Sriman Naatha Muni's Thirunakshthram : A Tribute

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Dear Students of NaalAyira Divya Prabhandham :

 

Today is Aani Anusham . It is the DakshiNAyaNa PuNya

Kaalam and the transition to the month of Aadi . It is on this

day in the year 824 AD , Sri Naatha Muni ( Sri RanganAtha

Muni) was born in Kattu MannAr kOvil .He lived for one

hundred years( veda PrAyam ) on this earth and set the NaalAyira

Divya Prabhandham to music and tALam . He had brought back

earlier the NaalAyira Divya Prabhandham that had become extinct

( luptham ) for some time with the blessings of SatakOpan .

 

NammAzhwAr became the AchAryA for Naatha Muni

and taught him the Divya Prabhandham of the twelve

AzhwArs including himself at AzhwAr Thirunagari .

NammAzhwAr was pleased with the tapas of Naatha muni ,

who recited Madhura Kavi AzhwAr's " KaNNinuN sirutthAmpu "

twelve thousand times . SatakOpan appeared before Naatha

Muni and blessed him with the knowledge of the Divya Prabhandham .

 

Naatha Muni blessed us with two of his own works known

as NyAya TattvA and YogarahasyA . Both these works are

no longer available to us . Excerpts from them have been

quoted by Swami Desikan in his works . It has been surmised

that the NyAya TattvA contained five chapters dealing with

the five subjects, (Viz)., J~nanaA ( true knowledge ) ,

PramEya ( Objects of cognition ) , PramAtru ( the cognizer) ,

karmA ( action ) and NyAya ( logic ) .

 

The second work known as "Yoga Rahasyam "

is considered as a discourse on the subtelities of

upAsanA of the Lord through dhyAnam with devotion .

 

Iswara Muni was the son of Naatha Muni ; ALavandhAr

or Yaamuna Muni was the son of Isvara Muni ;

AlavandhAr's son was Sottai nambi . The line continued

with YennAcchAn , PiLLaiappar and Thozhappar . This is

the lineage that is revered as chottai kulam.

 

The aarAdhya mUrthy of sottai kulam is

Sri KrishNan . The descendants of sottai kulam

had the privelege of yogam ( immersion /union ) with

the Lord through the power of the method revealed in

Acharya Naatha Muni's " Yoga Rahasyam " .

 

As the " administrator " of the temple of Srirangam ,

Naatha Muni was instrumental in

creating the tradition of Arayar sevai as a service to Lord

RanganAthA . This kaimkaryam spread to few other

divya desams later and survives even today at Srirangam ,

AzhwAr thirunahari , SrivilliputthUr et al . Naatha Muni

is saluted as BharathA by Swami Desikan for this reason .

The word Bharatha is made up of Bha +ra+ tha , standing

for Bahavam , Raagam and ThaaLam . Natha Muni

set the Divya Prabhandham to tune an dtaught it

to his two nephews and propagated the Arayar sevai

kaimkaryam .

 

Sri Natha Muni's sacred memory is celebrated by us

whenever we recite ThiruppallANdu , Thiruvaimozhi and

KaNNinuN SirutthAmpu at our homes and temples .

He gave us moving taniyans ( Invocatory poems ) on

each one of the magnificient prabhandhams , which meant

a lot to him in a biogrphical sense .

 

The eight disciples of Nathamuni were UyyakkondAr ,

Kuruhai kAvalappan , Nambi KaruNAkara Daasan ,

Yeru thiruvudayAr , ThirukkaNNamangai AndAn ,

VanamAdevi AndAn , Urupattur AcchAn Pillai , SohatthUr

Azhwan .

 

Five disciples took refuge at the sacred feet of UyyakkodAr .

prominent among them were MaNakkAl Nambi and

ThiruvalliKKENi PaaN perumAL arayar .

 

Most prominent among the five , who sought MaNakkAl nambi's

lotus feet was Alavandhar , the grand son of Natha Muni himself .

 

Five among the twelve , who sought refuge under AlavandAr's

sacred feet were : Periya nambi , ThirukkOttiyUr nambi ,

ThirumAlaiAndAN , Thirumalai nambi , AlavandAr azhwAr

nambi and MaRanEr nambi .

 

The most prominent disciple of MahA pUrNar or Periya nambi

is Sri RamAnujA , who received pancha samskArams from him.

Acharya RamAnujA went on to learn rahasyArthams from

ThirukkOttiUr nambi , Thiruvaimozhi from ThirumaalayAndAn

and AlavandArAzhwAr nambi , sthOthrAs and nal Vaakku from

AlavandAzhwAr nambi and Srimadh RaamAyaNam from

Thirumalai nambi or Sri Saila PUrNar .

