THE OLD WOMAN AND THE ROTTEN BANANA

Some stories we read or hear leave deep impression in our mind and impact our character and reactions in our day to day life.
I am giving below one such story which I heard from my mother in my childhood.
Once upon a time Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvathi were roaming in the sky taking note of the happenings below. When they were passing over hell, they were disturbed by the sight of persons suffering from the punishment given to them for their sins. Goddess Parvathi was particularly affected by the crying of an old lady who was undergoing punishment. Being the mother of all and kindness personified, she could not tolerate the sight and decided to help the old lady. She requested Lord Siva to help the lady.
Lord Siva was unmoved and replied that those who are in the hell deserve the punishment given to them and He could not show partiality to anybody. Undergoing punishment is their fate and even He is not empowered to interfere. But Goddess could not believe his comment and insisted him to help the lady.
“You are the creator of the whole universe including hell and heaven. So You can always find a way to help her”
“So You want to see for Yourself My limitations and assure Yourself that the old lady deserves the punishment.”
Goddess Parvathi nodded in agreement. Lord asked her to descend to hell and find out from the old lady at least one good act in her life time. Lord assured to help the lady if Goddess could find at least one good deed in her entire life. Accordingly Goddess met the old lady and asked to about good deeds done in her life time. The old lady thought for a long time and replied that she did not do a single good deed in her life time. The Goddess could not believe her ears. She asked the old lady to think again and again and inform at least one deed so that She could take the old lady to heaven.
After thinking for a long time the old lady replied,
“Oh Mother! I don’t know whether it was a good deed or bad. One day a beggar was begging in front of my house. Since he was not leaving my house in spite of denying alms many times, I remembered that one rotten Banana was in the house to be disposed off. Thinking that giving that as alms would save her the work of disposing it off; I gave it to the beggar.”
On hearing this Goddess became very happy and requested God to save the old lady since giving alms to a beggar is a good act. Lord Siva agreed to help. Immediately the rotten banana appeared just above the old lady. God asked the old lady to catch hold one end of the rotten banana. The old lady happily gripped one end of the banana. God caught hold of the other end and pulled the banana up. The banana along with the old lady started to move up. Others were witnessing all the events. Presently one person ran towards the lady and caught hold of the feet of the old lady. The lady howled at him to leave her feet. But he did not listen. Slowly he was also moving up. The old lady was furious. By the time another person saw them moving up and caught hold of them.
Seeing this more people came rushing towards them and clung to them. The old lady saw more and more people moving up and could not tolerate. She tried vigorously to shake tem off.
“Leave my leg, you sinners. The banana was mine and only I am eligible for heaven. If you don’t leave my leg I will cut your hands. Beware you sinners”
The old lady screamed.
“Keep your cool, old lady.” The Goddess tried to pacify her.
“Oh Mother! You don’t know these people. They are cheats. They are sinners and are to be punished in hell. They don’t deserve heaven. I gave the banana to the beggar and hence only I deserve heaven. They are trying to fool you. I won’t allow them to come along with me…..” The old lady screamed and screamed and shook her body vigorously to shake them off.
The rotten banana gave way and the whole bunch of people including the old lady fell in the hell again.
The Goddess shook her head in disbelief and joined Lord Siva to continue their journey.
“But Oh Mother! Goddess could not save the old lady after all. The act of giving alms to the beggar went in vain” I asked my mother slightly confused.
“You don’t understand my boy!” My mother replied “Giving a rotten banana as alms is a sin and deserve to be punished. You have to give things that you like best. The idea of giving occurred in the old lady’s mind. That was the only good thing. Goddess tried to use that act to save the lady. She gave the old lady a chance to help other sinners to reach heaven. If the old lady did not object other sinners to cling to her and carried them to heaven, that good act would have made her deserve heaven. But the old lady was so cruel she could not tolerate to see others happy. She was jealous even after death.
SO MY LITTLE CHILD, BE KIND AND HELP OTHERS. IF YOU MAKE OTHERS HAPPY YOU WILL BE HAPPY FOR EVER.” Even today I remember hearing those words of my mother as I was dozing off to sleep.

A.K.RAMAN