Viewpoints

I remember this chapter on Sant Kavi Tiruvalluvar from my Hindi textbook in school. He was apparently some great sage from the southern India. The story was that the sage's wife of more than 20 years (or was it 30?) had, on his instructions, always served a bowl of water and a needle along with all his meals ever since they got married. One day she asks him why he keeps the bowl of water and the needle by his side, since she'd never seen him use these. The sage told her in reply that in case any grain of rice fell on the ground he'd want to pick it up with a needle and wash it in the bowl of water before eating it. Since his wife was so meticulous in serving the food, not even a single grain had fallen off the plate in so many years. The moral, at least of that part of the story, was one shouldn't waste any food. But when I think of that story, the most striking thing to me is that how could she (the sage's wife) have gone about the same task for all those 20 (?) years, without actually knowing the real reason behind it or the purpose it served. Doesn't it make one wonder what kind of interaction the couple had usually? I mean why she couldn’t ask what a bowl of water and a needle were for the first time the sage requested her for the same.