common error makes law) was the magna carte of that omnicompetence- the omnicompetence for trespass and usurpation of man by man in groups Those groups became states and they grouped themselves in internecine rivalry. It is that magna carte that has conferred on man the magnificent rights, in an International sense, of jus Immittendl, occupatio, usurpatio and in recent times of what may be termed 'oculatlo' The political achievement of man is the achievement, under the aegis that rnagna carta, of the freedom to function in the autonomy of that ubiquitous omnicompetance. It is the achievement of man's manumission from the protecting hand of God and of his passing into his own grabbing menus. It Is the political evolution of "a mob got to believe in its own divine right by demagogic missionaries, capable of  a  more thorough work than any single tyrant puffed up with the same illusion has ever achieved(41) in the words of Prof. Huxley. The 'demagogic missionaries' have in that evolution joined hands with dictatorial evangelists. State is the theocracy of those missionaries and evangelists. It is the glory of that theocracy that man has begun to sing in rival concerts of self-exultation. Thanks to the ministrations of the great god Boost, mankind is being very freely and altruistically glutted with counterfeit philosophy to such fullness as to leave in him very little appetite for genuine knowledge or true vision. Carlyle is said to have characterised the "pclltlcal" speeches of Gladstone and Disraeli as "the groanings of two old bag pipes". It was a charaeterisation. not of the two giants, but of their "political" propaganda. If the political speeches of Gladstone and Disraeli were to be so characterized it is feared that even Carlyle's words would fail him in his attempt to characterise the 'groanlngs" of the political thumpers of today.

(41): Evolution and Ethics Prolegomena.

                                ……………..To be continued………….

Padhuka sahasram

Introduction to “Thiruppadukamaalai”
    By Vaikunthavasi Sri R.Kesava Ayyangar

Last posting appeared on November 10, 2009  can be read

                                             from here

Politics

          The word “Politics” though it began well, has in course of time acquired an odium and has a tale to tell. In popular usage the word has a synonym for “dirty game”. One of its meanings, according to a writer on Politics, is “blind free fight”. The dictionary meaning of the phrase “engage in politics” is the “strife of rival parties”. Such is the modern meaning of the word, and that meaning tells its own tale. Predicting the nature and function of rulers in Kali age that holy sage Suka said “ Robbers in disguise” and “rulers will devour the people”(35)  The former is presumably their inter-statal, and the latter their inter-statal function. Historians and philosophers have borne testimony to the truth of the sage’s prophecy. Seneca complains :-  “we are mad not only individually, but nationally. Why do we restrain homicide and the murder of individuals but glory in the crime of slaughter which destroys whole nations? There are no limits to our greed, none to our cruelty. And as long as such crimes are committed by stealth and by individuals, they are less harmful and less portentous; but cruelties are practised in accordance with acts of senate and popular assembly, and the public bidden to do that which is forbidden to the individual” (36). To such rulers and states Seneca and Lucan have given the appellation of “robbers” (37). Cicero says:- A pirate being asked by Alexander from what wicked motive he infested the sea replied “from the same which leads you to infest the whole world” (38) Quintus Curtius cites the instance of Alexander to whom the Scythian ambassador said “You pretend to be the punisher of robbers and are yourself the general robber of mankind” (39). Lactantius says” Men captivated with appearance of vain glory give the names of virtues to their crimes”(39) Speaking of Philip, Justin says:-“ In deciding a dispute between two rival kings he stripped both of their dominations with all the treachery and violence of a robber.”(39)  According to Seneca, states were “bribed into bondage” by Philip and “ruined” by Alexander (40). He adds other names also to the list in that Epistle. The sage Suka, in his infinite mercy for mankind, has not stopped with the horrowing description, but has also prescribed the remedy for it. That remedy is, in substance, the service of man in his freedom from selfdom. That service is the theme of the author’s poem

                         …………………To be continued
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(35). Bhagavata XII. 12 .12; XII 13.32.  (36) Epistles XCV (37) Seneca. On Benefits !.13.3 Cf Hugo Grotius on War and Peace Book II Ch.I wherein they are quoted. (38) Republic. Book III. 15& 23 quoted in Hugo Grotius, ibid. (39) Quoted in Hugo Grotius on War and Peace and in Campbell’s Note. Book II Ch 1. pp.174 and 175. V. 1.1: Cf. also Kelsey’s Note ibid Justin calling them “Robbers” is quoted. (40) Epistles XCIV
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Paduka Sahasram intro

Padukaraj or Sovereignty of service

The glory of Paduka raj (Servant's raj), according to the author, excels even the glory of Ramaraj (God's raj); (31) for it is the raj of Hls devoted Servant, and it is in that raj that service reigns supreme. It is the very raj of the sovereignty of service. Rama only "acts" in service; (32) Paduka “lives" in service. Rama's “servlce' is a “life-like" acting, and the life whose likeness He acts is Hls Paduka's. Hence the real sovereignty of service in Padukaraj. That is the excellence of Paduka.the servant. That excellence, in the words of Vaimiki, is the excellence of the effectuation of "universal happiness" (sarvaloka yogakshema). The rule of Paduka is the rule of service. "Unite and serve' is the rule of that service. Padukas is a union and in that union it rules in service and serves in rule Rule and serve or serve and rule is no paradox or repugnancy. It is a basic truth. Belng basic truth it is'a mystery; It is that truth - the truth of the true oneness of the ruler and servant. that has to be understood, it is its implications that have to be explored and it is its applications that have to be made “ Thou livest as servant, and rulest as king: who can 'comprehend this. Thy transcendent mystery!" is the profound utterance delivered from the peak of poetic genius by the universal poet-Kambar (33). It is with those profound words that the poet made Garuda (Veda) wake up Rama to His sovereign glory. When Rama was crowned. says that preeminent poet, each one in the universe felt that he was crowned himself (34) Thst was how Rama delighted and elevated them all to the regal nobility of serving citizenship in an equality of sovereign fellowship with Himself That is the truth about the true, the good and the beautiful raj and it is to that truth that we have to awaken. That Is good raj and that raj is Paduka raj, That raj is good polity, and that rule is good politics. Is that so? Can that be so true or so good as that? It is a question which calls for an answer, and that answer has therefore to be attempted, however inadequately, in this note

(31): Puduka 108, 153,159, 167, 176, 180 , 304, 236.
        858.899 et pasrim.
  (32): Paduka 176, 234,  240. 
  (33): Nagapasappadalam 255.
  (34): Thirumudiyattuppadalam 40.  

