Who is equal to us? - Absolutely None- as we have Sriman nAthamuni as our Acharyan!

June 30, 2004

SrI:

SrImathE Gopaladesika mahadesikaya namah:

Dearest Srivaishnavas,

Today- Aani anusham- is the Thirunakshathram of our

most merciful, most compassionate Acharyan- the link –

the Master- nAthan- without whom we all would have

been anAthars (orphans)- Sriman Nathamuni… Let us

enjoy the great pastimes, greatness and glories of

this Acharya saarvabhouman and offer our prostrations

at his feet again and again (puna: puna: praNamya:)

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 SatakOpar, NammAzhwAr, composed by

MadhurakaviAzhwAr. Sri Nathamuni was blessed with a

darshan of NammAzhwAr, the compiled 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)

Swami Desika also pays his obeisance to Sriman

Nathamuni in adhikara sangraham:

kaaLam valampuriyanna naRkaathal adiyavarkku

thaaLam vazhangi thamizh maRai innisai thandha vaLLal

mooLum thavaneRi moottiya naathamuni kazhalE

naaLum thozhudhu yezhuvOm namakku Ar nigar

innaanilaththE.

Sri Nathamuni blesses us with the Tamizh MaRai (Tamil

Veda- namely Divya prabandham). He had set to various

raga, thaalam and arranged thorugh his disciples mElai

agattHAzhwAn and Keezhai agatthAzhwAn to dane singing

these prabandhams with raga and thaaLa.. Thus

propagating the verses in musical manner as sort of

sEvai to Lord Ranganathan {which is being followed

even today during Adhyayana uthsavam- as Araiyar Sevai

at Srirangam and other temples as well).

Swami further states that such most benevolent, most

merciful, vaLLal [as he had given us the invaluable

treasure in the name of Alwar’s 4000 and also the link

for our Srivaishnava acharyas thereby he himself is

gift to our sampradayam) Sri Nathamuni's lotus feet

alone is our only refuge. Swami is proud and roars

that since we have the divya Prabandam given by Sri

Nathamuni and since we have such greatest Acharya in

our lineage which goes down to prakritham acharya,

there is absolutely none equal to us.

namakku aar nigar in naanilatthE? Aar? None..

Naatha muni wrote 3 scholarly works

( 1 ) Nyaya Tattva which contains the following 5

chapters viz., ( i ) Jnaana (Knowledge), (ii) Prameya

( Objects of cognition), (iii)Pramaatru (the

Cognizer),(iv) Karma (Action) and (v) Nyaaya (Logic)

( 2 ) Yoga Rahasya which is said to have contained the

nuances of devotion (Bhagavad Upaasana) to the Lord

through Dhyaanam (meditation) and

(3 ) Purusha Nirnaya. But none of them is available

today. He also composed the Tanian for Tiruvoimozhi

called "Bhaktaamrutham".

His grandson, Yamuna muni later known as Aalavandaar

was just 12 years of age when Natha muni passed away.

And, it is this Aalavandaar who inaugurated the matrix

of Sri vaishnavism by his spiritual leadership.

Namoh Chintayaathbhutha Aaklishta Gnaana Vairaaghya

Raasaye |

Naathaaya Munaye Ekaantha Bhagavad Bhakti Sindhave ||

(meaning)

Salutations to Naatha muni who is having single minded

devotion to the Lord and who is the treasure of both

Gnaana and Vairaaghya.

Familial lineage and Guru-Sishya Parampara from Sri

Naatha muni to Sri Raamaanuja muni

The familial Parampara of Sri Naatha Muni is as

follows:

Sri Easwara Muni.

His son was Sri NAATHA MUNI.

His son was Easwara Bhatta Aazhvaan.

His son was Yaamuna Muni.

His son was Sottai Nambi.

His son was Ennaachaan.

His son was Pillaiappar.

His son was Thozhappar.

The Guru- Sishya Parampara from Sri Naatha Muni to Sri

Raamaanuja Muni is as follows: (The primary Sishyas

name is given in Block Capital letters while the names

of other Sishyas is given in Ordinary letters)

SRI NAATHA MUNI- His Prime Sishya was- PADMAAKSHAR aka

PUNDARIKAAKSHAR, UYYAKKONDAAR. His other Sishyas were

(1) Kurugai Kaavalappan

(2) Nambi Karunaakara Daasar

(3) Yeru Thiruvudaiyaan

(4) Tiruk Kanna Mangai Aandaan

(5) Vaana Maa Devi Aandaan

(6) Uruppattur Aachaan and

(7) Sogathur Aachaan

Sriman Nathamuni kazhalE Thozhudhu yezhuvOm…

Namo Narayana

dAsan

July 3, 2004

Dear All

My pranaams to all of you

I am Ashwin Trikamjee -President of the South African Hindu Maha Sabha and

very involved in Hindu Dharmic work.

I have a humble request to all of you - to assist me on the issue of the

Hindu view of Death- the philosophical and literary representation ,the

ritualistic practices of death in the past and present interpretations (of

the practices)and manifestations and cultural rituals which inform current

social practices which may or may not be in any Hindu belief.The

discontinuities and the interpretation of the texts are of central interest

to this focal point.

I ma enjoying the benefit of your outstanding debate daily - I appreciate it

very much as it has given me a new insight in to Hinduism.

Yours in the service of Bhagwan

ashwin

Madhavakkannan V [srivaishnavan]

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 7:10 AM

; acharya;

nama-singapore; Oppiliappan;

; Srivenugopala;

; desikasampradaya

Who is equal to us? - Absolutely None- as we have

Sriman nAthamuni as our Acharyan!