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Sriman Nathamuni and Periya AzhwAr Thirunakshathrams

From the Bhakti List Archives

Madhavakkannan V • July 5, 1998 


SrI:

Dearest Sisters and Brothers,

Today 6th July is Sri NathamunigaL Thirunakshathram; and day before July 
4th was our PeriyAzhwAr's. (VishNu chitthar- The One who has VishNu is 
his chittham always).

Let us humbly place our heads at the feet of Sri Nathamuni, who is the 
connecting link with the Sweet Divyaprabhandham, through his penance of 
reciting very many times (~12000) the "kaNNinunchiRutthaambhu- the ten 
verses on Sri Sadgopar, NammAzhwAr, composed by MadhurakaviAzhwAr. Sri 
Nathamuni was blessed with a darshan of NammAzhwAr, the copiled version 
of 4000 Divya prabhandham, handed over by NammAzhwAr to NathamunigaL and 
nammAzhwAr's vigraham, too. What a blessing! 

What a penance! What an AchAryA! His grandson is ALavandhaar (Sri 
Yamunacharya.)

Swami Desikan wrote a verse dedicated to Sri nathamunigaL in his 
Yathirajasapathathi, whose meaning is as follows:

nAthEna muninA tEna bhavEyam nathavAnaham I
yasya naigamikam tattvam hasthAmalakathAm gatham II

I humbly salute the leader of our SampradhAyam; he is the one who made 
it possible for the deep, difficult to understand meanings of the VedAs 
for us to understand. (through Divya Prabhandham). It is like the 
nellikkani (a small fruit) on the palm, which is so conspicuous and is 
self revealing ( that it is he who is the AchAryA who has blessed us 
with this treasure and is the link in our lineage of our AchAryAs) 

PeriyAzhwAr Thirunakshthram:

All of us know a lot about His birth, His life, His PallANdu, His 
anubhavam as YasOdhA. His bhakti/living only in thoughts of KrishNA. 

I just wish to write his one pAsuram, where he writes about the way 
death strikes; secondly, about the way KrishNan comes and hugs the 
mother.

1. "vaayoru pakkam vaanghi valippa vaarttha neerkuzhi kaNgaL mizhaRRa/ 
thaay oru pakkam, thandhai oru pakkam thaaram oru pakkam araRRa/ thee 
yoru pakkam vandhu sEra...............

Look at the way: We all think, we are going to live with this youth 
always. even after seeing our dears dying in front of our eyes; The 
death srikes unannounced; with terrible sufferings and mental agonies. 
The mouth and lips twist to their sides- the sulliva flowing out with no 
control- the pale, vacuum look in your eyes- full of water- (due to 
pain? separation? end? no one knows- (when we know- we can not 
describe-) - the mother, the father (if they are alive), the wife- (the 
children- Grand children) they all weep and cry near you, by your side- 
(the son also looking at the calender- because he had taken 10 days 
leave only! today is the ninth day; the old (the "kizham") fellow is 
still gasping!); finally- You have become "it"- the achEthanA- Then the 
fire is waiting with its tongue, wanting to taste your dirty, foul 
smelling, dead body. 

Hence, PeriyAzhwAr says: when there is a capacity to think, act, move, 
talk, hear, and decide!, Think of Him- KrishNA! "appOdhaikku ippOdhE 
solli vaitthEn!" For those days- I have booked in advance! krishNA! You 
should take care! (as also promised by You in Varaaha avataar!)

2. When YasOdhA was sitting on the ground, churning the milk 
(buttermilk), the little darling, Kutti KaNNan crawls to her back, holds 
her sari (cloth) and lifts Himself us- and stands up- and with those 
small, tender, lovely, lotus lie Hands, hug her neck and looks at her 
face sideway! periyAzhwAr enjoys this scene! "kuttan vandhannai puRam 
pulghuvaan/ Govindhan ennai puRam pulghuvaan". Even YasOdhA would NOT 
have enjoyed as much as PeriyAzhwAr did.

A small dedication at the feet of PeriyAzhwAr and Sri NathamunigaL.

Ram Ram

With Best Regards

NarayaNa dAsan madhavakkannan


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