    

திருவருட்சதகமாலை

|| ஸ்ரீ;||

முகவுரை.

நின்னருளாங் கதியன்றி மற்றொன் றில்லேன்
     நெடுங்காலம் பிழைசெய்த நிலைகழிந்தேன்
உன்னருளுக் கினிதான நிலை யுகந்தேன்
    உன்சரணே சரணென்னுந் துணிவு பூண்டேன்
மன்னிருளாய் நின்றநிலை யெமக்குத் தீர்த்து
    வானவர்தம் வாழ்ச்சிதர வரித்தே னுன்னை
இன்னருளா லினியெமக் கோர் பரமேற்றாமல்
   என்திருமா லடைக்கலங்கொ ளென்னை நீயே.
                         (தேசிகமாலை, அமிருதா சுவாதினி 31)

திருமகளோடொருகாலும் பிரியா நாதனான திருநாரணன் திண் கழலே சேதுவெனச் சேர்தலே சிற்றுயிர்க்குற்ற நற்றுணை. திருமாலால் மயர்வற மதிநலம் அருளப்பெற்ற ஆழ்வார்கள், சரணாகதி வைபவத்தை நன்குணர்ந்து, அதைத் தாங்கள் அநுஷ்டித்துப், பகவானை அநுபவித்தவாறே பேசியதாற்றான்,

மாசின் மனந்தெளிமுனிவர் வகுத்ததெல்லாம்
        மாலுகந்த வாசிரியர் வார்த்தைக் கொவ்வா
வாசியறிந்திவை யுரைத்தோம் வையத்துள்ளீர்
       வைப்பாக விலைகொண்டு மகிழ்மினீரே.
                      (அமிருதசுவாதினி 27)
என்றும்,
மங்கையர்கோ னென்றிவர்கள் மகிழ்ந்துபாடும்
செய்யதமிழ் மாலைகள் நாம் தெளியவோதித்
தெளியாத மறைநிலங்கள் தெளிகின்றோமே.
                --- (அதிகாரச் சுருக்கு 1)

என்றும் தூப்புல் வள்ளலாரான நம் வேதாந்த குரு வெகு அழுத்தமாக அறுதியிட்டுள்ளார்.

   உலகம் வாழவேண்டுமென்ற உத்தம நோக்கத்துடன் சீரார் தூப்புற்றிருவேங்கடநாதன், பிராகிருதம், ஸம்ஸ்கிருதம், தமிழ் முதலிய பாஷைகளில் பாலர் முதல் கற்றுக் கடைத்தேறும் வண்ணம், அநேக கிரந்தங்கள் அருளிச் செய்துள்ளனர்.இம்மறைமுடித்தேசிகனார் வடசொற்கலைக்கெல்லை தேர்ந்தவராகலின், வடமொழி வல்லார் சந்தமிகு தமிழ்த் திறனை அறிந்துய்தற் பொருட்டு, இத்துறைகள் தாங்கி நிற்கும் தோத்திரங்களை வடமொழியில் யாத்துள்ளார். அவற்றைத் தமிழ் மக்கள் உணர்ந்து இன்புறுவதற்காகத் தமிழ்ப் பாக்களிற் பாடித் தருமாறு வேண்டியதற்கிணங்கி, ‘கோபால விம்சதி’; “ஸ்ரீஸ்துதி”; “ஸ்ரீபகவத் த்யாந ஸோபாநம்” என்ற இம்மூன்று தோத்திர நூல்களையும் [தோத்திரமாலை (திருவல்லிக்கேணித் தமிழ்ச் சங்க வெளியீடு 7)யிலுள்ளன] முன்னரே தமிழ் செய்து தந்த இத்திருவல்லிக்கேணித் தமிழ்ச் சங்கத் தலைவரும், அட்வொகேட்டும், இச்சங்க வெளியீடான “வகுளமாலை”ப் பத்திராசிரியருமாகிய ஸ்ரீமான் ஆர். கேசவய்யங்காரவர்கள் ஆங்கு வேண்டிக் கொண்டதற்கேற்ப தற்போது, “தயாசதகம்”  எனும் தூப்புற்குலமணியின் தோத்திரத்தை செய்ய தமிழ்ப் பாக்களாகப் பாடி நற்றமிழுலகம் நலனுறுமாறு செய்த சீர்மைக்கு அவர்கட்கு எமது நன்றி என்றும் உரியதாகுக. அந்நூலே “திருவருண்மாலை” என்ற திருநாமத்துடன் இச்சங்க வெளியீடாக பிரசுரிக்கலாயிற்று. விரிதிரை நீர் வையத்துள்ளே வேதாந்தவாரியனென்றியம்ப நின்ற அருடருமாரண தேசிகனே திருவருட்டத்துவத்தைச் செப்ப வல்லவர்.

தன்பெறும் பொலிவு சால்வே தாந்ததே சிகப தத்தில்
  நன்பிமா வேங்க டக்கோ ணிறுத்தியே மதலை யென்னை
  அன்பெனும் நிறைந ரம்பின் தந்தியென் றிசைத்துத் தானே
  இன்பருட் சதக மீதொன் றின்கவி பாடி னானே.   (104)

என்பதை நன்கு நோக்குக. பேசுபய வேதாந்த தேசிகபதத்தில் பிறரெவரும் யாமறிந்தமட்டில் நிறுத்தப்பெறவில்லை என்பதோர் பேருண்மை. தமிழ்ப் பேரறிஞரும் இதனை நன்கு அறிவர்.

    “பதிகம் பதிகமதாக விசைத்தனனே” என்றார் திருவழுந்தூர் வள்ளல். “அருள் கொண்டாடும் அடியவர்” என்ற ஸ்ரீ மதுர கவிகளின் திருவாக்கை முற்றும் மெய்ப்பிக்கவே வேங்கட வெற்பென விளங்கும் வேத வெற்பனனின் திருவருளை விளக்குமுகத்தான் நம் வேங்கடநாதன் “தயாசதகம்” பாடினர் என்ப. இவரது அவா இத்துடன் நில்லாது ஆழ்வார் விஷயமாகத் திரும்புகையில் ஸ்ரீபாதுக மாமறையாயிரமாக விரிந்தது. அருண்மிகு சடகோபன் அகாரவாச்யன் விஷயமாக ஆயிரம் பாசுரம் பாடினான். சடகோபத் தொண்டன் என்றேதான் அழைக்கப் பெறவேண்டுமென்ற பேரவாவுடைய தூப்புற்கோன் மகிழ்மாறன் விஷயமாக ஆயிரம் கவி யாத்தனர். ஈண்டும் நூலிற் காட்டிய துறைகளெல்லாந் தண்டமிழ்த் துறைகளே. இப்பெரிய நூலும் விரைவில் தமிழில் வெளிவரும். அதிலும் ஆங்குள்ள சித்திரக் கவிகளனைத்தும் “சித்திரமாலை”யாக வருவதை நற்றமிழர் நன்கேற்று நலம்பெறுவாராக.

