srIshailEsha dayApAtram dhIbhaktyAdi guNArNavam | yatIndra pravaNam vandE ramya jAmAtaram munim ||
lakshmI nAtha samArambhAm nAthayAmuna madhyamAm | asmadAchArya paryantAm vandE guru paramparAm ||
#BhagawanSrimanNarayanan takes many avatharas to give upadesam to us and lead us to Him. He also sends His supreme devotees, the Nithyasuris to do the same task. In that sequence, Sriman Nathamunigal is the incarnation of a nityasuri in Vaikuntha, named Gajananar who is one of the guards of Vishwaksenar. We can learn from Bhagawan Himself through His numerous Avathara Leelas but the barrier that He is Paramathma and we are Jeevathmas will always be there to fully trust what He says. So He sends His devotees from Vaikuntam to Bhooloka to be just like us and advise us, so that we may relate to them and listen to them better. They are called Pramathas. They are well versed in all the sastras and about Paramathama and have come down to impart that knowledge to us.
#SriNathamuni also known as Sri Ranganathamuni, is the first Acharya of Sri Vaishnava tradition and the first of Visishtadvaita teacher. Nathamunigal was a Vaishnava theologian who collected and compiled the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, the most sacred hymns on Lord Vishnu sung by 12 Azhwars on Emperuman seated in various divine temples in archavatharas. He is also the author of Yogarahasya, and Nyāyatattva. Nathamunigal was born in the village Viranarayanapuram which is near the beautiful lake of Veeranam. VeeraNarayanaththaan lake is the largest lake in TN, it has 74 feeder canals- This refers to the 74 Simhasanapathikal established by Sriman Ramanujar. Viranarayanapuram is today identified as Kattumannarkoil near Chidambaram. His father's name was Iśhvara Bhattar and his son's name was Iśhvaramuni. His grandson was Yamunacharya (Alawandhar) His birth name was Aranganathan. However, he was known as Nathamuni, which literally means Saint-lord (Nathan - lord, muni - saint). Muni means one who can do Dyanam on the Lord intensely. His was born in the month of Aani (june-july) in 823 CE on pournami thithi, in the star Anusham in the Tamil year “Shobhakruth varusham”. He is said to have died at Gangaikonda Cholapuram in 924 CE.
His Vaibhavam is unfathomable. This is just an attempt to narrate a wee bit about him. His Vaibhavam is achinthya (unthinkable) adbutha (superlative) aklishta (gnyanam easily got through Nammazhwar's anugraham). He is a personification of Gnyana, Vairagya, Bhakthi! Thiruvarangathamudhanar wrote Sri Ramanuja Nootrandhadhi. In that he wrote who are all related to Sri Ramanujar and the grace he got from the various blessed souls. When he refers to Nathamunigal the pasuram goes thus:
Arap pozhil then kurugaip pirAn amudhath thiruvAy Irath thamizhin isai uNarndhOrgaTku ** iniyavar tham sIraip payinRu uyyum sIlam koL nAthamuniyai nenjchAl vArip parugum irAmAnusan enthan mA nidhiyE
The verse starts with the connection from Nammazhwar, Madhurakavi Azhwar, Parangusa Nambi and to Nathamuni who is the divine Acharyan for Sri Ramanujar. The greatness of Sri Nathamunigal is to be felt and realised by every Srivaishnava.
