AFTER battling with the asuras, the demons, God Agni, Vayu and Indra returned to Amravati?the celestial garden in heaven where all pleasures are provided to the gods.
God Agni exclaimed, ?What a battle we fought! At last we managed to defeat the asuras.?
God Vayu added, ?No one could stand in front of our might.?
Go Indra said, ?All of us are very brave; no one can match us in strength, bravery and valour. We can relax now.?
While they were talking with each other, a yaksha (a giant) appeared at a distance from them. He did not like the three gods engaged in conversation among themselves and so he asked them, ?Who are you people and what are you doing here? This is my area, so get out of here.?
God Agni lost his temper and threatened, ?Don'ttalk like this in front of me. I can burn anything and it will soon turn to ash.?
The yaksha laughed loudly and said, ?Here is a blade of grass. Burn it and let me see what all you can burn.? So saying he placed a blade of grass on the ground. God Agni blew fire on the blade but nothing happened. So he turned to God Vayu and said, ?Vayu, the yaksha challenged me to burn a blade of grass and so I blew and blew but nothing happened. I think that yaksha has some supernatural power; just find out more about him.?
So God Vayu drew near the yaksha. The yaksha on seeing the stranger asked him, ?Who are you and what do you want??
God Vayu replied, ?I am the God of Wind and I can blow away the largest of the objects in this universe.?
The yaksha replied, ?If it is so, then blow away this blade of grass,? and placed a blade of grass on the ground.
God Vayu blew and blew but the blade of grass remained where it was, without moving an inch from its place. The adjoining bushes and trees got blown away but nothing happened to the blade of grass. God Vayu was exasperated and turned to Indra to do something about it. He said to God Indra, ?I blew and blew, but the blade of grass refused to budge from its place. I think something is seriously fishy about the whole affair.?
When Indra neared the yaksha, a beautiful goddess stood instead of the yaksha in his place. Indra bowed to her and asked, ?O Mother, have you seen a yaksha here? God Agni and God Vayu told me that a yaksha was here but now he seems to have disappeared.?
The goddess replied, ?Oh Indra, he was Lord Brahma who had helped you all to win the battle against the asuras. But all of you had become so puffed up with pride that you did not realise this and began to take credit for it upon yourself. Brahma appeared in the form of a yaksha to teach you all a lesson in humility.?
God Indra went and told Agni and Vayu about it. He said, ?Do you know it was not due to our strength, but it was due to Lord Brahma, that we won the battle against the asuras? In future we must not take undue credit for our success.?
On realising their mistake and accepting it, the three gods returned to their domains to continue playing their individual roles.
