And Now The Perfect Ending For The Perfect Love Story!

I am sorry I stopped Paana’s story at a very crucial point – where all the forces of the Universe had taken position keeping the field ready for the Great Lord to play his prank.

Let’s cut the scene now and move over to another loving saint called Loka Saranga Munivar. He was a Maharshi who had years of penance to his credit. Still his mind was overflowing with love for the Creator which he wanted to express in some form or the other.


He wanted to take water from River Cauvery and personally perform an Abhishekam for Sri Renganatha. Loga Saranga Munivar was an acclaimed Rishi in those days and if he had just winked his eyes, thousands of people would have brought water for him. But he wanted to do that himself.

Not minding the old age he started walking towards Cauvery with a sanctified bronze vessel in his hand.

He saw a man belonging to the Fifth Caste standing on the way and singing about Renganatha. Yes, it was our Paana.

According to the customs prevalent in those days one should not even go near a person of the Fifth caste. And more especially so if one was taking water for the Lord Himself.

Loga Sarangar saw Paana more as a nuisance than anything else. First he told him in soft words to get out of the way. Either Paana was fully immersed in an ecstatic union with his beloved or the Lord had already started playing his prank. Whatever it is, Paana did not hear his words.

Loga Sarangar got wild and shouted at him to move away. No result. Sarangar looked to see whether anybody else was there to help him. There was no one around. Lord’s prank had begun.

It was getting late for the Abhishekam. The Abhishekam had to be done precisely at the appointed time. ‘Now this fifth caste bloke is going to delay everything’, thought the Rishi. He looked around and saw a stone. He placed the vessel down, took the stone and threw at Paana. The stone did not miss its mark. It hit Paana on his forehead and he started bleeding.

It is but natural that our blood is boiling when we read this incident. From the vantage point of 21^st century it is quite easy to condemn Loga Saranga Munivar in one sweep.

But those days caste system was a given thing and even an almost enlightened being like Loga Sarangar mindlessly followed what others were doing. Before condemning him, let us remember that we are also equally mindless, if not more, when it comes to many social evils.

Aren’t we mindless when we throw non-bio-degradable plastic bags in precious hill resorts?

Aren’t we mindless when we drill holes in the ozone layer as if it were an off-shore drilling site?
Aren’t we mindless when we shamelessly negotiate ‘dowry’ and other things, in our marriages? Aren’t we mindless in elevating harassment of women almost to an art form?

Remember we have but a few complaints like casteism and apartheid against the olden times. The list of complaints our future generations would have against us is at least a hundred times bigger. Let’s get back to the story.

 

As soon as the stone hit Paana he woke up from his ecstatic trance and saw what was happening. His was a mind full of love and he could not bear hatred even against his aggressor. For him being born as an untouchable and an unseeable was the wish of his beloved, the Great God Himself.

The time was <st1:time minute="0" hour="12">noon</st1:time>. The sun was at its peak and the river sand on which Paana was standing looked as if it had been roasted in a hot oven. Paana did not mind all this.

He thought he had committed a grave offence and ran away from the Rishi. And at a safe distance he fell down on the sand as if to prostrate at the feet of the Rishi begging his pardon. He did not mind the heat and was sobbing in shame and guilt.

Loga Sarangar ignored Paana and went about his business. He had a bath in the river and then after uttering the holy mantras filled up his vessel with water from the river. He started walking back to the temple.

Paana got up only after the Rishi went away. That loving soul thought that the punishment meted out to him, that of being hit by a stone, was not enough for his grave offence of blocking the way of a devotee of a superior class. He was still crying.

Loga Saranga Munivar forgot about the small incident that happened on the river banks and went enthusiastically into the temple. The priests and the people were waiting for him to perform the Abishekam.

Amidst chanting of vedas, amidst divine music, he took water from the vessel and was about to pour on Sri Renganatha. As he saw the Lord’s beautiful face he froze.

The great Lord, for whom Love is the only form of devotion, the Great Lord, for whom a cry for rescue by an elephant was more important than even his consorts, that very being of love, was bleeding. Blood was coming out of the Lord’s forehead.

The Great Lord who could have created a billion universes like ours within a nano second and destroy them all in a shorter time, shed blood because His lover was hit.

Loga Sarangar first thought that it could be some kum kum or other red material applied to the Lord’s face in the morning. When he poured water over it came down in red colour.

Even after the water washed away the blood, the bleeding did not stop. Now Loga Sarangar knew the reason.

Our Lord is portrayed as an angry being in many stories. If he had wanted to just punish Loga Sarangar a mere wink of His eye could have destroyed the Rishi. Our Lord is the Lord of Love. He felt like a mother of two wonderful sons. When one son hits the other, the mother would only be sad. The Mother wanted one son to know about the other son’s love. The mother wanted all Her children to know about the love of these two special children.

Loga Sarangar placed the vessel down and ran to the banks of cauvery. When even walking would have been a chore at his age, he ran like a young lad of sixteen.

 

Paanan was still standing at the same place. The blood had clotted. The Rishi had goosebumps in his body to see that Paanan and the Lord bled exactly at the same place in their foreheads.

Now all his caste-feelings were gone. His mindless state had vanished. His heart was now full of love. He went near Paana and heard him mumbling still. “Forgive me, my Lord, I’ve wronged a great man.”

“I have wronged you, my Lord.” The Rishi said these words to Paana and fell like an uprooted tree at Paana’s feet. The tables were reversed now. The Rishi was begging Paana’s pardon.

Paana was now trembling with fear, shame and guilt. The Rishi got up and asked who he was.

“I am Paana, born of the Fifth Caste.”

