The Story of Ganesa: 20. Punishment for greed | INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

 

The Story of Ganesa: 20. Punishment for greed | INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

The Story of Ganesa: 20. Punishment for greed

The Vighneswara temple in Vatapi was full of sculptures based on the ‘leelas’ of the Lord, especially how He went to the help of devotees whenever they ardently prayed for his benevolence.

Satyasarma and Lobhagupta lived in the same village, and were neighbours. Lobhagupta’s original name was Labhagupta; however, when people saw how greedy he was, they began to call him Lobhagupta. The name stuck.

Both, he and Satyasarma, regularly visited the nearby Siva temple. The latter would first offer prayers at the small temple of Ganesa at the entrance. Only then would he go and pray before the main sanctum sanctorum. On the other hand, Lobhagupta would prostrate before the idol of Siva, all the while praying for more wealth.

One day, as Satyasarma was leaving the temple, Lobhagupta had reached the entrance. The sacred Nandikeswara, the mount of Lord Siva, guarding the entance, was heard asking Ganesa: “O Vighneswara! You are aware how your devotee Satyasarma is struggling in life. Why don’t you go to his help?”

“All right, Nandi,” said Vighneswara, “by evening today, he will receive a thousand rupees.”

Lobhagupta, who happend to overhear this conversation between the statue of Nandi and idol of Vighneswara stood stupefied for some time. By the time he concluded his worship of Lord Siva, he had thought up a plan to earn some money.

He went to Satyasarma’s house. He told him, “Satyasarma, I know you’ve financial difficulties. I shall give you five hundred rupees. You may return the amount when you get some money in the evening.” as they were keen to perform their daughter’s marriage, and the boy’s parents had been asking for money to buy jewellery.

Satyasarma was surprised for a moment. He also suspected Lobhagupta’s motive as he was notorious for his greed. When Satyasarma’s wife saw him hesitating, she called him aside and prodded him: “The boy’s parents are waiting. Let’s take the money and send them away.”

That was a practical suggestion. Satyasarma said: “All right, I shall take the money, but I don’t expect to receive any other money before evening, so that I can return the amount to you.”

“Please don’t worry about that,” said Lobhagupta with some confidence. “After all, we are friends. If I come to your help now, I know you too will help me when such a need arises.” He then handed five hundred rupees to Satyasarma and went away.

However, Lobhagupta found that there was no sign of any money reaching Satyasarma. Evening came, and he hurried to the temple. He caught hold of the trunk of Vighneswara and prayed, “O Lord! Please see that Satyasarma receives a thousand rupees.” Suddenly he found that his palm had got entangled in the trunk. He was unable to free his hand which was being held firmly by the trunk. It started to hurt.

Lobhagupta began to cry. He now heard a voice coming from the idol: “Promise me that you will yourself give a thousand rupees to Satyasarma. Only then will I set you free.” Lobhagupta hit his head with the other hand. “What injustice is this? I’ve already given him five hundred rupees!”

The voice was heard again: “So you were planning after giving him five hundred to grab a thousand rupees ? What greed! Give him five hundred rupees more and don’t ask him to return the amount. Treat it as your wedding gift to his daughter, and her marriage as that of your own daughter. You make that promise here and now!”

Lobhagupta promised. Lo and behold, the trunk released his hand! He not only paid five hundred rupees more to Satyasarma, but made amends for his greed. He met the entire expenditure of the wedding. Later, he began to spend a large part of his ill-gotten wealth for the welfare of the people. The villagers now saw him as a philanthropist.