Jai Maa!

[Guest guest]

Dear brothers and sisters,

 

My worshipful prayers at the lotus feet of our most beloved Maa and

Swamiji!

 

A few months ago, my wife and I had the great good fortune to be at

Devi Mandir. One evening, when we were there, we had a beautiful

treat when Maa gave a satsang about Lord Ganesha. She told us the

story of how Lord Ganesha was created and came to have the head of an

elephant. Latha already has related that story. One thing I remember

from Maa's telling was the following:

 

When Goddess Parvathi became angry with Lord Shiva for cutting of the

head of their son, She became "Kaala Raathri", one of the nine names

of Goddess Durga. So fierce was Her anger.

 

The other story that she related, that I had not heard about, was how

Lord Ganesha came to have a little mouse as his Vaahana. The story

had a moral that Maa shared with us and I wish to share that moral

with you.

 

The story first (as my feeble mind recalls it):

 

Ages ago, there lived a wise sage named Vamadeva. He performed a lot

of sadhana in his ashram. One day, another sage visited him and asked

if he would be interested in going for a dance in Devaloka where Lord

Indra and other celestials lived. Vamadeva was not interested in

watching the celestials dance, as he was more interested in his

sadhana and initially refused the invitation. But his sage brother

persuaded him and Vamadeva reluctantly went to Devaloka.

 

In Devaloka, the dance had begun and the Gandharvas (celestial

beings) were dancing with Apsaras (female celestials). Vamadeva

noticed that one Gandharva was looking at another Apsara in a impure

way (Maa described this as a "silly attraction"). The Gandharva's

name was Kraunch. Vamadeva became furious with Kraunch and cursed him

that the latter would be born as a mouse on earth. Now, Kraunch also

became furious and said that "OK, I will be a mouse", but I will

visit the ashrams of all the sages and create trouble there.

 

And so it came to be. Kraunch as a mouse went around different

ashrams and caused trouble for the sadhana of the wise sages.

 

Once Kraunch was in the ashram of the sage Parasara. The latter out

of desperation prayed to Lord Siva to relieve him of

this "difficulty". Lord Siva appeared and seeing what was going on,

said, "This is a problem for Lord Ganesha". So Lord Ganesh appeared

in Sage Parasara's Ashram and addressed the Mouse"Hey Mouse! Why are

you causing so much trouble". To which, Krauncha related the whole

story. Hearing this, Lord Ganesha asked Kraunch if he wished to

become his "vaahana", or vehicle on which Ganesh could travel. The

mouse readily agreed. What a divine blessing to be Lord Ganesha's

vehicle.

 

End of story.

>From the web, I dicovered that this story can be found in the Ganesha

Purana, an upa purana that is 400 verses long.

 

Moral: Maa said, "Karma is very subtle. Because of that single impure

thought/look that Kraunch had/gave he had to face so much trouble. So

we should be very careful when we perform our actions. She also said

that we should do every action with great respect. Also, we should

not be judgmental of others.

 

There were just five of us in the room, so it almost felt like

personal advice for me. Work and family are my two big problems and

here was Maa telling (a) how to do my work - with respect, and how to

relate to my family members - not judge them. What a great blessing!

 

Privately, Maa told my wife in a separate conversation that "She

(Maa) loves Ganesha".

 

I bow down again and again to our beloved Gurus. What Glorious lives

they lead! Infinite is their compassion. I seek their blessings that

this life becomes pure and beautiful.

 

with love and prayers,

srini