Moral Short Story – Shraddha and her faith in Kali
Photo credit: wallyir from morguefile.com
Life is the way we look at!! I have heard this quote so many times but then sometimes even when you want to smile life refuses to give you what you want. But some strong people don’t give up and such is the story of Shraddha.
Shraddha was a housewife and a mother of two beautiful girls. She stayed in a government allotted house. Her husband was an Administrative officer in Ministry of Agriculture (Bengal). Life was all smiles and the family was living happily. The family was a sincere devotee of Ma Kali.
One day mishap happened in the family which lacerated Shraddha’s soul. Yes, she lost her husband in an accident. After few days of her husband’s death, she was asked to leave the government allotted house too.
Shraddha had no other choice than to become a burden on her mother and brother but in these worst conditions to Shraddha’s faith did not deteriorate and she kept thanking Ma Kali for everything.
Later as the time passed she filed for pension with the department with all the paperwork required. She thought things would be easy since her husband died on duty, but the officer in charge was famous for taking bribes and he kept on delaying Shraddha’s pension case.
Days passed into weeks and weeks into months and months into years. Time flew and it was more than four years now. Shraddha was still running from pillar to post for her husband’s pension. Alas! Nothing was happening. She and her kids were totally dependent on her mother and Brother.
Another mishap happened and now she lost her brother too who was the only bread earning member! Life was not the same anymore. Now her girls had to think twice before spending or asking for money. From public school, they were transferred into municipal school. The girls did not like it but they realized that the situation was not good for their mother too. By staying quiet they sort of stood by their mother.
Shraddha pitied herself as she could not be a bread earner because of her deteriorating health and prayed to Ma Kali for expediting the pension case which was pending for too long now
She once again knocked the door of higher officials with complaints against the officer who kept on delaying her case but it was of no use. She did not have any money to offer them. In this situation when her ecosystem was a big mess and her kid’s studies were suffering her ailing heart cursed the officer to be in the same situation in which he had brought her.
She prayed hard to Ma kali for directing her towards the end of this situation. It is said that God is our biggest parent and sometimes strict too especially when we trouble others.
The officer in charge received a phone call from a lady called “Mahamaya” She asked him to stop troubling people but the officer in charge of pension case asked her to shut up and banged the phone down.
Every day at three pm he would receive a call from this lady call Mahamaya telling him to stop troubling people and that would irritate him a lot. Once he kept his office landline phone off the hook so that the phone would not ring.
The landline didn’t ring but his cell phone rang and Mahamaya once again warned him. He did not heed up to her warnings and went ahead and made a police complaint against the phone calls he was receiving. Upon checking his cell phone records and his office phone numbers the police could not track any phone number calling him. When police asked his co-workers they too said that they had never heard him talking to anybody.
This became a big joke in office and the pension department made fun of the officer. Meanwhile, they would see Shraddha coming every day to meet him and he would tell her that people start getting the pension when they are about to die. This would lower her confidence level and her heart would curse him again and again.
One day the officer in charge of pension department reached his house only to find that both his daughters were admitted to the hospital. He rushed to the hospital and his wife told him that the girls were playing and had suddenly fainted.
He spent money like water for the tests advised by the doctors but still the problem could not be diagnosed and both of the girls slipped into a comma. He howled and cried and prayed to God to heal his daughters but nothing was happening. He joined office after twenty days .He sat on his chair and drifted away into thinking of his sorrow when he received the call again from “Mahamaya” asking him to stop troubling people.
This time, he shouted and asked who was he troubling !!He blabbered that he was already in trouble as his daughters,and he was interrupted by Mahamaya who warned him to stop his harassment and the line went dead. He looked around and saw that his coworkers were busy with their work and none of them seemed to have heard him shouting. He shook his head in dismay wondering what was happening.
He saw Shraddha knocking his door and she once more pleaded with him to resolve her pension case. He thought for a minute and then immediately sanctioned her file and sent it to the department from where she would get her pension.
Shraddha smiled and said may Mahamaya who is the Great Definition of Consciousness form of Goddess Kali bless you.
He disregarded her words at that time but as soon as she left he received a call from the hospital saying that the girls were out of the comma and he could meet them. Overjoyed with a heartfelt gratitude he reached the hospital. Both the girls were in different rooms asking their mother to call father as they wanted to give him some important message .
Upon arrival of the officer to meet his girls his wife told him the eagerness of his daughters to meet him.
He met his elder one first and she told him about the dream she saw. The officer of the pension department was shocked but remained quiet. His wife was witnessing his expressions and asked him what had happened. He said nothing and went to the other room to meet his second daughter. The younger one too told him about the dream she saw.
When he came out of the rooms he kneeled down and howled. The staff of the hospital along with his wife asked him to calm down but he kept on crying like a baby and repeating the sentence sorry I would never do it again!
“What will you never do again? What happened to you What did the girls say to you”, asked his wife.
“Sulochana, remember, I told you about the phone calls I was receiving at office”.
“Yes, you did”
“Sulochana the lady who was calling me her name was Mahamaya and our daughters claim to be in the lap of Maha Maya. And the woman whose pension case I was not approving because I wanted bribe left my office today saying that may Mahamaya She Who is the Great Definition of Consciousness form of Goddess Kali bless you
It was Goddess Kali herself, who was calling me”. The tears didn’t stop rolling his eyes .
Next day, the officer in charge went back office happily. Just when everything started looking fine, the phone bell rang exactly at 3 pm again.
He said hello
On the other side, Mahamaya said I had to take your kids to the hospital to make you spend all the money you had earned from taking bribes and by troubling people. That was not your money . That money was cursed. I want you to listen to your conscious and finish all the pending pension cases especially for those who can not afford anything.If you won’t listen to me I will come again bringing your more disaster.
Before he could say anything the phone was disconnected. He cleared all the cases from his desk within a week’s time and also started giving 10% from his income to needy families and this way he also learned to collect blessings.
Shraddha’s kids were back to public school and her financial position once again shined with Ma Kali’s blessings.
–END–
