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

dear pavi,

thanks for those kind words.Not only Ponnachi and Vill are lucky; but we are also lucky. Nay, we are truly blessed, otherwise this story would not have appealed to us so much. Your quoting the lines from Anbe Sivam is very apt.

I am not going to wait till next Wednesday to commence the next part. It may happen sooner.
Stay tuned, Pavithra.
regards,

 

Dear Sriniketan,
In fact that is the traditional version of this story. In fact one Tamil book says that Ramanuja asked Villi, "You are the best wrestler. Aren't you ashamed to behave like that in a public place?"
But honestly Sriniketan, I am still not able to buy the argument. You are right in saying that Villi's act would invite criticism in the town he lived. Yes, he may be branded as henpecked, or the more apt word in Tamil, Pondatti Dasan. But I don't think Villi would have minded that. With that kind of love he had for Ponnachi, which was so wonderfully reciprocated, they would have lived a full life, criticism or no criticism.
But then the other people, we, would not have known about the couple at all. Even if the others in the town knew about Villi, it would have been just a matter of gossip.
By shifting the object of love from his wife to Sri Renganathar, without in any way reducing the intensity of it, Ramanuja presented us with an easily replicable model of love. Ramanuja in short proclaimed to us, "Your love should be like this."
Well, Ramanuja could have done that without shifting the object of love. But then people would say,
"I would also love my wife if only she were half as good as Ponnachi."

True. Another way of saying this is that they have been growing spiritually over several life times and in that particular life time the growth reached a point where Sri Ramanuja intervened and Sri Renganatha showed his eyes for Villi to see.

thanks Sriniketan.
regards,

 

My Dear GFs,

Bowing to your requests I am posting the concluding part of the story early. Right now.

Why should Villi come running to Ramanuja crying,
"We Have Sinned, Acharya"?

To know the answer read on.

I don't have words to thank you all for your wonderful responses. Writing these posts has had a very beneficial effect on me too. I am able to do somethings now which I earlier considered as difficult if not, impossible.

And I am sure if his story can reform a hardened man like me, it can do wonders to your young and energetic minds.

May you and yours be always blessed by the Great Acharya, and by the Great Lord of Love, Sri Renganatha.

love,

 

Dear Janani,
thanks for the boni for the other thread, (done jointly with Lalitha, and as you said, sema boni)
When our hearts lack love, we go in search of the Lord. We go to the farthest temples, those on the mountains, those on the deserts, and those that are beyond the seven seas. Even then we do not have a fulfilling dharshan. We come back as unloving as we went.
But for someone like Villi, whose heart is full of love, the Great God, Himself reaches to him through saints like Ramanuja.
You are right. That one second of dharshan is worth waiting for a million janmas.
There used to be a beautiful girl near our house. She was fair, tall, and very very good looking. Her parents were decently rich. But somehow her marriage got delayed. Every day was a hell for the family. People would talk behind their backs. There will be some insinuations during conversation in the family circles. If they attended any marriage function, somebody would ask, "Why is that Latha is not yet married? Any problems? Did you check her horoscope? Go to this temple or do that parikaram."
The family was crying. And then just like that a chartered accountant from Chennai came to see the girl. He liked her and she liked him. They were married the very next month. I was there for the marriage. Everyone was so happy. Neither the girl nor her parents ever remembered their days of hell, waiting for that occasion.
In the case of God's Dharshan, it is only a million times more so. In that nano second, the griefs and worries we would have accumulated during a thousand lifetimes would vanish without a trace.
Such is Villi's blessing. And such is our blessing, as we are able to know about and relate to Villi's story.
thanks again, Janani.
regards,

 

My dear, dear Vedya Vyasan,

I am happy that you could make it to this thread. I almost started missing you, when you walked in, let's say with a bang.

First things first,Veda Vyasan. I will never be upset or hurt with such posts. I love them. I want my forums to be discussion boards and not fan clubs.

I will be upset only if you do not visit my forum. I will be hurt only if you ignore my writings, not when you oppose them.

I am just an ordinary member of this extraordinary forum, neither more, nor less than you. So when you want to oppose my views, please go ahead and do it. I have just one request to make to you. Please don't be apologetic. There's no need for that.
Varalotti's ancestors should have gathered a lot of punyam! Otherwise how could he have had the privilege of replying to Veda Vyasar himself on Ramanuja?
Now let's get back to the reply.

Thanks.



This reminds me of two movies...

Very interesting examples, Veda Vyasan. But I am not very sure of their relevance here. Because here Ramanujar did not insist that Villi should renounce his wife. They were living together near the Ashram for the rest of their lives. And at no point of time Villi had let Ponnachi down.

That is Raghavendra's case. I do have a reply for that. But it is pretty long and it is not proper to insert that here when we are discussing Villi and Ramanuja.

The continuation has been posted. It's title is, "We Have Sinned, Acharya" Please click the link below my signature to read that.

Though in this case Villi did not ditch his family, I am attempting a brief reply for your arguments.
It so happens that in some marriages, the husband and wife are in varying degrees of spiritual development. When the difference becomes huge the relationship cannot be sustained. That was why Meera "ditched" her husband for Krishna's sake.
I had a friend while I was in school. We were inseparable. We stayed in touch even after we got married and all. But at one stage we slowly drifted away. In a way I ditched him and he ditched me. The truth is that we grew in different directions and at one stage had to grow away from each other.
In the examples you have stated what's happening is that the concerned person graduated from one stage to another.
In the case of Villi and Ponni, the graduation was simultaneous. In the case of Raghavendra, one graduated while the other failed. Or I would put it this way. They were together when they were doing their 10th. In Plus Two, Raghavendra took humanities while his wife opted for the science group. Something like that.

And for us, who have but limited logic and limited knowledge of how the Universe is functioning that might look like 'ditching'
Please also read my reply to Mithila Kannan post #21 in this thread.

My Dear Veda Vyasan, I did not compare Ramanuja with Politicians. I only contrasted him from them. He did not want Villi to jump from "Ponnachi Party" to "Ramanuja Party" so that he could stake a claim for Ministership. No, it was all about love, unconditional, pure love, which Ramanuja wanted to show to his disciples. (Now read the third part to know how this was accomplished)
Of our politicians, their greed, their exploitation, self-immolation etc. let's not talk about them here in this discussion. For this discussion is all about love and God.

Let me repeat again, no need for apologies, Veda Vyasan. God is Love and Love is God. And money has no business there.

You have every right to voice your views. And I am happy you did it in my forum. Thanks.
Love,
Veda[/quote]

 

Dear Geeth,

I am happy that you liked these lines.

Well said, Geeth. We do not love God. We only demand privileges from Her. And we have absolutely nothing to give to Her. I can understand our loving God, for She can give us the whole world.
But I can never understand why She should love us, when we have nothing to give to her, when we are repulsive, when we are petty-minded, greedy, lustful, angry and almost always loveless?
I can understand her omnipotence, omniscience and her omnipresence. But even after a million lifetimes I can never never comprehend a zillionth of Her love for us.

thanks once again, Geeth. Please do read the concluding part of the story as well.
regards,