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Sri NathamunigaL Thirunakshathram

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Madhavakkannan V • July 2, 2001 


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 oneÂ’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 extantÂ’ 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 AcharyaÂ’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 NathamuniÂ’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 NathamuniÂ’s unalloyed devotion. No acting.. No show.. No 
exhibitionistic..

Sri NathamunigaL ThiruvadigaLE saraNam

Regards
Narayana Narayana
aDiyEn narayana dAsan madhavakkannan

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