RELIGION-SPIRITUALITY : Every creature in the universe was satisfied with the satisfaction of the mother

WEB STORY BY RAVI DIXIT।

There was a small Shiva temple outside the village, in which an old priest lived. One day, a poor mother left her little child at the temple’s door and went away.Despite a lot of searching, the priest could not find anything about the child’s family.When no one in the village was ready to keep the child, the priest considered it to be Lord Shiva’s wish and kept the child with himself and named him Bhola. Whatever he got from the devotees of the village, Lord Shiva, the priest and the child Bhola somehow managed to survive on that.

If on some day the priest fell short, he would offer bhog to the child and the God and then spend the day drinking Gangajal himself. Gradually Bhola started growing up and now he started helping the priest in his work. The old priest’s tired hands started getting some relief. So he explained to Bhola the method of cleaning the temple, worshipping Shiva, offering bhog to him and performing his aarti.

Now he himself started spending time in chanting and singing the name of Lord Shiva. One day, while chanting the auspicious name of Lord Shiva, he breathed his last.Now, Bhola had no support in this world except Lord Shiva.He never forgot these three instructions of the priest. Offer only fresh and hot food to Lord Shiva and do not eat anything without offering it to the Lord.

Having faith in Lord Shiva, never hoard anything, not even stale food. If any devotee donated pre-cooked food or sweets to the temple, then the child Bhola would distribute it among the poor. He would make fresh food and offer it to God only after that, he himself would take the prasad and if there was any left, he would distribute it. If there were no ingredients for cooking, then Bhole Baba and Bhola devotee both would survive by drinking Ganga water only.

Once the rainy season came and due to heavy rain for three-four days, not even a single devotee visited the temple. Bhola would offer only Ganga water to his Bhole Baba and would drink it only. Bhole Baba kept testing the child’s devotion and endurance, but at last, seeing his devotee child suffering from hunger, he could not tolerate it. He took the form of Seth’s servant and reached the temple door, drenched in the rain, with a bundle of food items in his hand,

He called Bhola and giving him a bundle said that Sethji has sent this directly (raw ration), prepare food from it, offer it to God and take the prasad yourself too, I will come again tomorrow….

Bhola Bhagat blessed him and sent him off and prepared hot food in the smoke of dry and wet wood and offered it to Bhole Baba. Throughout the rainy season, Bhole Baba kept coming in the guise of a servant to give sida to Bhola Bhagat and himself kept getting hot food. One day Bhola Bhagat thought that it has been four months since he has been sending Sethji, but he himself never came to the temple to receive Bhole Baba’s prasad.

Next day when Bhole Baba came in the guise of a servant to give him the bundle of food, Bhola Bhagat said to him, Brother :- your such a pious Sethji never came himself to the temple to take the prasad, due to this my heart is feeling very sad, tell your Sethji that tomorrow he must also come to the temple to receive the prasad, Hearing this, Bhole Baba, who was disguised as a servant, got shocked and said, Pujari ji..

Seth ji sends it to you directly through me, you offer it to God and also get the prasad yourself, then what is the need to call Seth ji in between? Let things go on as they are, right?

Bhola said, how can I let this go? Your pious Sethji has been sending me directly for so many days, should I not fulfill my duty of giving him God’s Prasad? I am not going to take anyone’s loan, tell your Sethji that if he does not come to take Bhole Baba’s Prasad tomorrow, then I will not accept his direct.

Bhole Baba, who was a servant, trembled on seeing the arrogance of his innocent devotee, and laughed in his mind thinking that wow, today the receiver is bullying the giver, but being pleased with the sentiments of the simple hearted devotee, he said, okay Pujari ji, tomorrow Seth ji will definitely come to the temple to receive the prasad,

The next day early in the morning Bhole Baba arrived at the temple in the guise of a servant carrying milk and lots of food items. Bhola was surprised and said, Brother! Why did you bring so much today?

Bholebaba, who was the servant, said, “:-, have you forgotten? Today you have invited Sethji for Prasad, so you prepare the food and offer it to Bholebaba. Yes, please tell me at what time Sethji will arrive.”The servant told him the time of Sethji’s arrival.

Now to fulfil the wish of Bhola Bhagat, Bhole Baba started assuming the form of a merchant on Kailash. On hearing the news of her master going to a dear devotee’s place, how could the loving Annapurna Maa Parvati stay behind? She also took the permission of her husband and started assuming the form of a merchant’s wife.

Bhole Baba removed the garland of skulls from his neck, the ashes on his body, the tiger skin around his waist and the necklaces of snakes on his arms and ears. He wore a beautiful velvet kurta, straightened his matted locks and hid Ganga and the moon in them and wore a beautiful colourful turban on top. Shiva, who always walked barefoot, wore silken sandals today.

Bhole Baba handed over his trident and damru to Nandi and started walking on Kailash with a beautiful stick in his hand, waiting for Parvati to get ready..

Here Parvati Ji was busy in getting ready for hours, today she took out a beautiful Banarasi saree made in her husband’s city and wore it, the color of which was matching with the kurta of Shiv Ji who was dressed as a businessman, she wore sparkling jewellery, wore beautiful slippers on her feet, after repeatedly calling Bhole Baba, she came out of the dressing room,

When Parvati and Shiv saw each other in the guise of a rich man and his wife, they were astonished and kept looking at each other. Both were getting delighted by looking at each other. They had never seen each other in such a beautiful form before.

When Lord Gaurishankar went from Kailash to his devotee’s place on invitation in the guise of a merchant’s wife and wife, then Ganesh, Kartikeya, Nandi, sages, saints, Gods and goddesses also kept looking at him.

Lord Shiva dressed as a merchant was walking with his stick in his hand swinging it gracefully and touching the ground, and behind him Mother Parvati dressed as a merchant’s wife was walking, making a sweet tinkling sound from her anklets.

