Mathru Devo Bhava

Today, thousands of people around the world celebrate Mother's Day by sending flowers and cards to their mothers. I personally don't believe in allocating a particular day for Mothers day. For Indians, everyday is mother's day. There is no day in my life when I am not thinking about my Mother who is my flesh and blood, the reason for my existence in this world - the one person who has stood by me through thick and thin. My mother brought us (me and my sister) up single handedly and she had to pass through so many trials and tribulations! In India in olden days as soon as one wakes up in the morning, the first thing he/she should do is to touch his/her mother's feet and offer his salutations. Our ancient Vedas have rightly declared "Mathru Devo Bhava" meaning "Honor your Mother as God." I think it is appropriate to quote Swami Vivekananda to summarize the Indian motherhood!

"In the West its ideal is wife, in India it is the mother". "In India the mother is the center of the family and our highest ideal. She is to us the representative of God, as God is the mother of the universe. It was a female sage who first found the unity of God, and laid down this doctrine in one of the first hymns of the Vedas. Our God is both personal and absolute; the absolute is male, the personal, female. And thus it comes that we now say: 'The first manifestation of God is the hand that rocks the cradle'." - Swami Vivekananda

Incidentally, today we celebrate the astrological (as per Malayalam calendar) second birthday(pirannal) of our sweet little girl. Happy birthday our dear little baby!

ya devi sarva bhooteshu matru roopena samsthita namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namo namaha - Devi mahathmyam

Meaning: Salutations to the divine mother, whose art manifest in every being's existence as mother, I worship thee, over and over and over again.