   மேற்கூறிய “தயாசதகம்'” , '”ஸ்ரீபாதுகா ஸஹஸ்ரம்” இவற்றின் விரிவுரை பின்னர் வெளியாகும். செந்தமிழபிவிருத்திக்காக முயன்று வரும் ஸ்ரீமான் கேசவய்யங்காரவர்கட்குத் திருவேங்கடமுடையான் ஸர்வ மங்களத்தையும் நல்குவானாக. தமிழ்த் தலைவரான பேயாழ்வார் திருவவதாரத் திருப்பதியான திருமயிலையில் திருவேங்கடமுடையானும், நம்மாழ்வாரால் நகர்காட்டு துறையில் அமைக்கப் பெற்றுள்ள அம்பூந்தேனிளஞ் சோலை யெனுந் தூப்புல் மாநகரிற் பேரருளாளனும், திருவுள்ளம் உகக்குமாறு செந்தமிழ் தூப்புல் திருவேங்கடமுடையான் அருளிய ஸ்ரீதேசிக ஸ்ரீபாதுகா ஸஹஸ்ர மஹோத்ஸவங்களைச் சிறப்பாக நடத்தி வைத்த சீரோங்கு வள்ளலாரான ஸ்ரீ தேசிக தர்சந ரத்ந தீபம் ஸ்ரீமான் வி.வி. ஸ்ரீநிவாஸய்யங்காரவர்கள் அத்திருமயிலையிலேயே இத்திருவருண்மாலைத் திருவரங்கேற்று விழாவைத் திவ்யதம்பதிகள் திருவுள்ளமுகக்குமாறு நடத்தி வைத்தது இம்மாலைக்கோர்தனிச்சிறப்பு.அத்தேசிக பக்தசிகாமணிக்குத் திருவேங்கடமுடையான் திருவருள் மேன்மேலும் சுரப்பானாக. இம்மாலைக்குச் சிறப்புப் பாயிரம் பாடித்        தந்த  ஸ்ரீ பண்டித சிந்தாமணி கோபாலாசாரியார் அவர்கட்கும் நன்றி பாராட்டுகின்றனம். வாழ்க சந்தமிகு தமிழ். வாழ்க தூப்புல் வள்ளல். பொலிக திருவருள்.

பொங்கும் மங்கலம் எங்கும் தங்குக.

வேங்கடமால் திருவருளை வேதாந்த தேசிகனார்
  ஓங்கு புகழ்மொழியா லோதியநூற் – பாங்குதெரி
  இன்பந் திகழ்தமிழி னின்னிசையிற் கேசவனே
  அன்பர்க் களித்தான் கவி.

ஸ்ரீரங்கவிலாசம்                             ப.ரெ.திருமலை அய்யங்கார்
திருவல்லிக்கேணி                                      காரியதரிசி.
  14-11-‘42.

Sri Paduka Sahasram – intro by Sri Kesava Iyengar

         Few visitors who log on to this blog regularly may remember that adiyen was posting the introduction to Paduka Sahasram by Sri Kesava Iyengar  here. Due to some reasons or other adiyen suspended posting the same.  Now that “Thirupaadukamaalai” is completed , adiyen resume the intro from where adiyen stopped it. To recollect you can either click on the “Paduka sahasram” label on the right hand side panel here or go to http://thiruppul.blogspot.com/2009/01/sri-paduka-sahasram-intro.html  to directly read the last posting in January 2009.  Now to Sri R. Kesava Iyengar’s

PADUKASAHASRA

OR

THE SOVEREIGNTY OF SERVICE

 

Service to God's” foot" is perennial food of Paduka.

.   Not only does the 'foot' ‘redeem’ and affiliate but becomes itself the perennial food of the redeemed soul (Paduka). The "eater" (atta) in justice becomes the "food" (anna) in mercy. "I am the eater of the food" is the sacred chorus of Paduka as sung by the author in Nadapaddhati. (29^) The whole of Nadapaddhati is resonant with that joy-- the one joy of eternal service to ~ the 'foot' of God. It is the experience in all percipience and glory of the supremacy and sovereignty of service to God. The Veda has declared that God's primacy and ultimacy inheres in God's "foot" to emphasise the supremacy and sovereignty of service to God as the summum bonum of souls. It is in that "foot" that God integrates redeemed souls in their eternal service to that “Foot” (30).

God’s Foot Crown of Paduka—Paduka Crown of universe
Rama raj and Padukaraj

Service to the 'foot' of God in fellowship with the servants of God is the very crown of human fulfillment. Paduka is that crown and it is the crown of the universe. If Paduka is the crown of universe the universe God's Foot is the crown of Paduka. The universe is one God-raj. It is true raj, good raj, and beautiful raj. It is the ray of universal oneness which ensures the happiness of the entire universe. It is the Ramaraj of Valmiki. It is the Padukaraj of the present author.

(28) :~Dayasataka 64, 79, 90, 91, 98.

(29): Paduka 386: Cf. Paramapadasopana 9. for the “Universal service" of the liberated, and for the supremacy of that servi

(30): Sathakopa Tiruviruttam 46. Tiruvaimoli 3. 7. 7 3, 9. 8; 4. 9. 9; 8. 8. 11; 10. 4.4 ~

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Sri Paduka Sahasram Intro

Apotheosis of physical body is illusion.
Body-culture sense-culture and soul-fulfilment.

