Vilwamangalam Swamiyar was terribly in love with his
mistress, so terribly that he even wanted to see her on the night of the
Shraddha ceremony of his father, which is considered to be a great sin. As it
was later he could not find any ferryman to take him across the river. So he
jumped in and began to swim, but seeing something floating by he took hold of
it and crossed the river with its help, thinking it was a piece of wood. Btu
when he had reached the bank he found it was a corpse.
Then he went to the house of his mistress and knocked and
knocked, but nobody opened the door. Suddenly he saw a thick rope hanging from
the roof and taking hold of this he climbed up and scaled the wall with its
help. But when he had done so, he discovered that the apparent rope was a great
serpent.
When his mistress asked him which way he had come, he
replied, ‘I found something floating on the river. It was human corpse. I saw a
thick rope hanging down. It was a great serpent.
The she said, ‘Had you given this intense love to God, you
would already be a saint now.’
From that moment his whole life changed, and both he and his
mistress became great saints.