Devi Resides In Everyone

Tales of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

It was a sunny morning in Mount Kailash. Lord Ganesha, the darling son of Shiva and Parvati decided to go outside and play. With a hop and a leap, he was out in the garden.

He smelt the fragrant flowers. He was running behind the multi-colored butterflies. He climbed trees and ate the delicious fruits. He tried to catch the deer, but they were too fast for him. All the running about tired him. He sat under a tree. Just then he heard a mewing. It was his pet cat greeting him. He looked at it fondly. It walked up to him gracefully and climbed into his lap. It closed its eyes and cozily settled down for a nap.

Ganesh felt this was not right. It was bad to sleep in the day-time. He should not permit it. He roused the cat. It opened its eyes a little and gave a small mew in protest. Ganesh playfully made it stand on its hind legs. He then gently asked the pussy to wake up. But the cat only blinked. It climbed back into his lap and closed its eyes again.

Ganesh was upset that his cat whom he considered his pupil was acting disobedient. He scratched the cat to teach him a lesson. Before he could say anything further, the naughty cat jumped out of his grasp and ran away. Ganesh smiled to himself. Cats will be cats. He roamed about in the garden for a little longer and later returned to the house.

All the running around made him feel very hungry. “Is the food ready, mother?” he asked. Parvati looked at him smiling and said, “Yes, Ganesh, go, wash and come. I shall finish dressing my wounds.” Ganesh was puzzled. Wounds? He looked at his mother more closely. He got a shock. There were many ugly scratches on her lovely face. Ganesh became angry. “Mother, tell me who has done this to you? I shall tell Father and get the culprit punished.”

He was then in for another shock. Parvati said, “The culprit is none other than my beloved son Ganesh”. Ganesh could not make head or tail of what she was saying. “I hurt my dear mother! Impossible, even in a dream. And was I not all the while out in the garden? Perhaps some mischievous boy was in my guise and did this wicked deed.”

But Parvati only shook her head. “Ganesh, tell me, did you hurt anyone while playing in the garden?” “No, Mother,” said Ganesh “I had no companion to play with today”. “Then did you play with any animal and hurt it in anyway?” asked the mother.

Ganesh now remembered how he had punished the disobedient cat. But what had that to do with the scratches on his mother’s face? He questioned her.

Parvati smiled and said, ‘Ganesh, don’t you know I am the Mother of the whole Universe? It is I who live in all creatures. Therefore, when you hurt any creature you are actually hurting me as well”.

Ganesh bowed his head in shame. He now understood. He was only one of the children of the Divine Mother. She loves all her Children equally and suffers equally with all. Ganesh realized his mistake and told his mother, “Mother, from this day onwards, I will not hurt any person or any creature by thought or deed”.

We too should make the promise that Lord Ganesha made. And keep the promise. Only then we can be really the children of the Divine.

Note: This story is not from any mythology but has been written to teach children an important message though the character of Ganesha in his childhood. The messages are that the Divine Mother pervades the whole universe. She lives in all living beings. We should also be kind to animals.