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That the biological body is per se sacrosanct is a fallacy and an illusion that has to be dispelled. It is with the explosion of that fallacy that the Lord's Song begins. While it explodes the fallacy it also emphasises the fact of the soul being incorporated in biological body and the consequent need of the soul functioning in the context of that body. Every soul is embodied in a particular context and has therefore to function in that context in accordance with the will of God who permeates all souls alike in their various biological integuments. The body is the soul's karma in configuration and it is in that configuration that the soul has to function. All attempts at jumping out of one's own integument are but attempts at jumping out of one's own life. That configuration, that embodiment is no more automatic than optional. The tenacious heresy of spontaneous generation has long ago received a death-blow at the hands of eminent men of science. Birth is not a blind accident of the bedroom. All embodiments are karmic and karmic law has to be obeyed. Man sins against God in sinning against his body; for the body is given by God in His justice to man as man. The greatest of human tragedy is the havoc and violence which man is committing on his own body and on his own senses, not to speak of those that he is committing on those of others. Hence his frustration. Body culture and sense-culture are the very foundation on which the fulfilment of the soul depends. Physical culture is not mere physical exercise. Mere physical 'exercise' is usually a variety of physical exhaustion. The body and the senses have to be disciplined and cultured and not merely physically exercised. Each body, with the senses functioning in that body , has an individuality, and therefore, a value of its own. It is in that individuality that we have the foundation of human culture in all its variety. That culture is virtue. It is virtue that constitutes the vir (man). Whatever is not culture in the sense of "virtue" is violence to the body and the senses. That violence is sin. Man is a vir in culture and a beast in violence. He effects his fulfilment in culture and his frustration in violence. That is God's justice. Man, therefore, to the extent to which he does violence either to the body or to the senses of his own or to those of others or to the needs and equipments of that body and those senses, whether of his own or of others, effects the frustration of himself and of others. That frustration is sin, and in that sin he suffers justice. It is from that frustration that he has to be redeemed. Redemption is the one need of man, and God in mercy is the one Redeamer of man. Justice is not mere vindictive retaliation, but is the reaction to the sin committed. That reaction is penalty. The apotheosis of the physical body is repugnant to Divine Justice. That that body is by itself sacrosanct is the creed of hard fanatics. Justice can not be understood in terms of materialistic biology. Of carnal bodies the sinner has had many , and will have plenty in succession. The plenitude of his carnel bodies is but the plenitude of his sins. If one goes many will follow in succession. Man instead of clinging to the carnal body with fanatical avidity and becoming a slave to the body has, in the context of that body, to free himself for ever from the bondage of Karmic embodiment. The body has to be so disciplined and cultured, and the senses so controlled and subdued as to make them subserve the end of soul-fulfilment the fulfilment of its freedom from the liability to karmic embodiment. If man's bondage is effected in God's justice, his freedom is achieved in God's mercy. The very survival of the sinner in justice is the pointer to the supremacy of God's mercy. It reminds the sinner of the infinite kindliness of God and goads him on to contrition and submission. The purpose of justice is to awaken the sinner to his sin - the one sin of his defiance of the will of God, and to make him a penitent supplicant at the foot of Mercy. Only the sinner would not listen to the voice of justice. Hence his contumacious persistence in his own frustration. That voice being the voice of Divine justice will one day make itself heard by the sinner and take him in contrition to the "foot" of God - the spring and abode of all- forgiving mercy and fulfill itself in that mercy [Dayasataka 64, 79, 90, 91, 98.] The "foot" redeems the supplicant in all its love and affliates him for ever to itself as its Paduka in all its rosy hue of grace.

Sin is self-frustration in man's violation of God's will ;
Human actions and animal functions Distinctions ;

Sin is thus self frustration brought about by man in his violation of the will of God. In sinning against God man sins against his human essence, and brings about his frustration . He degrades himself in that violation to the level of beasts and behaves like a beast. The equation is perhaps a libel on beasts, which, it is hoped, beasts will forgive as they have been doing many other inflictions of man on them. The man who behaves like a beast makes himself a beast and therefore merits the treatment of a beast. He can not lead the life of a beastand expect the treatment of a man. What distinguishes the behaviour of a beast from that of a man is the behaviour of man in accordance with the will of God (sastra) . Such a behaviour, such a conduct, is alone human. According to Vyasa's Brahma Sutra, Divinity is "sastrayonitva" and humanity is "sastrarthavattva". The soul, the "knower", is the knower of the will of God. God, in His mercy, has eternally declared His will and endowed souls with the status of knowers so that they could know His will and behave in accordance with it in order that they might br redeemed from the frustration brought about by themselves in their selfdom. It is in that will and in that endowment that God has distinguished man from beasts. It is therefore up to man, if he is to be reckoned and treated as a man, to behave like a man in accordance with the will of God. Human actions are not mere instinctive animal functions or mechanical physical movements and displacements in space. They are conscious and cordial functions in accordance with the will of God. It is that function and not "reason" as is generally supposed, that distinguishes man from beast. Behaviouristic moralists look to beasts and insects for wisdom. The bee polity, says Prof. Huxley, "fulfils the ideal of the communistic aphorism to each according to his needs, from each according to his capacity. [Evolution and Ethics : Prolegomena] That beasts have no 'reason' is another libel on beasts. There is no 'reason' to justify that libel. The word 'reason' is derived from a Latin root which means to 'reckon'.. That beasts do reckon as much and as well as men is a fact. Men and beasts both reckon and function alike in the field of matter. If the field of matter is exhaustive of the faculty of reckoning, there is no reason to deny reason to animals. They seem to have even more reason in that sense than men. They do not seem to commit the same amount of havoc on their bodies as men do on theirs. They are more law abiding than men. They are blessed with a constitutional immunity from the anarchy of the tongue. Their observance of the laws of Nature is more scrupulous than man's. They are better physicians than we are. Their rapacity and predacity seem to be far less than man's. To call all those "reckonings" as instinct in the case of animals, and "reason" in the case of man seems wholly arbitrary and self-adulatory. The real distinction -- if distinction there is to be -- must be in something which is special to man as man and not comon to him with animals as animals. It is in man's knowledge of a higher will -- the universal will -- and in his endevour to lay his will in line with that will. It is in his 'reckoning' with that will , that man is marked off from animals. Without a Divine universal will there will be nothing for man to reckon with, in the sense of "reasoning" which animals do not have in common with him. Men and beasts both reckon with matter and with themselves. Man's knowledge of himself by himself is not different from the knowledge of beasts of themselves by themselves. That knowledge is not human knowledge, but mere "animal sense" as Suka calls it. [Bhagavata 7.5.12] Men and beasts obey alike the biological law of survival and reproduction. All materialistic attempts at understanding man in terms of that biological law must necessarily result in an understanding of him as but a member of the group or society of animals and not as a being having any status or faculty, which others of the animal group or society do not possess in common with him. Man must first transcend his animality before he can be reckoned as belonging to humanity and he can lay claim to being reckoned as such, only when he awakensto his own nature as the servant of God and of the need of his surrender and service to God. That is man's nature, that is man's need. Until man has reached that stage he has not reached the stage of humanity{ Thirumangai Alvar 11.7.9}. It is in man's knowledge of his essence as the servant of God and in his action in accordance with the will of God that man becomes a man and his actions become human. To deny God or to deny will to God, is to deny humanity. The will of God is as eternal as God Himself. It is that will (sastra) that man has to understand. It is with that will that man has to 'reckon' and it is to that will that man has to submit. man in his defiance of that will forfeits his status of a man and invites the treatment of a beast. Without a Divine will, without a moral law, compelling the obedience of all men, man must be and ever remain one with beasts and the world would then be all one jungle haunted by the most rapacious of human beasts. The Veda declares:- "Thus far (they are all) beasts bipeds and quadrupeds." As a mere specimen in the zoo of evolutionary biology man has not got even the look of antiquity about him. In that zoo man's is a mere blink of the latest mammalian upstart. As such a specimen man's value is only such. man in his transgression of the will of God effects his own frustration.[ Gita XVI 23, 24.]