Kali Yugam is 5,125 years old. The Azhwrs thiruvavathaarm ended 500 years after Kali started. With them went away all the arulicheyal (4000 Divya Prabhandam) as well and hence there was spiritual darkness. About 1200 years ago Sri Nathamunigal thiruvavtharam happened. So for nearly 3,500 years, our world was devoid of Prabhandam. But luckily in Madhurakavi Azhwar's vamsam his sisyar Parangusa Nambi/Parangusa Dasar lived. He was a great yogi and hence he lived for 3000 years. He lived in one place all these years - Azhwar Thirunagari. Yogis have no time limit. When they are in this Bhooloka for a purpose they will not leave until it is fulfilled. According to Sri Vaishnava tradition, Nathamuni was conversing with his father about the legend of Prabandhams written by the Azhwars. His father, Ishvara Bhattar, exclaimed the Prabandhams were long lost, and that they would be impossible to retrieve unless one had the grace of Narayana. Hence, Nathamuni got interested in this and had set on a pilgrimage to the Kumbakonam Sarangapani Temple, where Vishnu is worshipped as Aravamudhan. There, he heard a group of people singing 10 particular pasurams (hymns) dedicated to Aravamudhan by Nammazhwar. (Another version is that, those Yatris came to Veeranarayanapuram temple from Kumbakonam and sang the Pasurams and that is how Nathamuni heard them.) He was overjoyed hearing those and enquired its details, as the last pasuram said it was ten of thousand hymns. But they stated that only 10 pasurams was known to them out of 1,292 written by Nammzhwar. He placed immense faith on the deity Aravamudhan and he visited Thirukurugur, birth place of Nammazhwar. He enquired about the Prabandhams written by Nammalvar to Madhurakavi's direct descendant who lived at Thirukurgur, Sri Parangusa Nambi. There, the descendant of Madhurakavi gave 11 pasurams written by Madhurakavi Azhwar by the name of Kanninun Cirutampu. He said that he had no knowledge of the 1000 songs but his paramacharya had written 11 pasurams on the person who wrote the 1000. He can give them to him. Parangusa Nambi also informed Nathamuni that whoever sings these 11 pasurams with dedication would meet Nammazhwar himself at the shrine in the city. Nathamunigal kept full faith in Nammazhwar and started singing the pasurams with dedication under the tamarind tree under which Nammazhwar himself sat during his lifetime.
Once he completed the count 12,000 times, the deity Aravamudhan sent Vishvaksena, the commander of Vishnu's armies, to bless Nathamuni again as Nammazhwar (Nammazhwar is the avatar of Vishvaksena). Thus, Nammalvar himself came in front of Nathamuni and granted him first his pasurams, starting with
uyarvaRa uyar nalam udaiyavan yavan avan *
mayarvaRa madhi nalam aruLinan yavan avan *
ayarvaRum amarargaL adhipathi yavan avan
thuyar aRu sudar adi * thozhudhezhu en mananE 1
Arise, O heart, worship the feet of the one, who is higher than the highest good, who is the Lord of the ever-wakeful celestials, who dispels all doubt and grants pure knowledge.
and then, all the 4,000 pasurams of all the Azhwars, instead of just 1,292 written by himself as he was pleased with Nathamunigal, and blesses him with full knowledge in ashtanga yogam, 4000 divya prabhandham and all meanings of arulicheyal.
When Nammazhwar was pouring the arulicheyal on to Nathamunigal like a torrential rain, at one point when saying the ainthaam pathu rendaam Thiruvaymozhi which is
பொலிக பொலிக பொலிக!* போயிற்று வல் உயிர்ச் சாபம்*
நலியும் நரகமும் நைந்த* நமனுக்கு இங்கு யாது ஒன்றும் இல்லை*
கலியும் கெடும் கண்டுகொண்மின்* கடல்வண்ணன் பூதங்கள் மண்மேல்*
மலியப் புகுந்து இசைபாடி* ஆடி உழிதரக் கண்டோம்*. (2)
Nammazhwar hints that Kali's torture will end because of the birth of a great soul, a Bhavishya Acharyar namely Sri Ramanujar. Not only did he indicate he also gave a vigragam of The Bhavishyachar to Nathamunigal. This was the third blessing to Nathamunigal, first being bestowing the astanga yogam, second arulicheyal and third the vigragam of Sri Ramanujar.
Nathamuni joyously expressed his gratitude to Aravamudhan and Nammazhwar profusely.
Nathamuni, thus, is regarded to have revived the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, hence becoming the first acharya of the Sri Vaishnava tradition. His grand disciple is Ramanuja himself, who is considered as an incarnation of Adishesha. Just likeNammazhwar is blessed by emperuman with divine knowledge, Nathamunigal is blessed by nammazhwar with the same divine knowledge. This is what Manavalamamunigal says in upadhesa rathina malai – arul petra vallal natha muni (அருள் பெற்ற வள்ளல் நாதமுனி). Normally one giving will be called a philanthrapist but here the receiver Nathamunigal is so called because he received and saved the 4000, developed them and spread the 4000.
