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From: Madhavakkannan V (srivaishnavan_at_hotmail.com)
Date: Mon Jul 02 2001 - 08:03:20 PDT
SrI:
SrImathE Gopaladesika Mahadesikaya namah:
Dearest srivaishnavas,
Today is Sriman nAthamuni Thirunakshantham (anusham).
The Acharya paramparai of Srivaihsnavm is:
Sriya: Pathi Sriman Narayanan
Sri Mahalakshmi
Sri Vishvaksenar (Senai mudali)
Sri SaTakOpar (Sri NammAzhwAr)
Sri Nathamuni
Sri Pundarikakshar (Sri UyyakkoNdaar)
Sri Ramamisrar (maNakkaal nambhi)
Sri Yamuncharyar (Alavandhar)
Sri MahapoorNar (Periya Nambhi)
Sri Ramanujar
LakshmI nAtha samArambhaam nAtha yAmuna madhyamAm..
Swamy Vedantha Desikan pays his obeisance to Sriman Nathamuni thus:
nAthEna muni nAthEna bhavEyam nathavan ahamam |
yasya naigamikam tatvam hastAmalakatam gatam ||
Sriman Nathamuni is the most benign master (Acharya ) for me. Sriman
Nathamuni indeed availed the good opportunity to perceive the true and
purport of Vedas, like a tiny amla fruit on one’s palm (uLLankai nellikani).
Let me pay my humble obeisance to Sri Nathamuni by the folding of my palms.
Sriman NathamunigaL was born in 824 A.D in Aani anusham star, in
Kaattumannargudi, at Veeranarayanapuram near GangaikoNda chaozhapuram.
AzhwAr's paasurams (poems) called naalaayira divyap prabhandam composed by
twelve AzhwArs.
It was by divine grace of Sriman Narayanan that Sriman
Naathamuni came to know of the Tamil poems praising Lord Vishnu. It is
believed that Sriman Naathamuni heard some devotees visiting his home town
singing a few (11) Tamil songs starting with
"aaraa amudhE adiyEn udalam" and ending with "... kuruhoor sadagOpan
kuzhalil maliyach sonna Or AyiratthuL ippatthum, mazhalai theera vallaar
kaamar maanEy nOkkiyarkE."
(NammAzhwAr's Thiruvaaymozhi 5.8.1 - 5.8.11)
Sriman Nathamuni was greatly excited and enchanted with the exquisite
beauty of the poems. He approached the devotees and enquired about its
origin. The ending of the 11 poems, "aayiratthuL ippatthu,"(means this ten
of the thousand) suggested that there are many more such poems (may be
thousand?).
Unfortunately, the devotees were unaware of any other poems besides the
eleven they had just finished reciting. However, they suggested to Sriman
Nathamuni that he may try enquiring in the town of thiruk kuruhoor, present
day AzhwAr thiru nagari near thirunelvEli. So he set out to travel from
kaattumannarkudi to thiruk kurugoor, where he found one paraangusa daasar.
>From him, Sriman Nathamuni learnt 11 more paasurams called kaNNinuN
sirutthaambu. These were composed by Madhurakavi AzhwAr and all 11 paasurams
are in praise of kurugoor SatakOpan(NammAzhwAr).
Paraangusa daasar suggested that he repeatedly recite this great kaNNinuN
sirutthaambu (sung in praise of Sri Sadagopan- NammAzhwAr) in the hope of
pleasing the Lord. Sriman Naathamuni took his advice sincerely and recited
it about 12,000 times! It is said that NammAzhwAr was impressed with Sriman
Nathamuni's persistence and appeared before him.
NammAzhwAr was so impressed that he revealed to Sriman Nathamuni not just
the 1102 paasurams of his own "thiruvaay mozhi", but also all the rest of
the paasurams composed by the other eleven AzhwArs.
Sriman nathamuni set these 4000 to tune and music and taught to Melai
agatthAzhwAn and Keezhai agatthAzhwAn (his nephews) and propagated the 4000
in various Divya Desams. Nathamuni re arranged 4000 into four parts and
introduced the same as part of recitation in Divya Desams, as part of
worship. Following the teaching of NammAzhwar, Sri Nathamuni seems to have
advocated the adoption of prapatti (self- surrender) as the means of
salvation in [place of rigorous bhakti yogam
Swamy desikan says:
Gaanam valampuriyanna naR kaadhal adiyavarkku/
ThaaLam vazhangith thamizh maRai innisai thandha vaLLal
NathamunigaL is “the vaLLal” who gave us the 4000 the insatiable nectar, set
to music..
Sri Nathmuni wrote two works: Nyaya tatvam and Yoga rahasyam.
Both are not extant’ But Swamy Desikan and Ramanuja have referred to nyAya
tatvam in their works. Sri Alavandhar in his “Athmasiddhi” says, nyAyatatvam
is the most wonderful composition..
Sri NathamunigaL has unalloyed devotion to Sri Ranganthan. Once, Chozha
Rajan (king chola), who is also a sishya of Nathmuni, came to pay his
obeisance to Acharyan. He came in his chariot along with his few devis
(wives).
When Raja got down with his wives, in such great ornaments, crown, and silk
cloth, Sri Nathamuni for a moment lost himself and thought Sri Krishna with
His devis have come from Dwarakai. He fell at the feet of the king to
prostrate. The king was shocked and immediately sprung to lift Sri Nathamuni
from the ground. Later he came to know of the mind of Sri Nathamuni, and why
he fell at the feet.
Also, when on another occasion, the same king had completed discussing with
Sriman Nathamuni and he took Acharya’s permission to leave. He started
walking towards the chariot. When he was about to board, (as usual, the king
used to call the chariot driver on whose shoulder he sets his foot to jump
into the chariot), the driver was there for the king to jump in. After he
jumped in, he saw below and it was Sriman Nathamuni’s shoulder. The king was
stunned and got down to apologize to Acharyan. “What have I done! Stepped on
your shoulders! I am terribly sorry!”. Sriman Nathamuni then only came to
this world. He had thought it is Sri Rama who had come by the chariot along
with Sumanthrar. Hence, he offered his shoulders for Rama to step into the
chariot.
That was Sriman Nathamuni’s unalloyed devotion. No acting.. No show.. No
exhibitionistic..
Sri NathamunigaL ThiruvadigaLE saraNam
Regards
Narayana Narayana
aDiyEn narayana dAsan madhavakkannan
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