ஸ்ரீ கேசவ ஐயங்காரின் “திருப்பாதுக மாலை” மலர்ப்பத்ததி யை இங்கிருந்து தரவிறக்கம் செய்து கொள்ளலாம்.

PADUKA SAHASRAM -- INTRODUCTION BY SRI. KESAVA AYYANGAR (continues)

God's command --cordial persuasion ;
Man's obedience -- willing submission

The nature of God's command and its transformation into the serving will of the soul is beautifully brought out in the Lord's Song. The Lord said to Arjuna :- "Thus have I declared unto thee the Science -- the secret of all secrets. Consider it all well and then do as you please." {Gita XVIII 16} That is the true command, and that is the truth about God's command -- a command in all the sweetness of cordial persuasion. That is the Song Divine. "Thy word I shall do" was the loving response of Arjuna to the persuasion. [Gita XVIII. 73.] The same sentiment has been expressed by Seneca when he says, " I follow Him (God) because my soul wills it and not because I must" [Epistles XCVI] The transformation of the world of God into the will and way of the soul is the essence of Vedantic ethics. It is the very essence of sweetness, the one "sweetness of unanimity" in the words of the present author. {Adhikaranasaravali 530: Cf: Rahasyathrayasara ch 22 & 32} It is the unanimity of the Lord's "foot" (pada) and His "foot-guard" (Paduka). That the fruition of knowledge is service to the "good foot" of the Lord is the declaration of the great moral philosopher Thiruvalluvar. (Kural 1, 2.) The "goodness" of the foot, according to the great commentator -- Parimelalagar, is the goodness of its redemption of man from his frustration in material bondage. That is the Lord's 'narpada' (good foot) of present author's Mummanikkovai.[Mummanikkovai 7 : Cf: Sarasara: Dvayadhikara: as to the "Foot" being the eternal abode of the liberated; As to the "Foot" being the means --upaya-- and the end--upeya Cf: in in particular Rahasyatrayasara ch 28;] It is in the eternal and immediate percipience of that "Foot" of the Lord that souls fulfil themselves. That is moksha (liberation) Moksha is the liberation of the spiritual energy of the soul from the bondage of matter and seldom and it is in that liberation that the soul is restored for ever to ots primal competency of serving the "foot" of God. To become His servant is to become His Paduka and the servant of His Paduka. The liberated can alone worthily worship and serve the "foot" of God; for it is the worship and service of sentience in the infinity of its liberation. If the liberated soul shines in the pristine essence of its luminous sentience, it is radiant in the supernal function of its luminiferous servience. Service is sentience in radiation and it is that service that illuminates and sustains the universe. It is lokasangraha, the true social service. That alone is true service in that it serves the purpose of universal illumination and sustenance. All service is purposive and that purpose is service. Service is the means, service is the end. The purpose of God is being served in the service of souls. Souls in their service obey the will of God and serve the purpose of God. As is God's purpose vever-ending, so is soul's service. It is the purpose of the infinite "foot" of God that is being eternally served in the infinite service of "Paduka". Souls in their service serve and subserve the purpose of God to the greater glory of God. There is no end to God's glory and therefore there is no end to soul's service. Hence the sadadarsana of souls. Service is the one universal gospel and Paduka stands for that gospel. God is the Lord of the liberated.. He is "to be served by the liberated" is the declaration of Vyasa. He is the "muktopasrpya" of his Sutra, and the "mukanam parama gati" of his Sahasranama. {For a full elucidation of the Vedantic truth that service to God is the essential characteristic (lakshana) of liberated souls and that souls in their full and final liberation from the impediment of matter gain their service and thereb gain their essence in eternal service to God. Vide Bhattar Parasara's Bhagavadgunadarpana in the Bhashya for the name "Muktanam parama gati'. Wherein the relevant Upanishads, Brahma Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, Bharata, Vishnu Purana, Vishnu Tattva, etc., are set out and service to God shown as their key thought.} The "Upasarpana" (service) of Vyasa, is the "Padopasarpana" -- service to the foot of the Lord-- of Suka [Bhagavate 7.6.2: It is the "padasevana" in 7.5.23.ibid] Moksha is service in liberty. It is unimpeded service. Matter is the one impediment to service and it is from that impediment that muktas have been for ever liberated by God. The freedom of the liberated is the freedom from matter and in that freedom they are for ever wedded to the "foot" of God so that they may serve that "foot" in all spiritual energy in their freedom from matter and selfdom. That is moksha. It is the absolute liberation of the soul's spiritual energy from the bondage of matter for God's service without any break or lapse. Souls gain and fulfil themselves in that service and that service is bliss.

To be continued.....................................

Paduka Sahasram Intro

Fulfilment of God’s Justice in God’s mercy ;
God’s will; Soul’s will ; Intuition.

