Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

His voice was choked with emotion. That sight reminded me
of the saying that the heart of a Jnani is as soft as butter, and
once more of the old saying, “bhakti poornathaya Jnanam” (The
culmination of devotion is knowledge).

Sometime back, while reading that portion in Arunachala
Purana where Gautama was extolling Amba, Bhagavan’s eyes
were flooded with tears, his voice faltered and he put the
book aside and sank into silence. Whenever any incident
full of love takes place, or whenever passages saturated with
bhakti are read, we often see Bhagavan thus overwhelmed
with emotion. As one goes on observing, one gets confirmed
in the view that prema and bhakti (devotion) are merely
different aspects of jnana (knowledge).

About a week ago, a story appeared in the magazine
Hindu Sundari under the heading “Paachikalu” (dice). It seems
it was taken from the Skanda Purana. Once, even Parvati
and Parameswara succumbed to the quarrel-mongering of
Narada. “Lakshmi and Vishnu play dice, so why not you?”
said Narada, and egged them on to play. Parvati was
enthusiastic over the idea and persuaded Siva to play dice
with her. In the game, Siva lost and Parvati was puffed up
with pride and spoke slightingly of him. That is the legend.

After reading it, Bhagavan, his heart full of bhakti, asked
me, “Have you read this story?” When I said, “Yes,
Bhagavan,” he said with a voice choked with feeling, “The
holy festival which is annually performed here on Sankaranti
day, deals mainly with this quarrel between Uma and
Maheswara.”
You know, every year, the divine marriage festival is
celebrated here and during those days, if anybody were to
speak about the festival in Sri Bhagavan’s presence, Bhagavan
would usually remark with great feeling, “This is the
marriage festival of Father and Mother.” You know the lives
of Mahatmas are full of peculiar incidents. They express in
their faces whatever rasa (feeling) is appropriate to the
occasion. But what can one say in the presence of the all
pervading vijnana rasa which integrates all the other rasas?