“Is There Anything More Beautiful Than My Wife’s Eyes?”

My Dear Friend, Mythili,

I am making you jump the line because of the question raised by you.
Now, Mythili, you are an Avatar of Saraswathi. There is no need for you to fold your hands for me. You can very well voice your thoughts.
I want all our scriptures, our Acharyas, their biographies to be discussed threadbare. Then only we can assimlate the goodness they contain. Simply worshipping them and blindly accepting them will be of no avail.

You can't, Mythili. You can't see reason when there is great love. Because reason can never even begin to reach God. That's why our upanishads roar,

yatho vaacho nivarthanthe apraapya manasa saha
Where the word returns along with the mind, unable to reach the ultimate. At the same time I am not saying that God, Love and religion are illogical. They are trans-logical. They are beyond logic. I don't know much about God and religion. But one thing I know for sure. If you see the razor sharp reason and intellect lurking somewhere, believe Love will never be in the vicinity.

I took enormous pains to answer these questions right in the beginning. Please be kind enough to read the lead post, the first one, again.
And Ramanuja did not destroy Villi's love for Ponnachi. Legend has it that the couple lived together till their death. Ramanuja only enlarged the love to include Sri Renganathar in it. Now he can tell the world, that here is a love which we all should aspire to have.
At times the teacher asks the brightest student in the class to come to his place and teach other students. That does not mean that the teacher is spoiling his individual studies. He is only trying to help other students by showing them a working model.
In another angle, what you have said is practically true. Villidasan never did the back-walking again in his life.That does not mean that his love for Ponnachi is any less. It started to manifest in more subtle forms. You see lovers in their twenties express their love by kissing, necking and hugging. But when the lovers, the couple, are in their seventies, even picking up the newspaper for the husband, applying iodex for the arthritic limb, would be a manifestation of love. When it comes to love's manifestations, one is not less or more than the other.
Even assuming that Ramanuja disturbed their personal love, and probably made them to sacrifice for the people, well, even then it is quite acceptable.
Do you remember Sundarar's story? He is one of the four chief Nayanmars. He hailed from a very poor family. But he used to be very very handsome. He was engaged to be married to the richest girl in the town, a princess. Just when he was about to tie the sacred knot, an old man appears in the scene and stops the marriage. He tells the people that Sundarar is his slave according to the bond executed by S's grand father.
The case goes to the local Panchayat. The evidence is examined and the judgment is in favour of the old man. The marriage celebrations come to an end. The old man takes his new slave to Thiruvennainallur. He takes him to the temple and then disappears into the sanctum sanctorum. Then only Sundarar realises that Shivaperuman himself came to prevent him from getting married.
Of course Sundarar loved that girl to whom he was engaged. But before the Lord's great love he melts and sings some of the immortal love songs. Shivaperuman got his name thaduthaatkonda Annal.
The moral of the story is not that Shivaperuman was jealous of Sundarar's love for the girl. He wanted to showcase Sundarar's love for the whole world to see. "This is the way you should live. And this is the way you should love." That was what Shiva told the world by his actions.

An "action-replay" of that story is Villi-Ponnachi-Ramanujar-Renganathar love story.

Mythili, we'll continue the arguments after I finish the story.

I was not at all hurt. In fact I was jumping in joy because your response made me to think about the matter even more. Not only Mithila, but the whole world and the Great God loves Villidasan-Ponnachi. They will be together for all time to come. So don't worry, my friend.
Your heart should be heavy, with love and not with guilt or remorse.

Thanks for making me think deeper on this issue.

love,

 

Dear Aruna,
thanks. Next wednesday will come soon. It is the day immediately after the next tuesday. I may even post the next part a little earlier.
regards,

 

Dear Usha,
My wife's eyes are no doubt beautiful, but not as beautiful as that of Ponnachi. I no doubt love her, but my love cannot even hold a candle to Villidasan's love for Ponnachi. So there's no way of my uttering such statements about my wife.

You have said the right thing, Usha. Stories like this have to be enjoyed, chewed, munched, relived in total solitude. I have been doing that for the past 17, 18 years - ever since I first read the story in a book.

I have an idea Usha. Our culture is so rich in stories. Every culture, every religion has its own stories. Some of these stories we have been mulling over in our mind for years, some for several lifetimes even. I have a plan of re-telling all the stories we all know - like Gajendra Moksham, or The Prodigal Son or Prahaladan's Story. There stories are treasures. And if we slowly chew every line, every word and every feeling hidden in these stories, we'd emerge out as far better persons. I just had this idea when writing the reply to your fb.

Villidasan's bliss and the superiority of his love is brought out in the next epdisode of this story.

You are welcome. Your enjoying this story is my greatest reward.
regards,

 

Dear Brindha,
thanks. I didn't give the break soon. The story had crossed the usual limit of 1000 plus words. The next breaking point is another 700 words away. Then the next episode will be very short. Hence I stopped here.
Will post the continuation soon.
Love,

 

Dear Sudha,

The thread has an enchanting aura thanks to the subject matter - love in its purest form.

By including Sri Renganathar in Villi's love, the stature of Villi's love did not increase. Ramanujar could have said simply that one should love one's wife as Villi did. That would have been difficult in many cases, unless the wife is as good and as beautiful and as soft as Ponnachi. But don't mistake me. By the same token Ponnachis love for her husband is not a copiable model. Loving one's own husband will be difficult unless the husband is as good as, as strong as and above all as loving as Villidasan.

By making Villi fall in love with the Lord's eyes, (Ponnachi is also blessed as she takes upon herself a selfless life of serving her husband and his guru) Ramanujar has shown us the way of love.

You are right about Srirengam. My brother's father-in-law went and settled down near the temple after he retired as a bank executive. But the temple is now extremely crowded. And it is very difficult to get a dharshan of the Lord.

I am happy that this post has come at a time when Rosh was talking about Srirengam.Who knows she might get married to somebody over there. And all of us might get a chance to visit the temple with her influence.

That's a really cute expression. I loved it.

regards,

 

Dear Swetha,
I am thrilled to see that you liked the trip to Srirengam. A modern, professionaly educated girl, brought up in an alien land, showing so much affinity to Srirengam and its Perumal, I am tempted to boast "hats off to my writing" but the bottomline is "hats off to your mother"

Since you have touched on my ability to narrate the incident, I would like to share the secret with you. If I had read about Villi and Ponnachi yesterday and then posted this thread, there would not have been much life to it. I came to know of this incident almost 20 years back when I ordered a Tamil Book on Ramanuja by post. And for the last twenty years I have been thinking about the incident several times. I have told this to my daughter at least half a dozen times. And every time I think or I tell, I could see some new meaning, some message, some insight in the story. When you have been thinking about something for so long, you can describe it very clearly and very powerfully. That's why we are made to repeat the pasurams several times. My master makes me repeat every phrase of Thiruvaimozhi three times. (That is called Sandhai solvathu).

The eyes Villidasan saw that day are the eyes from which this universe and a million universes like this were born.And when their time's up they will go back into the very same eyes. Those are the eyes which can make the tallest mountains into sand powder ; and at the same heal a wound in an ant's foot. Those are the eyes that create, that sustain and that destroy.

That would make us mull over the incident again and again. And after a month when you attempt to rewrite the incident in your own words some one will say the same words you have about my narration.
thanks swetha,