Sri Nathamuni, widely regarded as the first among the Srivaisava Acarya-s, lived in the ninth century AD, and is best known for his revival of the Drevide-vede-s, also known as the Nalayira-divya-prabandham. This revival formed a firm base on which later Acarya-s would establish the Sri Vaisnava-sampradaya and the Visistadvaita tradition. These Acarya-s included his own grandson Sri Yamunacarya and Bhagavad Ramanujacarya, who stoked the spark of light lit by Nathamuni into a radiant and strong tradition.
Nathamuni was also a master exponent of other Vedic philosophies including Nyaya and Yoga, on which he composed the texts Nyayatattva and Yogarahasya respectively. Literally meaning 'The Secrets of Yoga.' the Yogarahasya is a masterpiece offering deep insights into the use and applications of Yoga, especially in the domains of Yoga therapy and spirituality. It also reveals Nathamuni as a remarkable Yogi, who revolutionized many customs prevailing at his time. A prime example of this was his advocacy of Yoga for women, which was not at all common in the ninth century.
The Yogarahasya was meant to be taught to Sri Yamunacarya by Nathamuni's student Kurukaikavalappan. For unknown reasons this meeting did not take place and the text was lost for many centuries. However, by divine grace, one of Nathamuni’s direct descendants, Yogacarya T Krishnamacharya, revived this text through a powerful experience he had as a young man under a tamarind tree in Alvar-tirunagari. This same tamarind tree was the place where Sri Nathamuni had earlier revived the Nalayira-divya-prabandham.
The revival of this text brings to life the great Yoga teachings of Sri Nathamuni, and provides us with invaluable inform
