The God of grass

A beautiful legend in ancient Hindu lore narrates how, at the time of creation, the Lord assigned duties to the devatas (deities or divine caretakers) to become guardian angels of His creation.

Thus, he delegated  to them their areas of lordship, over mountains ,rivers, sun ,moon, vegetation,animals and birds, even the humble grass. However the Lord of the grass felt humiliated and powerless when he compared himself to his high profile and mighty brothers. He complained to the all powerful Jagadeeshwara and in protest refused to work as the Lord of grass.

After some days the Lord of the trees came to Jagadeeshwara and complained that the trees were drying as the ground had become hard and dry without grass. The flowers wilted without the grass’ cool protection.

Then came man crying as all the animals were dying without grass! Who would till the fields? The crop died ,the fruits and vegetables died as the earth became hard like baked clay! “Oh lord, we will all soon die, vegetarians as well as non-vegetarians unless there is green grass to bless the earth!”

The Lord looked at the God of grass. Ashamed at his arrogance and recognising his great role in the lord’s scheme of survival and maintenance of creation he asked for forgiveness for all the suffering he had caused.

So, the lowly grass became a green carpet once again and blessed the world with it’s bounty.

The supreme Lord in his super intelligence has rightly placed us where we are. No one is high or low, but it takes variegated threads to make a fabric. The threads keep moving under and over each other to create this magnificent tapestry of the universe. So , like the lowly grass, let us accomplish our task, big or small, with joy and gratitude.

Prarthna Saran, President Chinmaya Mission New Delhi.

Email: prarthnasaran@gmail.com