That glory, that greater glory, is the gory of the fulfilment of God’s justice in God’s mercy. Mercy has its foundation in justice, and justice its fulfilment in mercy. Justice is the law of frustration, and mercy is the law of fulfilment. Man in his defiance of God, effects his own frustration and in his submission to God, effects his own fulfilment. Justice is the law that frustration and redemption is the law of that fulfilment; for the one is as much the will of God as the other. The one is the will of “Kshipami” (Gita XVI.19) (throw down) and the other is the will of “mokshayishyami” [ Gita XVIII.66] (I shall liberate), of the Lord’s Song. All sin is the sin of frustration and all virtue is the virtue of fulfilment. Man effects his frustration in transgressing the will of God, and effects his fulfilment in surrendering to the will of God. In His surrender he renders unto God what is God’s own – his very soul, and it is in that rendering that he gains himself. That is his fulfilment – the fulfilment of being owned and affiliated for ever by God as God’s own. That fulfilment is the one achievement of man, and it is achieved in his placing for ever his will in line with God’s, so that His will and his way become one. In that submission God’s will becomes one. In that submission God’s will becomes the soul’s volition and resolve. It is the very fulfilment of God’s command in the servant’s will, in the abundance of the servant’s love f God, and faith in God. The servant becomes thenceforward free to will and move, for it is the will and movement of serving percipience in the infinity of love and faith. It is intuition in beatitude. That intuition is the transformation of God’s will into His servants. It is not a substitution which brought about his frustration from which he had to be redeemed and was redeemed in his submission to the will of God. All good and true intuition is the intuition in and into the will of God and of God alone so as to be integrated in it for ever in infinite beatitude. #
#[It is pratyagatmadarsana, and sadadarsana. God’s command (sastras, chodana agna in Karmabhaga becomes transformed into the will (sankalpa) of the liberated soul in Brahmabhaga. That will is the soul’s will to serve God. It is the fulfilment of God’s will in the will of His liberated servants. Karma is the ‘earlier’ part (purvabhaga) and gnana is the ‘ later ‘ part (uttara bhaga or uparitanabhaga) of one and the same science of Mimamsa. Karma and gnana are neither exclusive nor contradictory. To adopt the language of the present author in Adhikaranasaravali, verse 10, karma is no more gnana in truncation than gnana is karma in decapitation. According to Vyasa {Cf: Devadadhikarana} ‘sruti’ is perception (pratyaksha) and ‘smruti’ is inference(anumana) The soul sees with the eye of God and wills with the will of God. That is the soul’s satyasankalpa (true volition) and that satya is the satya of the soul’s serving percipience and experience. Intuition , which, as its etymology implies, roughly corresponds to pratiyagatmadarsana, is the realisation in eternal immediacy of the truth of that “perception” in the soul’s sadadarsana, and upasarpana. That is vedantic truth as would appear from the various sutras of Vyasa and particularly those in Kartradhikarana. Avrttiyadhikarana, Ikshatyadhikarana, Ikshatikarmadhikarana, Dyubhavadyadhikarana,Sankalpadhikarana, and Jagatvyaparavarjadhikarana. The synthetical gist of the relevant sutras in the adhikarana is that the command (sastra) in Karmadhikarana, by dint of the soul’s undaunted endeavour in faith and love in Avrttiyadhikarana, is transformed into the soul’s will(sankalpa) in Sankalpadhikarana and the eternal percipience (sadadarsana) in Ikshatikarmadhikarana, and service (upasarpana) in Dyubhavadyadhikarana, and non-reverter in Jagadvyaparavarjadhi karana. That serving percipience has its beginning in avrtti and its fulfilment in anvrtti. Similarly according to Vyasa, whose articulation is Vedanta, God is gneya (to be known), soul is gna (knower) and matter is heya (to be cast off) Cf: Anumanikadhikarana, Gnadhikarana, andIkshdyadhikarana, where God, soul, and Matter are declared to be Gneya, Gna and Heya respectively . The Gneya(to be known) of Anumanikadhikarana is the Muktopasrpya (to be served by the liberated) of Dyubhavadyadhikarana. Vyasa Sutra may be equated thus : Matter: Soul: God: Hey (to be cast off): Gna (knower): Gneya (to be known): and uktopasrpya (to be served by the liberated).]

To be continued…….

Sri Paduka sahasram intro

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JUSTICE AND MERCY

what then about justice, which is called retribution? To give men their due is justice and justice is all their due. What do they deserve? “Use every man after his desert and who should escape whipping?” Well, the conviction is all right, but the sentence seems so ridiculous as to make the conviction itself a travesty. That is man’s plight and it is a plight in which he has landed himself. Only he does not like that truth about him to be told. Man is revelling in deception and the worst of all deceptions is self-deception. In that self-deception he has been committing self-stealth. It is from that he has to be redeemed , and it is of that he has to be acquitted. No earthly tribunal can or will redeem or acquit an offender; for it is all a tribunal of mere requital. Man can not be redeemed and acquitted in justice. Justice is impartial. It is the impartiality of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Justice is vindictive. It vindicates itself by committing on the offender the very offence for which he is condemned. Can that be true justice? Is to do justice, merely ‘retribuere’? Are not the so called tribunals of justice, municipal as well as international, committing the very thing they profess to punish? Would not the meting out of such a justice reduce those tribunals to mere bumbledoms? It is in the answer to those questions that one discerns the glimpses of the foundations of human hope and faith. The answer is to be found in God’s mercy. That man has survived judgment – perhaps in that judgment because it is God’s and not man’s ( of which more later) – is the most compelling proof of God being soaked through and through in eternal and infinite mercy. The conception of justice as ‘retribution’ pure and simple is wholly inadequate, if not misleading. What man deserves is not judgment, for he has already had it in the very commission of the offence. The commission carries with it its own judgment. “The first and worst penalty for sin” says Seneca, ‘is to have committed sin….; the punish ment of crime lies in the crime itself” { Epistles XCVII} It is God-ordained and is automatic on the commission. What man needs therefore is not judgment, for he has already had it in the commission of the offence, but only a redemption from it. It is a treatment for the malady and not a condemnation for it by the infliction of another malady that he stands in need of. Man’s need is surgery and not butchery. He may not be alive to his need but God is. The need arises from the judgment and the judgment is God’s. All justice is the justice of reaction and all mercy is the mercy of redemption, and both are God’s. God is just to all in His mercy and merciful to all in His justice. The merci ful God has been mindful of the sinner and it is in that remembrance that the sinner has been surviving. God is biding His time for treatment. The surgeon’s function is not to judge, to treat the patient. The surgeon is not there to condemn the patient to the disease contracted by him, however much the patient might have sinned against the laws of Nature in contracting it, or to inject another disease into him in vindication of the laws of Nature which the patient has violated, but to redeem him out of it and to restore him to his primal health. The very need for the surgeon is in the fact of the violation of the laws of Nature and in the consequent contraction of the disease by the patient. The more the malady the more the need for him. God, the free surgeon of humanity, the ‘one’ surgeon of mercy, in His essential cleanliness and kindliness, treats the patient sinner, redeems him from his sins, and restores him to his primal health of sentient service. Man, in that treatment, becomes so sterilised with His cleanliness as to become proof against sin, and so healed with His kindliness as to attain to the fullness of his sentient status without any possibility of ever lapsing from it. The “two fold attribute” of God – ubhayalinga as it is called by Vyasa, – cleanliness and kindliness is suggestive of the metaphor of the surgeon as well as of the sovereign. To the author Mercy is herself the surgeon and her sister “attributes” of God are attendant nurses. [DAYASATAKA :34,67,71, 101. Cf; Perialwar 5.3.6; Kulasekhara alvar5.4] God’s omnipotence omniscience and all the rest are truly the “sisters” of Mercy. God’s “foot” is that mercy and Paduka is that mercy in extension. It is the extension of the “foot” of God from the Empyrean Heaven of Heavens to the bowing head of the penitent sinner. It is in that extension that man is redeemed and affiliated to the redeeming “foot” in everlasting service. That extension stands for the discent of God as well as for the accent of man. {Paduka 61, 100, 266, 267,et passim} If God’s “foot” is His Glory, His Paduka is His greater glory; for it is His own “foot” in extension. It is to that greater glory of God that the author sang these thousand songs and himself became the extension of the Paduka he sang – the servant of God’s servants [Paduka 998,1001,1005]

