MOTHERS' DAY
Mothers’day is celebrated all over the world in a splendour manner. After the birth of a child a first word a child ever learn to speak is, mother (Maa, Mummy, Mum). The word mother remains attached with the child for the rest of his life. No matter how old the child grows, he always share all his happiness and sorrow with his mother. A mother’s relation with the child is of 24/7 throughout his life. Then why one need to celebrate Mothers’day just once in a year? There are many events we have adopted in our life from western culture. In western culture, a child at the age of 18 to 21 separates from his parents and start living his own life. To make sure that a child at least remember his/her parents once a year, so called mothers 'day and fathers 'day was introduced. Without understanding the reasons behind the mothers 'day and fathers 'day we have simply adopted it in our life. We are very ignorant about our own heritage and many of us believe that adopting to western system and western culture is a path to be a modern person. Nevertheless it is up to individual to think on it.
In this article, I am going to share my thought on why a child’s first word of vocabulary is always mother. Though he can understand his own name and also understand his father, grand father, grand mother, brothers and sisters and so on and yet his first word is always mother. This is universal for all children worldwide. To understand this we need to go through our Vedas (ancient scripture).
According to Vedas, all children at birth are Shudra. Now what is Shudra and who is Shudra?
In Shreeamad Bhagwat Geeta, Bhagwan Shri Krishna told Arjuna:
Chaatur-varnyam mayaa srushtam
gun-karma-vibhaagashah|
Tasya kartaaramapi maam viddhyakartaara-mavyayam|| (4:13)
“The four order of society (viz: the Brahmin, the Kshatriya, the Vaishya and the Shudra) were created by Me, classifying them according to the Gunas predominant in each and apportioning corresponding duties to them; though the originator of this creation, know Me the Immortal Lord, to be a non-doer”.
How one can define who is Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya or Shudra?
To understand let us look what Shri Krishna told Arjuna in Shreemad Bhagwat Geeta.
Stvam rajastam eti gunaahaa prakruti smabhavaahaa|
Nibandhanti mahaabaaho dehe dehinamavyayam|| (14:5)
“Satva, Rajas and Tamas – these three Gunas born of Nature tie down the imperishable soul to the body”.
A person, who has nothing but Satva Guna, then he is a Brahmin.
A person, who has Satva Guna but he also has Rajas Guna, then he is a Kshatriya.
A person, who has Rajas Guna and also Tamas Guna, then he is a Vaishya.
And a person with only Tamas Guna, he is known as Shudra.
Before the birth, a child is connected with his mother through navel cord. It is mentioned in Puranas that before the evolution of earth, Lord Vishnu was resting on his Sheshnaag (serpent) bed when suddenly Brahma appeared on Lotus flower from Lord Vishnu Navel. It is said that Brahma went ups and down the navel cord to find out where did he come from and he looked around all four sides for his existence. Thus Brahma got four heads. This signifies that one can get knowledge from all directions.
It is equally important to mention here that the first word produced in the milky-way galaxy is “Aum”. The sound of Aum can still be heard in space. Aum is a complete word and it is made of three system (Gunas) of nature. “A” represent Satva, “U” represents Rajas while “M” represents Tamas.
A child in mother’s womb is in total darkness (ignorance). He is surrounded by or controlled by Tamas Guna. Even after birth he is totally controlled by Tamas. “U” Rajas is quite far for him while “A” Satva is beyond his imagination. Therefore the only sound a child can recognize is Tamas sound “M”. Thus it is easier for him to pronounce a word beginning with “M”. “Maa. Mummy, Mum”etc.
Author: Manherlal Narsey