The right prayer, the wrong goddess

In a particular village there were two very wealthy families. The wives were close friends. The husbands believed that it was their wives who had brought prosperity to their families, so the husbands were very pleased with their wives and proud of them. Before they married, these two men had not been at all rich. Then, when they got married, all at once their circumstances changed for the better.

There was another woman in the village who was extremely curious to know the reason behind the sudden material prosperity of these families. One day the two wives invited her to come and have tea with them. She took the opportunity to ask them to explain what had made them so wealthy.

The first wife said, “In my case, it is very simple. I prayed and prayed and prayed to the goddess of poverty. I begged this deity not to come near me. I said, ‘O Goddess, I really want my husband to become rich, so kindly do not visit our house.’”

The second wife said, “I prayed and prayed and prayed to the goddess of wealth. I said to her, ‘Please, do come and abide in our house.’ I had a special mantra which I repeated over and over. This goddess did listen to my prayers, and she blessed my family with her prosperity.”

The first wife added, “I also had a special mantra, which I repeated for the goddess of poverty. She heard it and she very compassionately stayed far, far away from our house.” Each wife was more than happy to teach her special mantra to the woman, and the woman was very happy and grateful.

The woman returned home and started praying and praying, using both the mantras together. Unfortunately, after repeating the mantras thousands of times, sometimes she got a little confused and mixed them up.

One day, while the woman was praying, the goddess of poverty and the goddess of wealth both came to her at the same time. She did not realise that she had invoked both of them. They came to find out what she actually wanted. They both looked most beautiful and radiant. Even though the goddess of poverty was not dressed as elaborately as the goddess of wealth, her face was full of light. The goddesses asked the woman to choose which one should stay and which one should depart. The woman looked from one to the other, mesmerised by their beauty. Finally she said to the goddess of poverty, “You look more beautiful to me. I want you to stay with me and bless my family.” To the goddess of wealth she said, “You are beautiful, true, but your beauty is not as deep, so I would like you to go. By going, you will make me happy.”

Then the goddesses asked the woman, “Do you wish us to obey you immediately?”

“Oh no,” said the woman. “Now we have talked for so long. Let us start from tomorrow.” To the goddess of poverty she said, “Tomorrow please come back and stay with me.” And to the goddess of wealth she said, “From tomorrow on, please do not come to me again. I do not need you.”

So the goddesses disappeared and the woman was very happy because she had resolved everything to her satisfaction. Within a short space of time, she thought, she and her family would become extremely prosperous. She did not realise that she had made a terrible mistake. She simply had no idea that she had banished the goddess of wealth from her house forever. It had not occurred to her that the goddess of poverty would also be very beautiful and compassionate, so she had not thought to ask their names. She assumed that the more beautiful one would be the goddess of wealth.

Alas, alas, the following day the goddess of poverty came and blessed the woman by making her poorer than the poorest. When the woman saw how everything in her life was being transformed for the worse, she asked the goddess, “What happened?”

The goddess said, “I am the goddess of poverty. It was I whom you invited to stay with you. The other being was the goddess of wealth. You asked her never to come back again. This unfortunate mistake was all due to your greed. Now your family will be forced to suffer from poverty. This time, if you really want to help them, you can start praying again, but instead of praying for outer prosperity, you can pray for inner prosperity. If God is pleased with your sincerity, He will shower upon you His infinite Peace, Light and Delight.”