It is night, in an old temple on the banks of the river Saraswati.
Twelve small lamps burn before the Lord. A holy man sits in meditation, his eyes closed.
And out of the shadows creeps a mouse.
It is starving. It has found nothing to eat. And one of the lamps has gone out… its wick still soaked in oil.
The mouse wants only one thing. To eat that wick.
It has no idea that in the next moment, it will do the greatest worship of the whole month. How?
And today is Karthika Pournami, the full moon of the holy month. A night of lamps. So today's story is about a single lamp.
A Forgotten Temple on the Saraswati
Vasishtha told King Janaka this story.
On the bank of the Saraswati there stood an old temple of Lord Shiva. It had been abandoned for a long time. No one came to worship. No offerings. No lamp. Only dust, and silence.
One Karthika, a yogi came there for his holy bath. His name was Karmanishtha. He was a gentle man, full of compassion. He saw the empty temple, and he decided: "I will spend this whole month here, in prayer."
So he set to work. He swept the floor. He sprinkled water. He cleaned the shrine. Then he walked to the nearby villages and came back with lamps, oil and wicks. He lit twelve lamps. He offered them to the Lord. And he sat down to meditate.
Now, in that temple there lived a mouse. It lived on whatever grain it could find in the temple.
One night in the bright half of the month, on the twelfth day, the mouse was hungry. Very hungry. It ran round and round the shrine looking for food. Without knowing it, it was circling the Lord, the way a devotee does.
The Wick the Mouse Wanted
Then it came to the lamps.
One lamp had gone out. Its wick lay there, dark, still soaked in oil. Food! And right beside it, another wick was still burning.
The mouse snatched at the wicks. And in its mouth it caught both of them together. The dead one… and the burning one.
The flame touched the dead wick. It caught fire.
The heat stung the mouse. It dropped both wicks and ran.
And the lamp that had gone out… was burning again.
That was all. A hungry mouse. A wick it wanted to eat. A lamp relit by accident.
But it was Karthika. And a lamp relit in Karthika, before the Lord, is no small thing. In that moment, every sin the mouse carried was destroyed.
That very night, the mouse died. And in its place stood a radiant being, shining with light.
Who the Mouse Had Been
Karmanishtha opened his eyes. He saw the glowing figure standing before him.
"Who are you?"
The being bowed. "Great soul, I was the mouse that lived in this temple, living on the grain I found here. But tell me… why was I born a mouse? And how have I been set free?"
Karmanishtha closed his eyes again. And with the eye of wisdom, he saw the past.
"In your last life," he said, "you were a brahmin named Bahlika, from the land of Bahlika, of the Jaimini family line. But you gave up your daily bath. You gave up your prayers. You lived only for profit, on your farm, in your trade. You insulted learned men. You ate on days meant for fasting. You laughed at people while they prayed."
"You sold milk, curd and ghee, thinking only of gain. You even sold a daughter for money. And all the wealth you gathered, you buried in the ground. Then you died."
"After death, you suffered for what you had done. And then you were born here. As a mouse. In the Lord's own house. Stealing the temple's grain. Drinking the oil from the Lord's lamps."
Think about that. The oil he once stole from those lamps… and tonight, a lamp he lit again.
"Tonight," said Karmanishtha, "you relit a lamp in the month of Karthika. You did not know what you were doing. But that one flame has ended it all. Now live in devotion to the Lord."
And he did. He bathed in the Saraswati on the thirteenth, the fourteenth and the full moon of Karthika. Knowledge came to him. He kept the Karthika vow every year. And at last he reached final liberation.
The Power of a Relit Lamp
Vasishtha said to the king, "Janaka, the mouse did not do this out of devotion. It only wanted food. And still, a lamp relit in Karthika undid a whole life of wrongs. Whoever trims another's lamp, feeds it with oil, or lights it again when it has gone out… their gravest sins are destroyed."
"Chant the Lord's name. Sing his praise. Visit his temple in the evening. Even a lamp kept before God for as long as it takes to milk a cow makes a person good. Light lamps every day of this month. And if you can't, then at least on the last three days of the bright half: the thirteenth, the fourteenth, and the full moon."
And the full moon… is tonight.
What This Chapter Asks of Us
So tonight, light a lamp before God, with ghee if you can. And if you see any lamp flickering out, at a temple, at the tulasi, at a neighbour's door, don't walk past. Add a little oil. Straighten the wick. Light it again.
Read next
- Karthika Puranam – all 30 days
- Previous chapter: Karthika Puranam Day 14: Freeing the Bull, Keeping the Seven
- Start from Day 1: Karthika Puranam Day 1: The River in Every Well
- Why Karthika Masam Is So Sacred: Meaning and Key Days
- Why We Light a Lamp (Deepam): Meaning, Oil, Wicks and Rules
- How to Do Tulasi Puja at Home: Method and Rules