“You are wrong, Paana. You belong to the Lord. You know the stone with which I hurt you has hurt our Lord. And He, whom, all the knowledge in the world, the entire Vedas could not even begin to know, He who can’t be seen by the greatest of Devas and Rishis, that Lord is shedding blood for you.”

The Rishi fell at Paana’s feet again and sobbed.

When the first flow of emotions subsided the Rishi wiped his eyes, cleared his throat and told Paana.

“Now you are coming with me to the temple. To see your Beloved. We were all waiting for the Lord. But He is waiting for you, Paana. Come, let’s go.”

“Me? Into the temple? No way. He made me born in to this caste because He did not want to see me. He did not want me to set my foot in his temple. No, I can’t come.”

“Paana, if you don’t come, the Lord will bleed Himself and soon the entire town will be filled with blood. So please come.”

“Oh, Great Rishi, I have already sworn to my Lord that I would never set foot on His temple.”
The conversation went on like this for some time.

Loga Saarangar was a wise Rishi. Finally he said,

“Ok, Paana. I respect your vow. There is no need for you to set your foot in his temple. Do one thing. Please climb over me. Set your foot on me. I will carry you all the way to the temple.”

“My God! You are a Rishi, a man of a very superior class. How can I a fifth caste..”

“Paana, you are Lord Himself. I have sinned against you. I beg of you please give me a chance to reform myself. By setting foot on me you will purify me of all the ego, the arrogance and the spiritual pride I have. Please Paana, you will have to help me. I beg of you. I am ready to fall at your feet again and again and beg this favour.”

Paana had no other way than to accept.

The Great Rishi who just an hour ago wanted to drive Paana off his way with a stone, bent down and begged Paana to climb on his shoulders. Paana complied.

Now the Great Lord was so pleased by this scene that he instantaneously stopped bleeding.

 

Loga Saranga Munivar was now carrying Paana on his shoulders to the temple. He felt like Garudalwar carrying the Great God Himself. And was chanting the Vedic Hyms in His Glory. At first Paana shed tears of guilt and shame for he was riding on a Rishi, an enlightened being.

As the Rishi’s foot touched the temple-steps Paana shivered. And when for the first time in his life he set his eyes on his beloved, the tears of guilt and shame became those of esctasy.

He first saw the Lord’s beautiful feet. And in that moment of ecstatic trance started composing the paasuram, Amalanaadhi Piran. Like a typical lover Paanan was not is a hurry. He was slowly savouring every inch of the Beautiful Lord. After seeing His feet he saw the beautiful red dress that adorned the Lord’s waist. And he sang a song for every part of the Lord he saw.

The song Paana sang for the Lord’s necklace-bedecked chest appears as my 5000^th post here in IL. (Post #32 in the thread "Another Love Story....)
Just chanting the paasuram once, they say, will burn the karmas we have accumulated over a million births.

Finally when Paana’s eyes meet those of his beloved he was thrilled beyond words and entered that state of mind where whatever he uttered would come true. And he sang,

கொண்டல் வண்ணனைக் கோவலனாய் வெண்ணெய்
உண்ட வாயன் என்னுள்ளம் கவர்ந்தானை
அண்டர் கோன் அணியரங்கன் என்னமுதினைக்
கண்ட கண்கள் மற்றொன்றினைக் காணாவே

Having seen the eyes of my beloved - the One who stole my heart, the one who is of the rich black colour of the rain-bearing clouds, the One who stole and ate butter when he was born as <st1lace>Krishna</st1lace>, the one who is the King of Gods – having seen that nectar of eyes, let my eyes not see anything else.

Loga Saranga Munivar was now shedding tears of joy. He had never heard such beautiful paasurams in his whole life -something years of learning and years of worshipping His divine form could not produce, but possible only for a heart immersed in selfless love.

 

That was the last song Paanan sang. As soon as the song ended Loga Saranga Munivar suddenly felt that a big load had been taken off from his shoulders.

Yes, Paana had vanished literally into thin air. No, he had merged perfectly with his beloved. Now there were no two beings – Paana and Sri Renganatha. They were one.

Now tell me friends, is this not a perfect ending? Do you know any other love story which has ended in such a complete, eternal, perfect union?

Paana was glorified as Thirupaanazhwar. Even today his statue is there in the sanctum sanctorum of Renganatha temple, the only Azhwar who has a place closest to our Lord. He is now honoured as one of the 12 Azhwars.

His 10 Paasurams which start with Amalanaadhi Piran hold a pride of place in Naalayira Divya Prabandam. There is something unique about his paasurams. In all other paasurams we have a pala sruthi, which would say that if you chant them, you will get wealth, health and proximity to God. Paana did not care to add one to his.

His perfect union with his beloved is the pala sruthi for his paasurams. Can you think of a more powerful pala sruthi?

You might be skeptical about Paana vanishing into thin air. I am not going to argue with you at all. After narrating a love story like this I neither have the mind nor the inclination to indulge in arguments.

But believe me GFs, we always think of ourselves as human beings with a spiritual dimension. That is patently wrong. We are all spiritual beings at present having a human dimension. Only this paradigm shift can make us understand what happened to Paana.

And there is a connection between this story and Villi’s story. When Ramanuja took Villi to His Sanctum Sanctorum and asked Renganatha to show His beautiful eyes to Villi, it is said that Renganatha hesitated for a second. Ramanujacharya then sang the above paasuram of Thirupaanazhwar, Kondal Vannanai…. The Great God reminded of Paana’s love immediately opened his eyes for Villi to see. The rest is history.

May all those who read this story, those who could shed tears knowing about Paana’s love for God and even those who are not fortunate enough to know this great love story – may all of them be blessed with everything in life, more especially a heart full of love.