The Light that blazed across the length of India

Extreme Bhakti – Nammalwar

We are an emotional race.  Love, affection, anger, anguish, ecstasy, embarrassment, pride, trust, disappointment, satisfaction, zest and a whole host of other emotions run through us. Emotions  are the fuel of actions.    They can raise us to heavens and also push us into the deepest of hells. It is difficult to overcome emotions. It is far easier to direct all our emotions towards God in our personal relationship with Him. By doing so, we are able to direct our energies towards Divinity and raise our feelings to another level of consciousness which does not hurt anyone but heals all. Extreme bhakti is emotional bhakti where all the feelings we have are wholly focused on God. Many great saints of India and world have shown us the path of extreme bhakti. Nammalwar is one of the 12 alwar saints of India. The Alwars were great bhaktas of Lord Vishnu / Sri Krishna and lead unique lives. This is the story of Nammalwar:

Nammalwar was born in Kurugoor, Tamil Nadu. He was an extraordinary baby. For several days, after birth, the baby did not open his eyes nor did he drink his mother’s milk or any other milk. Yet he was in perfect health. He did not cry or make a sound in hunger, distress or pain. His worried parents took him to the shrine of Lord Aadinathar, the deity of Kurugoor and surrendered unto Him the entire burden of bringing up the child.

The baby was named Maran. He was very different from the other children. He did not permit earthly ignorance to envelop him. He lived in awareness of the Divinity within him. For sixteen years, Maran sat in utter stillness under the tamarind tree in the temple of Lord Aadinathar. He neither ate food nor drank water. He sat in the padmasana ( the lotus posture most suitable for meditation) with his eyes closed. Neither the wind or the rain or the heat of the sun bothered him.  He glowed with a blazing light and peace and nothing disturbed his meditation.

During this period, an elderly Brahmin scholar named Madhurakavi had an extraordinary vision. At that time, he was in Ayodhya, on a pilgrimage. He saw a luminescent glowing light as a star on the southern sky. He was taken aback that being in North India, he was able to see a glowing light in South India. So he travelled to South India and followed the Light. He traveled from place to place, crossing many villages and towns. He finally reached Kurugoor where the blaze of light merged into the body of Maran, who was seated in blissful meditation under the tamarind tree.

With respect and reverence and a lot of difficulty, Madhurakavi was able to wake up Maran from his deep Samadhi state of meditation. He became his disciple and served him. He learnt from Maran, the secrets of the Shastras. He wrote out the divine poems that burst forth from Maran. The very thought of Sri Krishna was enough to send Maran into great ecstasy. This would bring forth a gush of poems of intense longing for the Lord or send Maran into trance for months together.

Maran was named very fondly as ‘Nammalwar’ by Lord Ranganath Himself. It means ‘my devotee or my man’. He lived for a short age of 35 years and left for his heavenly abode. It is believed that he was an Avatar of the chief of the heavenly hosts serving Lord Vishnu.  He sang four immortal poems as the Tamil version of the four Vedas – Rig, Sama, Yajur and Atharvanda. His name and fame spread far and wide. All were attracted to the love, light and peace that emanated from him. During those days, anyone who sang his poems went into a transcendental state. It did not matter if he was a butcher, warrior or shepherd or brahmin. Such was the power of his intense bhakti and wisdom.

Great saints like Nammalwar show us the way to God by the easiest method is by extreme bhakti! Let us cultivate and intensify our bhakti  to great heights by SitaRam mantra, meditation and following the teachings of the Guru.