there is an ancient story in which lord ganesha teaches the lesson of humility and love to kubera. there are many versions of this story. but the important thing is to grasp the message which lord ganesha taught the kubera.
kubera is the god of wealth and riches in the hindu mythology. kubera is worshipped for bringing prosperity and wealth. ma laxmi is also worshipped for bringing prosperity in the house. kubera is mainly worshipped by business and trader community.
power and money usually corrupts the mind and ego. it happens with all of us. once kubera became too much proud of his wealth. he wanted to show it off to the world. so he decided to have a big ceremony in his place where he will offer variety of food to the guest. he invited thousands of important guests. he also went to lord shiva place to invite him.
now shiva knows everything. nothing is hidden from him. he could see that the invitation is not out of devotion or love for him but to show off his riches. seeing the intention of kubera, lord shiva said “i can not come but my little son ganesha will come. take care that he is an voracious eater and serve him well”
kubera was too proud of his riches that he was very confident that he would be able to serve ganesha very well. so kubera went back to his place and started preparing for the grand feast.
on the appointed day, all the guest came and so did the bal ganesha. kubera took the bal ganesha inside the palace and did the ceremonial rituals of welcoming the guest and then offered the food to him. in no time, the food was eaten by ganesha. more food was served and it again disappeared in ganesha belly in no time. one of the name of lord ganesha is ‘lambodara’ which means the huge bellied lord. in no time, ganesha ate all the food which was meant to be served to all the guest.
seeing this kubera was already panicked. he asked ganesha to wait untill the cooks can make more food. but ganesha was in no mood to relent or wait. he said give me more food otherwise i will eat everything here, including you and your palace. so lord ganesha started devouring plates, utensils and other items in the palace.
in the panic state, kubera went to lord shiva and asked for forgiveness and the solution to satiate the ganesha hunger. lord shiva asked kubera to give handful of roasted rice with love and humility. kubera did the same and lord ganesha was satisfied.
message from the story:
1. god can not be pleased by offering expensive gifts or money. god wants your love and devotion. if kubera has invited lord shiva out of devotion or love then probably he would have come.
2. offering of love, devotion and humility is only accepted by god.
3. be humble and loving to all mankind because god resides in everybody.
4. whatever extra you have. don’t boast about it. instead share your blessings with others. it could be money, knowledge, food, space or anything.
e.g. if you have extra space in your courtyard then plant a tree to help the world from green house effect and climate change.
your old clothes can be donated to poor people.
if you have enough money then regularly make donations for religious and charitable occasions.
if you have knowledge then don’t keep it to yourself. share it.
remember, whatever we share increases and what we don’t share decreases. running water is always fresh and stagnant water becomes dirty.
Sunny says
You should always quote at least the name of the purana & its chapter from where you are giving a story else it has no value!
amit says
Sunny, these are the stories we are hearing from elders.