This is the story of the wife of a saint, named Neelnakkar, who was a devotee of Lord Siva. Once she was performing the worship of Lord Siva in a temple with her husband. All of a sudden a spider fell on the Sivalinga (a stony symbol of Lord Siva) and began to crawl along it. The woman saw the spider. She knew that it was poisonous and if it touched any part of the body, a rash would appear on that part. She realized that the Lord must be suffering pain. She felt restless like a worried mother eager to protect her child from the poison of such a spider. She blew hard on the Sivalinga immediately. The spider crawled away. She also spat on that spot in the Sivalinga where the spider had fallen. (Mothers generally adopt this method to neutralize the spider’s poison.) She was relieved to do so but Neelnakkar lost his temper. He shouted, “What have you done? You spat on the Sivalinga! You have defiled it.”

            The wife was nonplussed. It had not occurred to her that the Sivalinga might be thus defiled. She began to tremble with fear. The husband said, “I desert you.”  And, he left for his home. The sad wife kept sitting in the temple.

            At night Lord Siva appeared in the dream of Neelakker and said to him – “What have you done! You deserted your wife! Look, my body is full of rashes due to that spider. Only that spot is unaffected by them where your wife had spat. You could not discover a mother’s heart in your wife. She is my mother – really my mother. She did her best to save me from rashes.”

            Neelnakkar woke up all of a sudden and ran to meet his wife and apologize to her.

            This story is related to a woman of whom very few people know, but Lord Siva regarded her as His mother. Sivalinga was not a mere piece of stone to her. It was to her Lord Siva Himself. That was the reason why she become restless when she saw the spider on the Sivalinga and was extremely eager to protect the Lord from the poison of the spider. She forgot about what was holy and what was unholy. What she did, she did like a loving mother, a caring mother eager to protect her son against the spider’s poison.    

            Dear children, you should also, like Neelanakkar’s wife, be related to God. God will approve of whatever relationship you like between you and Him. If you take Him to be your friend, He would become your friend; if you take Him to be your brother, He would become your brother. Note that it would be possible only when you are sincerely and truthfully related to Him. Ever remembering your relationship with Him, you should express your inner feelings to Him and tell Him your problems and also seek His guidance to march ahead in life.