Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma

Prabhavati got married not long ago. It must have been
about a year back. For about two years before her marriage
she was staying here. She is a girl from Maharashtra, good-
looking and cultured. She wanted to be a great bhakta
(devotee) like Saint Meerabai and so used to sing and dance
and say that she would never marry, and she would don
ochre garments and behave like a naughty child before Sri
Bhagavan. Bhagavan knew that her naughtiness would not
leave her until she got married. At last somehow she did get
married. Immediately after that the bride and bridegroom
came in their wedding attire with their relatives and offerings
of fruits and flowers and bowed down before Bhagavan.

After a stay of two or three days she came one morning at
8 o’clock with her husband seeking Bhagavan’s blessings before
leaving to set up home in her husband’s place. Squirrels were
playing about Bhagavan’s sofa and peacocks were wandering
outside the hall. There were not many people; it was calm and
quiet in the hall, the young man bowed down to Bhagavan
with awe and respect, took leave of him and stood waiting at
the side of the doorway. With downcast looks and bubbling
shyness and tearful eyes, the beloved child of the Ashram, while
waiting there for Bhagavan’s permission, looked like Shakuntala
trying to tear herself away from the Kanva Ashram. Bhagavan
nodded his head in token of permission, and then she bowed
down to him. No sooner had she crossed the threshold than
Bhagavan remarked, looking at me, “It was only yesterday, she
had the chapter of Krishnavatar in Bhagavata copied out by
Sundaresa Iyer.” I said with delight, “When next she comes
here, she will come with a child in her arms.” Meanwhile she
began to sing a full-throated song full of devotion with voice as
sweet as a Kokila while going round the hall in pradakshina
(circumambulation). Bhagavan was evidently moved and like
Kanva Rishi himself, he said, “Do you hear the hymn from
Mukundamala?” My eyes were filled with tears.

I went out and gave her my blessings while she again
and again prostrated herself to Bhagavan; then I saw her
out of the Ashram and returned to the hall. I do not know if
you will consider this an exaggeration, but I may tell you
that the stories we have read in the Puranas are being re-
enacted here and now before our very eyes.