Paduka Sahasram intro by Sri Keasava Iyengar

Paduka integrates

It is the Lord's Paduka that brings the liberating God and the liberated souls together. It is at once the "foot guard" and the "head guard" of souls. In the words of the present author. [Paduka 61] It is the togetherness of God in His saving grace and souls in their serving love. Paduka's is the function of integrating the serving personality of souls in the saving personality of God. Its own personality being a serving one in relation to God, and a saving one in relation to souls. [Paduka : 28, 61, 109] That is how it saves both. It saves God as God and souls as souls. It is a true guard and a guard of truth in that it guards against atheism, pantheism and acosmism. In the effectuation of that togetherness Paduka reveals itself as the very extension of God's "foot" -- the foot extended in mercy. It is in that extension that God's 'foot ' becomes accessible to the serving soul. God so extends it only to those who serve Him and His servants. That service is the reason of the extension. Hence the equation of the Divine Poet -- Valmiki, that Paduka is verily the foot (Pada) of the Lord -- the foot extended in mercy. In those eternally hallowed words did the Poet extend the mercy of God into infinity and in that extension made the Paduka excel the very "foot" whose extension it is; for it is the extension of that mercy of that very "foot". The Imponderable, the ultimate, the inaccessible, --God --, In His access to man excels Himself in His own mercy and in that excellence reveals his own mercy (foot) as the very content of the soul's serving love (Paduka). Such is the nature and glory of God's mercy. Any restraint on God's mercy is a restraint on Divinity. Sinners condemned to judgement are redeemed in mercy. That is the glory of God's mercy . The purpose of the extension is the redemption of man by God and the service of man to God. As service pleases God it pleases God to make him His servant. It is in His pleasure that man is called to the service of God. Unless and until God is pleased and calls man to His service man cannot become the servant of God. Until then man remains the servant of Mammon and of Mammon's servants. Just as God is pleased not only with man's service to Himself but with his service to His own servants, so also is Mammon pleased with the service of man not only to himself but also to his own servants. Hence the appalling prodigiousness of man-worship ! Man is essentially a servant and not a master. Every man hankers after and angles for service. While he is revelling in servility he is stimulating regality ! Man is and remains for ever a servant. Service is the destiny of man. The question is only a choice of masters. He cannot serve both God and Mammon. He must choose between the two . The choice is his and he is responsible for his choice. That responsibility is implicit in his sentience. Serving sentience is the essence of human soul and that service is to God and to His servants. { Nyayasiddhanjana II : Sathakopa Thiruvoimozhi 3, 7. 9, & 10, 8, 8 , 2, & 1:} In his choice of Mammon's service man sins against his very essence and stands by that choice condemned by judgement. That judgement must be suffered until it is upset by the tribunal of God's Mercy. If justice is the tribunal which gives each man his due, Mercy is the tribunal which forgives it. Mercy is the 'sacrifice' of God and it is in that sacrifice that He becomes not merely accessible to man but equates Himself with him. Redemption of man is the greatest "sacrifice" of God and that sacrifice is His mercy. To 'fly' to the succour of the penitent sinner because of the sins he repents, to redeem him for that repentance and to own him for ever as His own to such an extent as to let Himself be owned by him in all His grace is the very crown of all sacrifice which the all-merciful God alone is capable of. [ Dayasataka 60, 63, 65, 70] That sacrifice, that mercy, is the very "attribute" of Divinity.

"justice and Mercy" follows .....

Sri Kesava Iyengar's introduction to Paduka sahasram continued


Constitutional Function Organic and integral immanence of God and solidarity of man

The process of the constitution being ethical, its function is organic and integral; for it is a function in selflessness. The 'One' in all and the 'all' in One, each in its love of the other, function as One-all, so that the One in its primacy becomes equated with the 'all' in parity as one in all. That primacy implies omnipresence and that omnipresence is immanence. The primus, the soverign, has no particular location. He is present everywhere in his realm. The realm is constituted and sustained in that immanence. The Immanence of the primus is no more thelogical dogma. That the realm is politically constituted in regal omnipresence is a basic constitutional principle and that principle has been affirmed by the Judicial Committee in Hull's case.[ 1926 Irish Reports, Page 402 at 404 perViscount Haldane] The immanence of sustaining God and the solidarity of the serving universe is the principle of that constitution. Because the primus is immanent, therefore the universe is in solidium. The solidarity of the creatures is founded in the immanence of the Creator.That is the truth of the "oneness" of the Creator and His creatures. "He fulfils desires as one of the many" is the ethical process of universal sustenance. That is the true cosmic process. So also with the spiritual process in liberation. "The liberated soul enjoys all the goodness with the All good God." It is the immortal life of "togetherness" that the liberated souls are blessed with, and it is that life that they live in eternal attitude.

.... " Paduka integrates" to be continued.

