Suddenly, there was a loud noise in the east garden at night!
I thought a coconut had fallen. What can I say about the trouble of thieves all around? If I asked to pick it up in the morning, it would not be found again. So I went to pick it up that night.
There is a pond in the middle of the garden. The path to the garden goes along the right bank of the pond.
I understood from the sound that a coconut had fallen at the top of the garden. I know that there is a coconut on that tree.
Should I move forward past the pond, I saw something gathered near the ghat and there was a coconut near it?
Looking closely, I realized that all those open-faced rice, potatoes, chickpeas, and batasa were offerings.
I thought that someone might be taking them for puja. They had left them here to rush into the garden and entered.
I did not look back in that direction. I understood that he had picked up the coconut to offer in the puja of Thakur.
Let's go, I was returning home when I saw a ghost standing in front of me wearing a white robe!
His complexion was black and his eyes were red. I knew ghosts very well. And I also knew that since I had a bone in my throat, the ghost would not be able to do anything to me.
As soon as I looked at him, I saw him clasping his hands and pleading with me, "Thakur, perform the Shraddha of my father!"
I was shocked! The ghost's father, he had to perform Shraddha again! A conflict arose in my mind.
I immediately asked, "Then ghosts also die?"
He replied in a low voice, "No, Thakur. My father was alive. He just died. I will perform Shraddha for him."
I smiled a little to myself. Shraddha of the ghost's father!
Let's do some work and earn a couple of paisas, what's the harm? Besides, I know how to do this work.
So I sat down with open arms to perform the Shraddha of the ghost's father.
The Shraddha of the ghost's father didn't take long to do. The time had come to pay the debt.
He can't pay the Dakshina money. So what can I do, I wonder what to say. Then he jumped into the water and caught a kilo or two of fish. To pay the Dakshina.
He caught the fish from my pond and gave it to me as Dakshina. I didn't talk any more. I tried all the rice, bananas, and fish I found in a bundle, put them on his head, and made him carry them to the house.
When I got to the house, he left.
After entering the house, I asked Ginni to sprinkle Ganga water on everything, including me, with a few drops of water. After doing so, I sat down on a chair and told him everything that had happened.
Hearing everything, Ginni simply said, "Even ghosts perform Shraddha of their father!"