The Story, as Bholenath Spoke It
Bholenath said: O Goddess, two miles from the south-east corner of Kashi, in the town of Kakutstha, there lived a merchant. That wealthy merchant was always engaged in trade and earned money by selling jaggery, grains, and juices. One day, while carrying jaggery, he overloaded his bull. The bull suffered greatly from the burden, but the merchant did not realize the sin caused by this suffering.
After many days, the merchant died on the banks of the Saryu River in the city of Bilvmangal. Because he died at a holy place, both he and the wife ascended to heaven and enjoyed the fruits of heaven for sixty thousand years.
When their merits were exhausted, they were born again in the mortal world with wealth and prosperity in Ujjain. But due to the influence of their past deeds, their continuity did not flow easily. Pregnancies ended before they could be carried to completion, and when a child was born, it was always a daughter. The body also suffered from a recurring moderate fever.
Shiva then revealed the atonement:
- Have a beautiful bull idol made of five palas (20 tolas/~233 gms) of gold. Decorate it and worship it with the prescribed vedic shiva mantra. Donate it to a learned and pure-souled person.
- Chant ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ one lakh (100,000) times. This will remove the illness.
Human Meaning of the Story
Pada 3 carries a quieter kind of karma — the kind that forms not through cruelty or deception, but through insensitivity and the things we simply fail to notice. The merchant is hardworking. His trade is honest — jaggery, grain, juices — all Venusian, nourishing elements. Nothing in him is malicious. He is simply busy, absorbed in his work, moving through life with focus on efficiency rather than sensitivity.
And in that rhythm, he overloads his bull — the animal that supports his livelihood. The bull suffers silently, and he doesn’t see it. Not because he intends harm, but because he isn’t paying attention.
This is the essence of Bharani’s third pada: harm created through unawareness, burden created through habit, pain created through neglect.
The bull is not just an animal in the story. Symbolically, it represents: strength that carries us, support that never complains, the body, someone or something whose care we assume will always hold.
Later, when the merchant is reborn, his karma returns in a very symbolic way.
- Miscarriages: A miscarriage is a carrying process that does not complete. It mirrors exactly what the merchant once ignored — something carrying too much weight, unable to hold.
- Repeated birth of a daughter: This is not about gender or preference. It is Venus returning again and again — the energy of softness, tenderness, emotional sensitivity. A daughter here represents: sweetness, gentleness, the softer side of responsibility, the emotional presence that was missing when the bull suffered. Life seems to say: Here is softness in another form, Care for this gently, See what you once overlooked.
- Recurring moderate fever: A fever is the body’s way of expressing strain it cannot release. It is heat rising quietly — just like the strain the bull once carried without complaint.
None of this is punishment. It is simply continuity finding its way back into balance.
Modern Interpretation
Seen today, this story reflects moments that are common in human life:
- overworking someone who supports us quietly
- assuming their strength is endless
- overlooking physical or emotional strain in others
- pushing someone because they “won’t complain”
- ignoring signs of fatigue in ourselves or in our environment
- moving too fast to notice who is carrying extra weight
The bull can be:
- a spouse whose efforts go unnoticed
- a parent who sacrifices silently
- an employee who doesn’t speak up
- a friend who absorbs emotional weight
- even one’s own body, which keeps working despite the load
The karmic return — miscarriages, daughters, mild fever — reflects: Interruption where burden was excessive and softness returning where sensitivity was missing.
This is Bharani’s energy: what was unseen returns in a form we cannot ignore.
The Essence of Bholenath’s Remedy
The remedy honors, restores, and rebalances what was once overlooked.
- A golden bull idol: Gold represents value, sweetness, appreciation. A bull represents strength and steady support. Creating it in gold acknowledges the worth of what once suffered silently.
- Decorating and worshipping it: This is recognition — finally seeing what was taken for granted.
- Donating it to a learned person: A learned Brahmin stands for Jupiter — wisdom, dharma, guidance. Giving the bull to him places support under wisdom and fairness.
- Chanting ‘Om Namah Shivaya’: This mantra softens inner heat, calms strain, and cools the mind. It helps release the habitual tension that once created suffering.
The remedies restores balance through appreciation, gentleness, recognition, conscious support, emotional cooling and steadying the mind.
Modern Equivalent of the Remedy
In present-day life, this looks like:
- acknowledging the people who carry emotional or practical load for you
- not overburdening those who work under you
- reducing the pressure you place on your own body
- giving rest and appreciation where it was missing
- supporting animal welfare
- contributing to well-being of service workers
- practicing rituals that reduce stress and heat
- slowing down enough to notice what supports your life
These actions restore the same spaces the original remedy aims at.
Closing Reflection for Pada 3
Pada 3 is not about dramatic harm. It is about the harm that happens when we move too fast to notice someone else’s quiet suffering. The merchant didn’t intend to hurt his bull — he simply didn’t pause to see the strain. When life returns the imbalance, it does so softly: through interruptions, sensitivity, and a gentle reminder to care for what carries us.
The bull reappears in his destiny because the thread between them was never completed. And the remedy, too, revolves around recognition — finally valuing the quiet strength that once bore more than it should have. Pada 3 leaves us with a simple, human understanding:
Some of the deepest karmas are created not by what we do, but by what we fail to notice.
Quiet Reflections 