 

AchArya RaamAnuja established the 74 simhAsanAthipathis

in AchArya peetams to spread Bhagavadh RaamAnuja siddhAntham

and the rest is history . That unbroken chain of AchArya

parampara starting from Sriman NaarAyaNA was

strengthened by Natha Muni with the blessings of

NammAzhwAr and continues even today . Such is the glory of

Natha Muni and his cardinal role in nourishing the Sri VaishNava

sampradhAyam . Swami Desikan in one of His Sri Rahasya

Traya Saara slokams summed up the greatness of

Guru ParamparA and paid tribute to that paramparA

without which we will be rudderless boats

in a stormy ocean :

 

yeenyuir tanthaLitthavarai saraNam pukki

yAnadaivE avar gurukkaL nirai vaNangi

pinnaruLAl PerumpUthur vantha vaLLal

Periya nambi ALavandAr MaNakkAl nambi

Nanneriyai avarkkuraittha UyyakkondAr

NAATHA MUNI SatakOpan Seani Naathan

Innamudha ThirumahaL yenrivarai munnittu

EmperumAn ThiruvadigaL adaihinREnE

 

AlavandhAr's reverence for his grandfather was profound .

In his sthothra ratnam , AlavandhAr salutes four times

the mahAthmyam of his grandfather (Slokams 1,2,3 and 65) .

This great sthOthram has 65 slokams . Both at the beginning

and at the very end , ALavandAr salutes his grandfather

with choice words :

 

Slokam 1 : achinthya adhbhutha aklishta

J~nana VairAgya Raasi ( The integrated essence of

J~nanam and VaiAgyam , which is rare and which

is beyond any specific description )

 

AghAtha bhagavadh bhakthi sindhu ( The bottomless

ocean of Bhagavath bhakthi

 

Slokam 2 : Madhujith angri sarOja tattva j!nana

anurAga mahimAtdhisaya antha seemnE ( the boundary

of the true feelings an ddesire about the Lord's glorious,

lotus feet ) .

 

In this slokam , AlavandAr declares that the saced feet

of his grandfather is the refuge for him in this

and the other world ( athra parathra cha api nithyam

yadheeya charaNou madheeyam SaraNam ) .

 

Slokam 3 : Here he salutes once again his grandfather

with the salutation , " YaminAm varAya Naatha munayE

bhooya : nama: " ( once again my salutaitons are to the

pre-eminent among yogIs , Sri natha Muni ) . He describes

the greatness of Natha Muni as an AchaaryA inthe early part

of this third slokam with an exquisite choice of words :

 

" aparimitha Achyutha bhakthi tattva J~nana amruthAbdhi

parvAha subhai : vachOpi lOkE avatheerNa paramArtha

samagra Bhakthi YogAya YameenAm varAya Naatha MunayE nama : "

 

Here, AlavandAr salutes the leader of Yathis , Naatha Muni

as the one with limitless Bhagavadh Bhakthi ,

Tattva J~nanam and the creator of Sri Sookthis with

the taste of nectar . He recognizes him as the embodiment of

Parama PurushArtham and a perfect teacher of Bhakthi Yogam .

 

SlOkam 65: The last slOkam of SthOthra rathnam is a gem

of an example of saraNAgathi imbued with aakinchanyam

(powerlessness ) . Here AlavandhAr prays to the Lord to come to his

rescue atleast for the sake of His dear ancestor , Naatha Muni .

 

AlavandAr pleads with the Lord to ignore his own

unworthiness ( math Vruttham achinthayithvA ) and

think of his grandfather , Naatha Muni , the boundary of

parama bhakthi at the Lord's lotus feet and a true knower of

aathma svarUpam as a reason for saving him .

 

Swami Desikan followed the tradition established by ALavandAr

and saluted Natha Muni in his YathirAja Sapthathi :

 

nAthEna muninA tEna bhavEyam nathavAnaham I

yasya naigamikam tattvam hasthAmalakathAm gatham II

 

( Meaning ) : I salute the leader ( Naathan ) of our SampradhAyam ,

who made it possible for the profound and abstruse meanings of

the VedAs to be clearly perceived and understood by us

as the nellikkani on the palm ( uLLankai NellikkAi /HasthAmalakam ) .

 

There are two important matter that we have to think of this day,

when we think of Achaarya Naatha Muni : ( 1) His devotion to

Mathura kavi as the AchArya to access Sri SatakOpa to recover

NaalAyira Divya Prabhandhams and (2 ) His and His sishya

Paramparai's celebration of the Various divya Prabhandhams

thru their taniyans .

 

I will follow up on the AchArya Bhakthi and Bhagavatha Bhakthi

aspect exemplified by Mathura Kavi and the Sishya Paramparai's

blessings thru taniyans in future postings .

 

Sri Natha MunigaL ThiruvadigalE SaraNam

KattumannAr ( Naalayirumum kEttAn ) thiruvadigaLE SaraNam

Oppilaippan Kovil VaradAchAri Sadagopan