Full · 6 min aloud
The story of why is offered grass begins with a king who was very good at giving.
was famous for feeding people. He honoured brahmins, gave to those in need, and seemed to possess stores that never emptied. visited him and praised his generosity, but answered with words that made the problem clear: he spoke as though the giving, the wealth and the power behind it all belonged to him alone.
went to and told him what he had heard.
So took the appearance of an old, suffering brahmin guest and came to 's door asking for food — not a little food, but enough to make him full.
welcomed him and ordered a meal.
The guest ate it.
More food came. He ate that too. Food enough for thousands disappeared, then plate after plate of good rice and porridge. Grain was gathered from stores, houses, the city and the villages. Everything brought before the guest was eaten, and he was still hungry.
At last 's messengers had to tell the king that no grain could be found anywhere.
The guest left the palace and went from house to house asking for food. People could only tell him the same thing: the stores had already been emptied.
Then he reached a house with almost nothing in it.
A poor husband and wife lived there. When the guest entered, he found them worshipping an image of with fresh shoots and flowers. He told them that 's abundance had not satisfied him and asked whether their house could give him anything.
They answered that they were poor and had no food. That morning they had gathered for worship. After the offering, only one blade remained.
The guest told them that a little offered with devotion could satisfy him, while a great deal offered without devotion could fail.
They gave him the one remaining blade.
The turn is immediate. The guest eats the blade and his hunger is extinguished. Then the disguise falls away and stands before them. He offers them a boon. They do not ask for wealth. They ask that their devotion remain firm and that they be freed from the difficult ocean of existence.
The revealed form has four arms and an elephant's trunk, with a lotus, an axe, a garland and a tusk in his hands. The starving guest is gone; the one they had been worshipping is standing in their house.
That explains why is offered to . Then the story turns the same idea into a weighing test.
A sage tells his wife to take one blade of and ask for exactly its weight in gold — neither more nor less.
sends her to , the keeper of divine wealth.
is astonished by the request. A blade of grass should be easy to match.
A goldsmith's scale is brought. The gold does not equal the blade. A merchant's scale is tried. Then another balance. adds one piece of gold, then many.
Still the side holding the stays down.
He puts the entire treasury on the scale, piled up like a mountain. It is not enough. He summons his wife; she climbs onto the balance. Still not enough. Then he places his whole city there.
hears what has happened and comes with his own wealth. He too cannot raise the blade. He thinks of and ; they come with their cities and join the test.
The blade does not rise.
The gods finally go to the sage and admit that they do not understand the power of the he has offered to . Even the three worlds are not equal in weight to one such blade.
slow down hereA whole treasury, a city and the gods together could not lift what one poor house had given with devotion.
Short · 3 min aloud
A sage once wanted to show his wife why a single blade of could matter so much to .
The answer began with , a king famous for giving food. He fed visitors, the poor and anyone who asked, and his great stores seemed impossible to empty. But pride had entered the giving. had begun to speak as though the generosity, the wealth and even the power behind it all were his alone.
So came to his door disguised as a hungry brahmin guest.
brought food. The guest ate it. More came; he ate that too. Rice, porridge, stores from houses, grain from city and village — the story keeps enlarging the meal until there is nothing left to bring. The guest is still hungry.
He walks on and reaches a poor couple's house. They have almost nothing. That morning they had worshipped with fresh shoots and flowers. One blade of remains.
The guest tells them that a little given with devotion can satisfy him when abundance without devotion could not. They offer the single blade. He eats it. His hunger ends at once, and he reveals himself as .
Later the sage sends that same lesson into the court of : weigh one blade of against exactly as much gold.
sends it to , keeper of the gods' wealth.
A goldsmith's scale cannot balance it. Nor a merchant's. adds gold, then more gold, then the whole treasury piled like a mountain. The blade stays down.
adds his wife. Then his city. arrives with his own wealth. and come too. Still the blade does not rise.
slow down hereA whole treasury, a city and the gods could not lift what one poor house had given that day with devotion.