21st May, 2016

Jai Srimannarayana!

Today is Nammalvar Thirunakshathram. HH Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji blessed the devotees by revealing the greatness of the Alwar and sang Thirunakshathra thaniyan.

Nammalvar was a great saint born about 5000 years ago in the lower section of the society. Yet He gained the Highest pedestal among the saints. He is not only respected but offered prayers in all Divya desams and temples because of His love, jnanam and devotion towards the Lord. This great saint Nammalvar is also called Sattari or Sattakopa. His archa form is in Alvar Thirunagari through which He exhibited an extraordinary activity about 3000 years ago.

When a baby takes birth on this earth, vayu called ‘Satta’ engulfs the new-born and captivates Him into the Prakruthi. But, Nammalvar was a highly evolved devotee. When the vayu
‘Satta’ approached him, He considered it as His enemy and showed His anger which made the Satta vayu go away from him.
‘Ari’ means enemy. Because Nammalvar regarded Satta as enemy – He is called Sattari; as he showed his anger ‘kopa’ on the vayu, He is also called Sattako:pa.

A childless couple prayed Lord Narayana Swamy in a small village called Thirunagari. Soon they were blessed with a baby but the baby had no movements. We all pray God wishing for something. But when we are blessed with the same but not as per our expectations, we usually discard it. Similarly, the parents discarded the new-born near a tamarind tree and left. The baby slowly crawled and lived in the tree hole. It neither ate, drank, breathed or slept. After 16 years, He was discovered by a highly learned elite, Madhurakavi Alvar.

After interaction with Madhurakavi Alvar, Nammalvar revealed all His inner experiences with God in form of beautiful pasurams. Madhurakavi Alvar noted the 1100 songs sung by Nammalvar and taught them to many. When Nammlavar reached 32 years, He was no longer able to bear the separation from the Lord as He could not experience that association after reacting to prakruthi. Lord listened to His prayers and granted Him paramapadam.

But all his disciples protested with the Lord for taking Nammalvar away from them. Then, the Lord appeared and gave them the Archa murthi of Nammalvar as that form is permanent as compared to the physical body. We can see the archamurthy even today in Alwar Thirunagari.

About 3,500 years ago, a great saint, Sri Natthamuni once visited a temple and listened to the song ‘ Araramude:’ where Lord was addressed as Ambrosia. Enchanted by the song, Natthamuni researched about the whereabouts of Nammalvar and came to Alvar Thirunagari. He came to know that Nammalvar sang 1100 songs but were lost as people were granted Paramapadam by the Lord as soon as they completed singing all the songs.

Sri Natthamuni did penance by chanting Kanninun Sirutthambu. Pleased with Him, Nammalvar on his request granted the 1100 songs from His archa form after tying a curtain between both of them. Yet, Natthamuni was not satisfied. Complying to his request, Nammalvar sang the remaining 3000 songs sung by other alwars. Thus Natthamuni became an instrument in compiling the whole prabandham.

Today is a very auspicious day. Whoever prays to the great saint will be blessed with association with Lord in paramapadam.

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Source: Jiva News