Thiruparkadal

Thiruparkadal — the Sacred Ocean of Milk — is the most exalted of the 108 Divya Desams, having no physical address on earth. It is the primordial ocean of consciousness described in the Puranas and sung by all twelve Alvars as the eternal resting place of Mahavishnu, who lies in yogic slumber upon the great serpent Adi Shesha while Lakshmi attends at his feet. The Alvars, in their deep meditative states, perceive this realm as more real than any earthly shrine. Nammalvar's Thiruvaimozhi contains the most elaborate descriptions of this cosmic abode, where Vishnu simultaneously contains all universes within himself and pervades them.

The Alvars treat this Desam as the ultimate destination of all pilgrimage — the state to which every physical tirtha ultimately points. Devotees who cannot travel to earthly shrines are taught that sincere longing for Thiruparkadal itself constitutes the highest form of pilgrimage.

After the great churning of the cosmic ocean by gods and demons, Mahavishnu returned to his eternal rest upon Adi Shesha in the Ksheera Sagara — the Ocean of Milk. Here he dreams the universe into existence with each breath. The goddess Lakshmi, born from this same churning, took her place at his feet, and the two remain in this posture through all cosmic cycles of creation and dissolution.