Nathamunigal returns to kattu mannar koil and presents 4000 divya prabhandham in front of his temple deity Mannanar. Mannanar is very pleased with Nathamunigal and asks him to categorize Divya prabhandham and propagate it everywhere. Nathamuni adds music to aruliicheyal and teaches the same to his nephews Keezhai Agath AzhwAn and Melai Agath Azhwan and propagates the same through them. He introduced them into the Srirangam temple service at the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam, where he was the temple administrator.
The relationship between Nammalvar and Nathamuni is attested by the Guru-paramparā, Divya sūri charita, and Prappannāmŗta. Nathamunigal has sung Thaniyan for Nammazhwar for giving him the 4000
குருமுக மநதீத்ய ப்ராஹ வேதா நஸேஷான் நரபதி – பரிக்லுப்தம் ஸுல்க மாதாதுகாம: ஸ்வஸுர மமவரவந்த்யம் ரங்கநாதஸ்ய ஸாக்ஷாத் த்விஜகுல திலகம் தம் விஷ்ணுசித்தம் நமாமி.
Gurumuga manatheethya praaha veda naseshaan narapathi - parikluptha sulka maadhaathukama: svasura mamavaravandhyam ranganaathasya saakshaath thijakula thilakam vishnuchitham namami.
I offer obeisance to Vishnusithan Periyalvar, the father-in-law of Thiruvarangan, who is worshiped by the gods, who knew all the Vedas perfectly, even though he did not learn it from a guru, and who attained the golden gift offered by the leader of the people, Pandyan.
He offers Thaniyan to Madhurakavi Azhwar as well.
avidhitha vishayAntharas chatArEr upanishadhAm upagAna mAthra bOga:
api cha guNa vachAth thadhEka sEshi madhurakavir hrudhayE mamAvirasthu
அவிதித விஷயாந்தரஸ் சடாரேர் உபநிஷதாம் உபகான மாத்ர போக:
அபி ச குண வசாத் ததேக சேஷி மதுரகவிர் ஹ்ருதயே மமாவிரஸ்து
Let madhurakavi AzhwAr be firmly established in my heart. He did not know any one other Nammazhwar, considered singing Nammazhwar’s pasurams as the only enjoyable activity and naturally considered nammazhwar as his only master.
Nathamunigal foresees the appearance of Alavandhar (his grand son). He instructs his son Isvara muni to name the child yamunai thuravian (due to his attachment to Kannan Emperuman) One of Nathamuni's most illustrious disciples was Pundarikaksha, who hasn't left any literary work behind him. Foreseeing the birth of his grandson Yamunacharya, he deputed Pundarikaksha to be his spiritual guru who in turn deputed his disciple Ramamisra to guide Yamunacharya. Nathamuni once asked Pundarikaksha to escort his wife Aravindappavai to the residence of her father Vangi-purathachi. On reaching the house of Vangi-purathachi he was served stale food, as he was from an inferior caste among the Brahmins (Choliah). Yet, he did not resent the apparent slight and indignity, but rather accepted it cheerfully. When Nathamuni heard of this incident, he reckoned that it was a mark of high spiritual advancement and called him by the name of Uyyakondar - saviour of the new dispensation.