ஸ்ரீ பாதுகா சஹஸ்ரத்தின் நிர்யாதனா பத்ததி ஸ்ரீ கேசவ ஐயங்காரால் “மீட்சிப் பத்ததி” யாகத் தமிழில் மாற்றப்பட்டுள்ளதை இங்கு தரவிறக்கம் செய்து கொள்ளலாம்.

இந்த நிர்யாதனா பத்ததியை ஆத்தூர் ஸ்வாமி இப்படி மொழிபெயர்த்துள்ளார். ஸ்ரீ கேசவ ஐயங்காரின் பண்டித நடையை ஸ்ரீ சந்தானம் ஸ்வாமியின் எளிய தமிழ் மூலம் சுவைக்கலாம். மேலும் விளக்கம் வேண்டுமானால் www.andavan.org ல் உள்ள பாதுகாசஹஸ்ரம் pdf file மூலமோ அல்லது www.namperumal.com ல் ஸ்ரீதரன் ஸ்வாமியின் அதியற்புதமான எளிய தமிழ் விளக்கங்களையோ கொண்டு அனுபவிக்கலாம்.

Paduka sahasra intro (Sri Kesava Iyengar)

Constitutional Process Ethical Love and Sacrifice

The “foot” of God is not merely the constating principle but is the guiding factor of the universe. The universe moves in response to and in unison with its will. That response is love and that unison is sacrifice. Purity is implicit in sacrifice and that purity is the purity of selflessness. We are pure only when we submit and surrender ourselves to the “foot” of God. The soul corroded by cravings and grabbings, and poisoned by greed and hate, has first to be sterilised. It must first shake itself off from the septic rags in which it has wrapped itself up and to which it has been infatuosly clinging for aeons of ages. That shaking off will become possible only when it awakens to its prestine purity the purity of selfless sentience and servience. When it awakens to it, it forthwith “falls” at the foot of God, its only refuge. It is in that ‘fall’, in that supplication, when it dedicates itself absolutely and for ever to the service of that “foot” that it becomes pure,. Submission and service is the fundamental law of that constitution. It is intolerant of any aggression or depredation. Pugnacity and predacity are repugnant to the constitution of the universe. The process of that constitution is ethical and all ethics is the etics of sacrifice. Sacrifice is voluntary and cheerful. What is not voluntarily and cheerfully rendered unto the “foot” of God is not sacrifice. What is rendered for or in the hope of reward for the self is neither rendering nor sacrifice. Sacrifice is neeither suffered nor rewarded. It is as incapable of the one as intolerant of the other. If suffered it is not sacrifice, but merely the pangs of selfishness; if rewarded it ceases to be sacrifice. The good do not suffer in sacrifice in the sense in which the word ‘suffer’ is usually understood.They effect sacrifice in all their strength and experience it in all their cheer. Sacrifice is the achievement of heavenly heroes and it is achieved in love and love alone. If the mother ‘suffers’ in child birth it is a joyful expeience to her ‘suffered’ in all the strength of her love. The momentary physical pain adds to the life-long joy of motherhood. That joy begins in that pain. The cry of the new-born babe, though it is a cry, is the very cry of life and joy. If there is no cry there is no life in it. If it does not cry the mother does and hers is the cry of grief. The apparent sufferings of saintly souls are the “sufferings” of cheer in all the strength of their love and faith and are therefore cheerful to them. If they are grieved they are not saints. All grief is the grief of selfishness and all joy is the joy of selflessness. Saints and sinners both react to what befall them. While the reactions of the former are the reactions of knowledge and of faith and fortitude, those of the latter are the reactions of ignorance and of grief and despair. The latter suffer more from their own reactions to the ‘afflictions’ than from the afflictions themselves. Their reactions are their worst afflictions. Prahlada is the standing example of sacrifice. Far from suffering from the untold ills inflicted on him by those who in their ignorance and hate regarded him as their enemy he regarded them in his knowledge and love as his compeers in God’s creation, and therefore in all his love for them prayed to God to restore them to life and sense. That prayer was heard and granted. He “enjoyed” those inflictions and that was the ‘joy’ of his fellowship with them in God’s creation. That is the saint’s reaction. Sacrifice is inspired and it is the worship of God that inspires it. It is not a suffering but an achievement and a triumph. The more the struggle the more the triumph, for it is a struggle in faith and fortitude. The value of the achievement is measured by the intensity of the struggle. No struggle no value. What is got for nothing is worth nothing.

…..To continue

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Paduka sahasram intro

ஆத்தூர் ஸ்வாமியின் பாதுகா சகஸ்ர தமிழ் மொழிபெயர்ப்புக்கு

Paduka a concept and a truth

Paduka is at once a concept and a truth, mystic and real. Service to God and to God’s servants is that concept and truth. Paduka’s in its supremacy as the “Foot-guard” of the Lord, is an integral personality. That personality is at once individual and social. In its individual personality it is the servant of the Lord, and the very primate of all His servants. In its social personality it is the servant of the Lord’s servants in their service to the Lord and they all together form a society of servants in mutual fellowship. In that fellowship every servant becomes equated with Paduka, and therefore with each other in mutual service. It is the glory of the service of Paduka in individual primacy and social parity that is sung in this poem.

Theme of the Poem

The poem is a theme on good life, and stands for every thing that is good in life. Good life is a life that makes life worth living. It is a life of humanity integrated in Divinity. It is a life of immortality in service. It is life abundant and it is abundant as much here as in the hereafter. A life of bestiality is one which is abandoned to matter and dead to all humanity and those who live that life die abestial death accursed in it.” A life of humanity is one whhich is dead to bestiality and those who live that life live a blissful life. it is a life in which the head of humanity is wedded to the “foot” of Divinity. It is an indissoluble wedding, everlasting and ever blessed. With the beginning of that wedding begins the never-ending service of man. Man serves to please God. God is pleased with man’s service. He is so pleased with the service that in His pleasure He regards the serving man as His very compeer, comrade and friend, nay as His very self. That pleasure is His grace and in that grace He equates His servants with His very self. That is grace and that grace is Divine. man is restored in service to his prima blessedness by the grace of God. Paduka is that service and it stands as much for that service as for the law of that service. It is eternally sounding that law in the serene and immutable majesty of its march in unison with the “foot” which it bears and reveals in that march. Its very march is law. The will of God is the way of Paduka. Paduka serves as He wills, and He wills as it serves. God is the infinity of ‘saving’ grace and Paduka is the infinity of ‘serving’ love. The servant, though finite in essence, is infinite in service, and that is service infinity.

……Continued.

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