Autobiograpy Of Gnani Purush A.M.Patel Autobiograpy Of Gnani Purush A.M.Patel | Page 70

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So people around me started to think of me as a
prospective new husband and some had plans to get me married
again. Back then there were a lot of brides-to-be available.
Parents were only interested in getting their daughters married,
even if it meant marrying them to their doom. There was a man
from the village of Bhadaran who came to me with a proposal
for his brother-in-law’s daughter. I was thirty-six at the time in
1944. He cited various reasons. The first was the loss of Hiraba’s
eye. The second was the lack of any children to carry on the
Patel name. He suggested that I remarry. I told him it was true
I had no children, but neither did I have anything to pass on. I
refused. I told him that I had made a promise to Hiraba to take
care of her when I married her. What can anyone do if she has
lost one of her eye? Besides even if she were to lose the other
eye, I would take care of her. I would hold her hand and guide
her around. He tried to entice me with a dowry and I asked
him, ‘Do you want to throw your daughter in a well? Besides
Hiraba would become very unhappy. She would feel that I
remarried because of her eyes. She would feel terrible about
her eyes. Would she not?’ I had made a promise to pay, to take
care of her. I told him, ‘I am not a person who would ever go
back on his word. No matter what happens in the world, a
promise is a promise. I have given a promise and once a promise
is given, there is no going back on it. So what if it takes this
entire life to fulfill that promise to her, there are many more lives
to come. I had given her my hand in marriage and when I gave
that hand to her, I had given her a promise. I gave her my hand
in everyone’s presence, and I gave her a promise as a kshatriya
and I will have to devote one lifetime to fulfill that promise.
What Understanding ! What Adjustment !
If the kadhi, common Gujarati soup, served to me turned
out to be salty, I would eat less of it and if I had no choice but
eat it, then to cut down on the saltiness I would very subtly add