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59. nedundhUram pOnEnO nAthamuniyaip pOlE

Nathamunigal's original name is Ranaganathamishrar. He is the primary acharya in Srivaishnava sampradhayam after Perumal, Thayar, Vishvaksenar and Nammazhvar. He is celebrated by Kooraththazhvan in his guru paramparai thaniyan as "lakshmInAtha samArambhAm nAtha yAmuna madhyamAm ...". It was through his great effort that the 4000 divya prabandha verses that were lost were obtained. Nathamunigal was a great exponent of the Ashtanga Yoga. He used that to meditate on Nammazhvar in Azhvar Thirunagari and obtained the Divya Prabandham from Azhvar.

He saw the Lord in everything in this world. One time, while he was in yoga, the Chola king came to his place with the women of his household to see him. After he left, Nathamunigal heard about the incident. He then left behind the king and walked all the way to the capital city of Gangai Konda Chozhapuram. His disciples followed him and met him there. They asked him why he had followed the king. Nathamunigal replied "I saw them as Sri Krishna and His gopikas and that's why I followed them". This is the state described by Nammazhvar "thiruvudai mannaraik kANil thirumAlaik kaNdEnE ennum" - Thiruvaymozhi 4-4-8.

Another time, Nathamunigal was deep in meditation. When he came out of it, the people in his household told him that two men who catch and train animals, a woman and a monkey came to see him and left. Nathamunigal replied "They must be Sri Rama, Lakshmana, Sita and Hanuman" and started heading in the direction that they went. As he went, he asked the people in the way if they had seen this group. They agreed and so he followed them all the way to Gangai Konda Chozhapuram. There when he made his enquiries about the group, people told him that they had not seen any such group. Hearing that Nathamunigal became extremely sad, collapsed there itself and left for His abode.

Thirukkolur Ammal is asking "Did I walk a long distance looking for the Lord, like Nathamunigal did?"

Azhvar Emberumanar Jeeyar Thiruvadigale Sharanam

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