Vyasam Vashista Naptharam Shakte Poutramakalmasham
Parasharathmajam Vande Shukathathum Thaponidhim
Another great similarity between the Sanskrit Vedantha and the Thamizh Vedantha is that Starting from Bhagawan and Thayar, next in line is Vasishtar, then Vasishtar's son Sakthi, then his son Parasarar, his son Vyasar, then his son Sukar. Now coming to Thamizh Vedham, let us consider Nammazhvar as Vasishtar, like his son Sakthi is Madhurakavi Azhwar, Like Parasarar Parangusa Nambi, like Veda Vyasar it is Nathamunigal, like Sukacharyar for Veda Vyasar it is either Alavandhar or Ramanujar for Nathamunigal. Vyasar split the vedas into 4 and compiled them for ease of study. Similarly Nathamunigal split the Thamizh vedham into first thousand, second thousand and so forth, also categorised as Isaipa (music) and Iyarpa (prose). He then gave the yogam portion to his disciple Thirukurugaipiran Pillan and spread Yoga Sastra in this world. The 4000 divya prabhandam he gave to his disciples Uyyakondan, Manakal Nambikal and through them sent it to Alawandhar. The music part he gave to two of his nephews Melaiyakathzhwan and Keezhaiyakathazhwan and it came down to Alawandhar's son Azhwan Thiruvarangatharaiyar, from whose time Arayar sevai became very famous in SriRangam. So all three form of arts flourished through the efforts of Sriman Nathamunigal. And the unique feature is that this service is from the same family, starting from Nathamunigal, his son Iswara Munigal, his son Alawandhar, his son Alzhwar Thiruvaranga Peruman Arayar. Nammazhwar taught Bhakthi through his pasurams which Nathamunigal transferred wholly to Alawandhar, while Prabhathi, Sharanagati which states God is the only recourse, he gave that philosohy or path to his disciple Thirukannamangai Andan. This disciple gave up his sawya bharath, that is his own efforts and surrendered totally to Emperuman.
Manavala Mamugal in Upadesha Ratnamala says Who will know the greatness of arulicheyal/4000 Divya Prabhandam except Sri Nathamunigal. If not for him we would not have got this Thamizh Vedham and so every Sri Vaishnavan should be deeply indebted to him
The ritual of worship as followed in Vishnu temples is based on two early standard works. The first being Vaikhanasa Sutra which probably belongs to the Krishna Yajurveda school. The other is the Panchratra Agama which belongs to the extensive Tantra literature, believed to have been composed by Narayana himself. The Agama has a peculiar philosophy of its own, the Bhagavata Tradition, which is ancient and is referred to in the Mahabharata and Brahma Sutras of Badarayana. Nathamuni made a provision for the recitation of the Tamil Veda on appropriate occasions during the main festivals of Vishnu. He is the originator of the Araiyar Sevai. Nammalvar's songs are sung to this day at Srirangam and other places were Vishnu is worshipped. Nathamuni set them into music after his discovery of these verses.
During that period, a dancing girl sang songs in the same celestial tune (in which Nathamuni set the prabandhams into music) at the court of the Chola king in Gangaikondacholapuram. The tune was rare and could not be appreciated by the common folk and hence the king slighted the dancer. The dancer travelled to the Veeranarayanapuram Vishnu temple and sang before God in the same celestial tune. This was appreciated by Nathamuni who understood the nuances of the tune. On hearing that Nathamuni himself had appreciated the dancer's singing, the king visited the temple and enquired why Nathamuni had appreciated that unfamiliar tune. To display his expertise, Nathamuni ordered several cymbals to be sounded and determined the weight of the cymbals from the pitch of the sound that they produced. This impressed the king and he accepted the superiority of the celestial tune. There is an inconsistency in this anecdote. During the time of Nathamuni (late 9th century), Uraiyur was the capital of the Chola kings, and Gangaikonda Cholapuram had not been founded yet. However, it is possible that the site of the city was used as an alternative capital or had a palace that was frequented by the kings.
Nathamunigal, once while meditating on Emperuman, forgets everything around him. At that time the king comes with his wives to meet him. Nathamunigal was in yogam, so the king quietly leaves. But Nathamunigal out of his pure bhakthi bhavam, thinks that it was Krishnan and gopis visiting him and runs behind them.
During another occasion, the king had just completed discussing with the Sage about Lordships divine pastimes. 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 used to set 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 Nathamuni’s shoulder. The king was shocked. He got down to apologize for his grave offense. He felt ashamed and said ! 'Swamin What have I done! Stepped on your shoulders! that too my Acharyar! I have committed a great apacharam!” Nathamuni thought it was Lord Rama who had come by the chariot along with Sumanthrar. Hence, he offered his shoulders for Lord to step into the chariot. That was Nathamuni’s unalloyed devotion who was always in transcendental bliss always seeing Lordships everywhere.