Here Bhola Bhagat was busy since morning preparing a lot of dishes to welcome Sethji. He used to prepare Bhog for his Bhole Baba everyday, but today he had to give Bhagavatprasad to Sethji who had been sending him directly for offering to God for many months. So today he had put all his cooking skills into action. He washed the rice sent by Sethji and prepared kheer. He cooked it on low flame and thickened it. He added pistachios, almonds, saffron, raisins sent by Sethji. He ground chillies and ginger and stuffed it in millet, gram flour and wheat flour and made thick Missa Tikkas.

After preparing the food, Bhola Bhagat went to take a bath again so that after wearing clean clothes, he could offer food to Bhole Baba and make Sethji accept his prasad.

When Bhola Bhagat returned after taking a bath, he saw that Sethji himself had come to receive the Prasad, and had also brought his wife along with him. Bhola immediately greeted both of them, made them sit on seats and said, I will just come after offering food to God, and then will serve you the Prasad.

Bhola Baba, who was hungry for Bhavna, was not able to bear the hunger, so he said;- Priest Ji :- please offer the food to God quickly, I am not able to bear the hunger,

Bhola Bhagat said to Sethji :- 1 am also feeling very hungry, but I do not forget to offer food to God because of my hunger. If all the people of the world forget to offer food to God because of their hunger, then God will die of hunger.

Bhole Baba, disguised as Sethji, picked up a plate and said, Pujari Ji :- please have the Prasad, I will serve the plate here, I am unable to bear the hunger,

Bhola Bhagat, while scolding Bhole Baba disguised as Sethji, said, Sethji :- there is no hurry or stinginess in God’s work, till I do not offer food to God, you cannot even go near the kitchen, sit here quietly and keep chanting Om Namah Shivaya, I will come now and feed you to your fill, Shiv Ji who had become a merchant, after being scolded,quietly sat on his seat. Parvati who had become a merchant’s

 

wife, seeing his plight, could hardly control her laughter. But as soon as Bhola Bhagat went to the temple with food in a plate to offer food to God, Shiv Ji, signalling Parvati Ji to remain silent, silently entered the kitchen and started tasting each dish one by one.Bhole Baba got disturbed as soon as he tasted the Prasad.

 

The Kheer had salt instead of sugar and the vegetables were filled with sugar. As soon as Bhole Baba broke a piece of roti and put it in his mouth, he started making hissing sounds as the roti was filled with chillies. While making hissing sounds, he ran away and sat on his seat.Mother Parvati burst out laughing after seeing this condition of her husband.

 

Before Bhole Baba could explain anything to Parvati Ji, Bhola Bhagat arrived chanting the mantra Om Namah Shivaya.He mixed the offering in the kitchen and made it pure and then served the plate in front of Seth Ji and said with folded hands.  Sethji :- now you can have prasad to your heart’s content

Bhole Baba had just tasted the food prepared by the devotee, which was stronger than the devotion of the devotee, so on hearing him talk about food, he started sweating. Sometimes he would look at Bhola’s face and sometimes at Parvati’s face.

Bhola could not tolerate the leniency of Sethji He said, Sethji :- what happened to you now? Just now you were making such a fuss? Why don’t you eat now? You eat only then will mother also accept the prasad and then I will also get the prasad,

On hearing Bhola’s challenge, Bhole Baba silently picked up the kulhar of kheer and drank all the salty kheer in one gulp. As soon as the kulhar got empty, Bhola filled it up in a jiffy.Today God started enjoying the food served by his beloved devotee twice as much.Bhola kept serving and Bhole Baba kept drinking.

Jagat Mata Parvati kept getting mesmerized seeing the love between the devotee and God.When all the cooking was finished, God belched loudly.Bhola came to his senses and said, wow Sethji, wow, I was foolish to cook so little food. If I had known that you are so fond of taking prasad, I would have cooked more food. Bhole Baba, while caressing his stomach, said smilingly looking at Parvati Ji who was dressed as Sethani,

Priest ji :- I don’t eat this much every day, but today the prasad was so delicious that I could not control myself and kept on eating,But then Bhola Bhakt was surprised and said, Sethji :- you did the right thing. But mother remained hungry,The loving mother Parvati could not bear to see Bhola’s face, she dropped four drops of the remaining kheer in her throat, the prasad had got a wonderful and divine taste after being offered by Bhole Baba, the mother of the universe was satiated after tasting such fragrant and sweet kheer and as soon as she was satiated, every creature in the universe got satiated.

On hearing Bhola’s challenge, Bhole Baba silently picked up the kulhar of kheer and drank all the salty kheer in one gulp. As soon as the kulhar got empty, Bhola filled it up in a jiffy.Today God started enjoying the food served by his beloved devotee twice as much.Bhola kept serving and Bhole Baba kept drinking. Jagat Mata Parvati kept getting mesmerized seeing the love between the devotee and God.

When all the cooking was finished, God belched loudly.Bhola came to his senses and said, wow Sethji, wow, I was foolish to cook so little food. If I had known that you are so fond of taking prasad, I would have cooked more food. Bhole Baba, while caressing his stomach, said smilingly looking at Parvati Ji who was dressed as Sethani,

Priest ji :- I don’t eat this much every day, but today the prasad was so delicious that I could not control myself and kept on eating,But then Bhola Bhakt was surprised and said, Sethji :- you did the right thing. But mother remained hungry,

The loving mother Parvati could not bear to see Bhola’s face, she dropped four drops of the remaining kheer in her throat, the prasad had got a wonderful and divine taste after being offered by Bhole Baba, the mother of the universe was satiated after tasting such fragrant and sweet kheer and as soon as she was satiated, every creature in the universe got satiated.