Adoration to Parents is Equivalent to turning around the Earth

Mother is heavier than the earth, father is higher than the sky. Dharmaraja answered the questions asked by Aksha. Parents are our first gurus. A mother plays vital role from giving birth to a child till bringing up during infancy and a father takes all the pain to introduce the child to the society. It is not possible to any child to repay them. But the story of Vinayaka proves it is possible if we pay complete devotion to our parents. Lord Shiva and Parvati decided in Kailash. They were blessed with two sons, Ganesh and Kumaraswamy. The vehicle of Kumaraswamy is peacock whereas the vehicle of Ganesh is a rat. Once all demigods came to the Lord Parashiva and complained about the problems they were facing with the demons and requested him to give an efficient leader to get rid of this problem. Lord Shiva wanted to test both of his sons in this regard. Both of his sons were called for. Paramashiva declared, My dear sons, I would like to make one of you as the leader of all demigods. For this, you have to turn around the wall and reach me. The one who reaches first will be the leader. Kumaraswamy started very confidently on his vehicle peacock since this bird is faster than and there won't be any traffic jam or hindrance in the sky. But in case of Vinayakam, it's not possible to move around the earth on the rat and reach his parents faster than his younger brother. The rat moves very slowly on the earth. Besides, it comes across cats and dogs on its way and should hide in the burrows to protect itself from its enemy. So, Ganesh knows it is not possible to win in this competition. But he did not want to show his back. He made all the efforts but could not move even one mile without any hindrance. Then how is it possible to move around the world? He was very much worried. He was thinking about the shortcuts to achieve success, consulted his well-wishers. He inquired about the solution to win victory. He got a good suggestion from one of his well-wishers. If you pray your parents wholeheartedly and move around them thrice with complete faith, that is equal to move around the world. Very confidently, Ganesh came back to his parents, made them sit on simhasan, washed their feet, sprinkled the water on his head, joined his hands, bowed respectfully and asked them to bless. They were delighted with Vinayaka's devotion towards them and blessed him. Then Vinayaka turned around them thrice, prostrated and stood in front of them obediently. Parvati Mata did not understand the sudden change in him, so gave a critical look at Parashiva. He realized what Parvati wanted to convey and asked, My dear son, why are you doing all this? I gave you a task, right? Then Ganesh started saying, applying his presence of mind. Parents are the personification of God. Compared to the importance of the Lord, the earth is a small part of the Lord. When we consider the parents as Lord, and if we move around the parents, it is more than doing pradakshana around the whole world. This is what I learnt from you and obeyed what you said. So, I feel I did pradakshana around the whole world by doing pradakshana to my parents. Anyway, darshan is yours, said Ganesh very politely. Feeling proud of his presence of mind, Lord Paramashiva declared, From now onwards, you will receive the first puja by those who perform any sort of pratham and you will be considered as the leader of all devatas. On the other hand, Kumaraswamy turned around the earth very sincerely and came back to his parents. Paramashiva said, a leader should possess presence of mind which I found in your elder brother Ganesh. So I made him as the leader who could complete a difficult task in no time. A helper or assistant should be loyal, honest and sincere which I found in you. So be the assistant of your brother Ganesh. Both of you helped Devatas in getting rid of Rakshasas. Kumaraswamy bowed respectfully to his father. In this way, we can understand the significance of the parents. Thank you. Jai Sriman Narayana.