In the previous episode, we had witnessed Sage Vyaasa narrating a beautiful anecdote about Mudgala who lived in the Kurukshetra-Desha. The context here is to highlight the importance of “Dhaanam” and how “Saathvika Dhaanam” in a human being makes him / her equivalent to the Devas (Celestial beings). Mudgala was living in a small hamlet with his wife and children and he used to go and collect small quantities of paddy everyday for their food requirements. Since the quantity was extremely small per day, the family consumed a sumptuous meal only once in fifteen days. The way in which Mudgala collected paddy was very unique – He would collect only those grains of paddy which had fallen off the sacks, and which aren’t being consumed by small living beings such as ants, etc. Of course, this amount would be extremely less per day and this is how things were going. Even Bhagawan was extremely impressed upon Mudgala’s “Dharma”. Moreover, before consuming the meal once in that fifteen days period, Mudgala would make sure that the food is offered to Bhagawan with all the rituals being correctly followed. If a guest comes home, Mudgala would never bother to sacrifice his meal to feed the guest.
In this way, Mudgala shone as an epitome of “Saathvika Dhaanam”, until one fine day when Bhagawan decided to test him! Sage Dhurvasa was once passing by Mudgala’s home and upon hearing the significance of Mudgala’s “Saathvika Dhaanam”, he wanted to obtain something as well. Thus, Sage Dhurvasa makes his way to Mudgala’s home and Mudgala happily receives him with all the due respects. As Sage Dhurvasa gets comfortable, Mudgala offers food for him as a token of “Dhaanam”. That day was the culmination of the fifteen days for which Mudgala’s family was waiting to have sumptuous food. However, with the arrival of Sage Dhurvasa, Mudgala decided that a small portion of the cooked food be given as a “Dhaanam” to the great sage. Sage Dhurvasa too accepted the “Dhaanam” gleefully and started consuming the food. Unexpectedly for Sage Dhurvasa, the food was extremely tasty, coupled with the enormous “Sathva Guna” with which it was prepared, and hence, Sage Dhurvasa’s hunger started increasing by the moment. Thus, as Sage Dhurvasa asked for more and more food, Mudgala and his wife had no other option but to serve the entire meal that was prepared for themselves. However, Sage Dhurvasa’s hunger still wasn’t satisfied!
Now all of us know who Sage Dhurvasa is – He is a great sage, but is an epitome of anger! If he gets angry, we know what would be his next course of action – To curse! We’ve seen in the past as well as to how many people were affected because of Sage Dhurvasa’s curse! Now, as the food was getting over, Mudgala too had this same fear in him! What if Sage Dhurvasa’s hunger doesn’t get satisfied and if he comes to know that the food was over, what would be his reaction? Such things were running continuously in Mudgala’s mind, as the other big worry was that there were no ingredients left in the kitchen to prepare fresh food! Luckily by Bhagawan’s grace, Sage Dhurvasa’s hunger came to an end! He got satisfied with Mudgala’s offerings and with this, he decided to take leave! As Sage Dhurvasa departs, he provides his divine “Anugraha” to Mudgala and his family and all of them are happy.
However, there’s one glitch here – As Sage Dhurvasa had consumed all the food that was prepared, now what would Mudgala and family eat? They did not have anything and the kitchen was completely empty! Hence, they had to wait for the next fifteen days to consume the next tranche of food! Nevertheless, Mudgala and family never bothered about all this and they patiently waited for the fifteenth day for the paddy to come and to cook a good meal for themselves. However, on the fifteenth day, Sage Dhurvasa came to see them again! Mudgala welcomed him once again and offered all the cooked food as a token of “Dhaanam” to him! Again, the family had to starve because Sage Dhurvasa had consumed all the food that was prepared! This saga continued for the next six times! Once in every fifteen days, Sage Dhurvasa used to come and visit Mudgala and he would give all the cooked food to Sage Dhurvasa and the entire family would starve! So for today, let us understand up to this point and in the next episode, we shall continue to witness what happened subsequently! Was Sage Dhurvasa happy? Or, did he get annoyed by any chance with Mudgala? Stay tuned for an interesting accord! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 