Shri Surya Dev Katha
There was an old lady. She had a very simple rule that every Sunday, after taking a bath in the morning, she would plaster the house with the dung of the neighbour's cow, then prepare food, offer it to God and then eat it herself. By observing this fast, her house was full of wealth and happiness. After a few days, her neighbour started thinking that this old lady always takes away the dung of her cow. So she started tying her cow inside the house. Since the old lady could not get cow dung, she could not plaster her house on Sunday. So she neither cooked food nor offered it to God and she herself did not eat anything. In this way, she observed a fast without food.
It was night and she slept hungry. At night, God appeared to her in a dream and asked the reason for not cooking food and not offering food. The old lady said, today I did not get cow dung to plaster the house, due to which our house was not cleaned, due to which I could not cook food and neither could I offer food to you. Then God said- ‘Mother! We give you such a cow which fulfills all the wishes. Because you always plaster the house with cow dung on Sundays, cook food, offer it to me and then eat yourself. I am happy with this and give you this boon and give you salvation at the end of the life.' After giving such a boon in a dream, God disappeared and when the old lady opened her eyes, she saw that a very beautiful cow and calf were tied in the courtyard. She was very happy to see the cow and the calf and tied them outside the house. She put fodder there.
When her neighbor saw a very beautiful cow and calf outside the old woman's house, her heart burned with envy and when she saw that the cow had excreted gold, she took that cow's dung and put her own cow's dung in its place. She kept doing this every day and did not let the simple old woman know about it. Then the omnipresent God thought that the old woman was being cheated by the actions of the clever neighbor. God sent a very strong storm with his Maya in the evening. The old woman tied her cow inside the house due to fear of darkness. When the old woman woke up in the morning and saw that the cow had excreted gold, her surprise knew no bounds and she started tying the cow inside the house every day.
On the other hand, the neighbour saw that the old woman had started tying the cow inside the house and her plan to take away the golden dung was not working. She was jealous and seeing no solution, she went to the court of the king of that country and said- ‘Maharaj! An old woman in my neighbourhood has a cow which is fit only for kings like you. It gives golden dung every day. You should take care of the people with that gold. What will that old woman do with so much gold?' The king, on hearing this, ordered his messengers to bring the cow from the old woman's house. The old woman was about to have food after offering food to God in the morning when the king's servants untied the cow and took it away. The old woman cried and shouted a lot but what could anyone say to the servants? That day the old woman could not eat food due to the separation from the cow and kept crying and praying to God all night to get the cow back.
On the other hand, the king was very happy to see the cow. But as soon as he woke up in the morning, the whole palace was filled with cow dung. The king got scared seeing this. God said to the king in his dream at night- ‘King! It is good for you to return the cow to the old woman. I had given her the cow after being pleased with her Sunday fast.' As soon as it was morning, the king called the old woman and returned the cow and the calf with respect along with a lot of money. Her neighbor was called and given appropriate punishment. After doing all this, the dirt was removed from the king's palace.
From that day onwards, the king ordered the citizens to observe fast on Sundays for the fulfillment of all their wishes and the kingdom's wishes . By observing fast, the people of the city started living a happy life. No disease or natural calamity affected that city. All the people started living happily.