Once when the king visits Nathahamunigal after his hunting session, with his wife, another archer and a monkey, NathamunigaL, again out of his bhakthi bhavam, thinks it was Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman. He starts running behind them, following the track of the party and walking with weary steps till the very gates of the Chozha capital Gangaikondapuram from Kattumannar Koil and when he loses sight of them, he faints immediately. Unable to bear the separation from Emperuman anymore, he attains paramapadham immediately, on Ekadasi day. Hearing this, Isvara muni and NathamunigaLls sishyas reached that spot and did charama kainkaryamgaL for him. The places wher Nathamunigal went in search of Rama still exist. The place he got the flower from garland is called Poo vizhuntha Nallur. The place where the monkey's footprints were found is Kurungudi, kurangadi has become Kurungudi. He kept asking people on the way if they saw the chariot and Sri Rama, and people answered kandom, kandom - (we saw) which is now called Kandamangalam. The place where Nathamunigal athishtanam is, is Sorgapallam.
Without NathamunigaL’s effort to retrieve arulicheyal, we would not have gotten all the srivaishnavasri we have today. The SriVaishnava world is deeply indebted to him for that. Alavandhar in his sthothra rathnam, sings the glories of Nathamunigal in the first 3 slokams.
In the first slokam, he says “I worship Nathamunigal who is full of unthinkable, fabulous, easily earned (by the grace of emperuman/Azhwar) ocean of jnanam, bhakthi and vairagyam”.
In the second slokam, he says “I worship Nathamunigal’s lotus feet which is my refuge in both in samsaram and paramapadham and who has full knowledge and love for the lotus feet of the killer of madhu (Madhusudhanan)”.
In the third slokam, he says “I worship Nathamunigal who has boundless love for Achyuthan, who is the epitome of real knowledge, who is an ocean of nectar, who has appeared in this world to rescue others, who is full in bhakthi and who is the leader of all yogis”.
Finally in the last slokam he says to emperuman, “Please do not accept me for my great achievements but for my grandfather NathamunigaL who has natural love towards your lotus feet and who is fully understood the real knowledge”.
From the above 4 slokams we can understand the real greatness of Nathamunigal. Let us pray at the lotus feet of sriman NathamunigaL that we also develop the same attachment towards Achyuthan and Azhwar.
Nathamunigal's thanian
nama: achinthya adhbudha aklishta jnAna vairAgya rAsayEnAthAya munayE agAdha bhagavadh bhakthi sindhavE
நம: அசிந்த்ய அத்புத அக்லிஷ்ட ஜ்ஞான வைராக்ய ராஸயேநாதாய முனயே அகாத பகவத் பக்தி ஸிந்தவே
ஸ்ரீமந்நாதமுனிகள் வாழித்திருநாமம்:
ஆனிதனில் அனுடத்தில் அவதரித்தான் வாழியே
ஆளவந்தார்க்கு உபதேசம் அருளிவைத்தான் வாழியே
பானுதெற்கிற் கண்டவன் சொற்பலவுரைத்தான் வாழியே
பராங்குசனார் சொற்பிரபந்தம் பரிந்துகற்றான் வாழியே
கானமுறத் தாளத்திற் கண்டிசைத்தான் வாழியே
கருணையினால் உபதேசம் கதியளித்தான் வாழியே
நானிலத்தில் குருவரையை நாட்டினான் வாழியே
நலந்திகழும் நாதமுனி நற்பதங்கள் வாழியே.
Acharyan Thiruvadigale Charanam
Sri Nathamunigal Thiruvatigale charanam
Om Namo Sri Ramanujaya namaha
Om Nmao Srimathe Nigamantha Maha Desikaya namaha
Sarvam Sri Krishnarpanam
Reference: Sri Velukkudi Krishnan Swami's upanyasama
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