He says "Lord, this is not any normal fruit. It is a very special one. Lord Brahma has sent it. Whoever eats it will gain knowledge and wisdom. It is the Gnanaphalam (fruit of knowledge). Narayana, Narayana" smilingly.
Lord Shiva wishes to divide the fruit between His two sons. On knowing this, the sage counsels Shiva against cutting it.
Now Lord Shiva is in a predicament. Which one of His sons should he give the special Mango to? Ganesh or Kartikeya?
He then consults Lady Parvati and arrives at a decision of holding a competition between Their two sons Ganesh and Kartikeya.
Both the boys aspire to win the fruit at any cost.
The criteria of the competition is that, whoever encircles the earth three times would win the Mango.
As soon as the competition is declared, Kartikeya, the Lord of Wars hops onto His vehicle peacock and zooms away, starting his journey around the earth without thinking even for a moment.
But Ganesh stands perplexed. With His huge rotund structure and His vehicle being the little mouse, how could He possibly encircle the earth three times and win over His brother whose vehicle is a fast peacock?
He asks His parents Lord Shiva and Lady Parvati to sit together. He then joins His palms with respect and circumambulates Them three times.
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| Ganesh encircling His Parents Who mean the world to Him |
He then tells His parents, "Pitashree (father), Matashree (mother), now give me the Gnanaphalam."
Shiva and Parvati are taken aback and ask Ganesh, "You have not fulfilled the terms of the competition and you are asking for the prize?"
Ganesh replies, "In my opinion, the world is nothing more than Shiva and Shakti combined. You are the world to me. So when I went around You, it was equivalent to going around the world."
Pleased with Ganesh's wit and discernment, Shiva awards the fruit to Ganesh.
On returning, Kartikeya gets very furious upon knowing that he lost the competition and all his efforts had gone in vain. He feels the need to grow more mature from boyhood and flees to Palani hills in Tamil Nadu, South India. He discards his weapons, ornaments and robes and remains there as a hermit. He is called Murugan in Tamil Nadu. The famous Murugan temple on Palani hills is dedicated to Lord Kartikeya.
With this story, we understand that, big decisions should not be made in haste. One must always think before acting. There would be smarter and better ways to tackle things in life. With wisdom and patience, big problems can be solved easily.
Nevertheless, Lord Ganesh shows how one must revere their parents and see the whole world at their feet.
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