1103. Vipranarayana

"Who is going there? Is it Vipranarayana?"

"Yes. It's him."

"Oh, What a devotion he has for the Lord! He is heading to Lord Ranganatha's temple with a basket full of flowers, for offering them to the Lord."

"He is not heading towards Lord Ranganatha's temple. If he were to go to the temple, he would go in the morning, carrying a garland of flowers made by him, from the flowers grown by him in his garden. He won't be going there during the late evening!"

"Yes. Now that you say this, I see the point. But, where is he heading to?"

"It has been several months since he forgot Lord Ranganatha. He has now converted his cottage into a temple fot his lover Devadevi. The flower garden he has been nurturing for the past several years for growing flowers to be offered to the Lord is now being used by him to offer flowers to his sweetheart. Yes, Vipranarayana is carrying the flowers for offering them not to Lord Ranganatha, but to his lover Devadevi."

"Oh, God! The man who had been carrying the lotus feet of the Lord in his heart has now taken refuge in the lap of a young girl!"

"The day has broken. Please get up" said Devadevi.

"I can't. If you want, you can get up and move" said Vipranarayana.

"How can I get up? You are lying down with your head resting on my shoulder, just as Lord Ranganatha has been lying with his head resting on Adisesha's neck*!"

Vipranarayana got up with a jolt.

"What happened? Why did you get up suddenly?" asked Devadevi.

"When you mentioned Lord Ranganatha's name, I was jolted for a moment. It has been several weeks since I had been to the temple of Lord Ranganatha!" said Vipranarayana.

"Are you going to leave for Lord Ranganatha's temple now?" asked Devadevi. getting up and sitting on the bed.

"No" said Vipranarayana. He then pressed Devadevi's shoulders, pushed her down on the cot and lay down again, keeping his head on her shoulders. 

"Can the world of the lotus-eyed Lord Ranganatha reclining on Adisesha be sweeter than the experience of laying my head on your shoulders and having a nice sleep." 

He then closed his eyes and tried to sleep.

Devadevi prayed to the Lord saying, "Lord Ranganatha! Only you could influence the mind of this great devotee of yours who has forgotten you after he became obsessed with me and reform him!"  

The bells of Lord Ranganatha's temple began to sound, as if answering her prayers.

(Devadevi could not have been aware of the Lord's plans of winning back his devotee by making him face a charge of theft and suffer beatings by the palace guards, the experience which made him realize what his mission was and become a devotee of the Lord again, earning the title 'Thondaradi Podi Azhwar' and composing two illustrious works Thirumalai and Thiruppalli Ezhuchchi' that have been included in the Nalayira Divya Prabhandham, the four thousand hymns in praise of Lord Vishnu.) 

*Adisesha - the mythological snake on which Lord Vishnu is said to be reclining.

Note: This story is based on the story of Thondaradi Podi Azhwar, one of the twelve Vaishnavite saints of South India who sang hymns on Lord Vishnu.

Thirukkural
Section 3

Love

Chapter 111
The Joy of Being Together in Love

Verse 1103 (in Tamil):
thAm vIzhvAr men thOL thuyilin inidhu kol
thAmaraik kaNNAn ulagu.

Meaning:

Can the lotus-eyed Vishnu's heaven be sweeter than the pleasure of sleeping in the delicate arms of one's dear lover?

(This is the English version of the Tamil story 'thOL kaNdEn thOLE kaNdEn' by the same author.)

Verse 1104
Verse 1102