Transcending the beginning and end the dance the Lord plays in the Golden hall of thillai (chitambaram) with the mother of the universe witnessing it, to that feet of the master of marvelous unique dance had his mind always this devotee. He was always keen on serving the devotees. Never did he lean towards contradicting his words; Had been keeping the hara always in the lotus seat of his heart; followed the discipline of married life that is intended for humble service.
His profession was making pots and clay items. Hence his service was to provide clay bowls to whoever bows down the pinAka bow shouldered Lord shiva. He being the place of all good qualities, there appeared a small black spot. His young feelings led him once to a lady whose work is to give bodily pleasure. His better half was a very beautiful lady with the heart more beautiful than that and had the most beautiful Lord in that heart. With the entire heart going upbeat in the feeling of ecstasy she will chant thirun^IlakaNtam - one name of the Lord who got a spotted throat by taking the poison that rose to destroy the entire universe. What can the poison do to Him ? He is not an ordinary creature to get destroyed by the poison. Even the spot cannot appear, but probably He had it to indicate to us that He is there to rescue when we are in trouble.
She was unhappy with him for his deed. She did all the responsibilities of the wife but didn't allow him to be with her. To bring down her resentment he went with sweet words and tried to hug her. She said immediately, "If you touch us(me) ! thirunIlakaNtam !" (The thamiz word emmai means "us" but she used it to mean "me"). At the same moment of hearing her pledge on the name of Lord that great man whisked off his hands away from her. The immense respect he had for the Hero who burnt the lust made him say with determination, "As you said "us" (emmai) I won't even touch in dreams any females". It is the quality of the people who stand for their principles that if they do mistake once and realize it they never do that again, they will in fact become more strong in their principles. Hence they stand supreme in the history. The couple of wonderful determination and self control did the duties of the married life, but abstained from the base feeling of sex. They never revealed it to others - the ideal couple. It could be easier to conquer the world, but it is more difficult to conquer the senses and the toughest in presence of the charming spouse. Given that the person had a great amount of desire for that in the past that led him even outside, how difficult it would be to conquer ! He did conquer that for the Name of God and there he stands grand for even the sages, who conquered the senses by practice, to look up to !
The years rolled down and not their determination, even the rocks could have changed in their stability, but they stood by their oath. With their appearance, beauty and charm disappearing they became old, but held strongly the Oldest feet of Lord in their heart. To exhibit to the world the path that should be followed as the way of salvation the Scholar who taught sitting beneath the banyan tree, stood in the form of a sage in front of nAyanAr's house. Welcoming and worshipping the devotee, nAyanAr asked in humble words what order the sage had for him. The shankara who came stealthily as sage gave the clay bowl in His hand to the humble nAyanAr and asked him to preserve it till the time He asks for it, as it was a rare bowl, He claimed. The servant of devotees took it and kept in a secured place.
The Robber who robs away the rotten pAcham from pachus removed the bowl from that place and reached at the devotees house after a lot of days. The truthful slave of God shocked to find out that the bowl disappeared from the specified place, searched the entire place with shivering heart, but couldn't get it. By then Immortal who witnesses the innumerable creation destruction cycle of the universe, shouted as if He was impatient to make it fast. The devotee begged for pardon to forgive the loss of the bowl and was ready to give a real nice new bowl instead of that old one. But the Giver of liberation asked for the same bowl that he had given and refused to accept even if he would give a golden bowl. As he was not able to give He charged him to be cheating. That devotee pleaded Him to trust his honesty. The sage said if he takes a dip in the pond holding the hand of his son He would believe. nAyanAr told him that he did not have any offspring. When the sage asked him to have a dip holding his wife's hand he replied humbly that due to a pledge he was not ready to do that. Acting as if angered the Graceful went to the court of the priests of thillai . "It was true that the sage gave the bowl but I am really ignorant of where it disappeared", said the man of immense integrity. The court upheld the argument of the sage that nAyanAr should have a dip in the pond holding his wife's hand.
Without breaking the secret of not touching his wife to the court, he came with her to the pond of the thiruppulIchcharam (temple of chithambaram ), the abode of the Lord with inseparable shakti . Each holding one end of the same bamboo, that sinless said the secret behind his not touching his wife and his deed behind that to the entire people present there and went into the water. The couple who raised from the water after the dip appeared to the astonishment of all as young as one could covet and at the same time found the disappearance of the Lord who came in the form of sage. There appeared the Lord in the horizon on the holy Bull with the consort to bless the hailing devotee, "You both are very great due to your victory over the five senses. You be with me in bliss without an end to this youth". That marvelous man and his worth praising wife lived in the youth that was excelling with the service to the Lord at His abode than it could have been in this mortal world. No doubt, pattin'ththAr laments, "I am not as great as the devotee who sacrificed his youth for the pledge of his wife". Let the respect thirun^IlakaNta n^AyanAr gave to the name of the Lord and the determination he had in standing by the principle stay in the mind.
Sarvam Sri SeetaRamachandraparabramha aarpanamastu
