Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear too much reality
— T.S. Eliot, “Burnt Norton’’
The truth of the matter is that we are too preoccupied with the material problems of our life to think of the spiritual reality of life. Who does not face problems? Are these problems solved through efforts (and prayers if you believe in it) or through payment to someone to pray for you, that someone who has no tapasya and who will and cannot do it with such a sincerety as you can do yourself, for yourself, your husband/wife, child/children, parents. Are you sure that he is not a cheat ?
No time ?
And if someone says that he has no time to do it, let him first see how much time he finds to spend in parties, frivolous activities etc. I know so many who have time but do not want to spend it in prayers as they have become too tamasic mostly, or tamasic-rajasic.
I agree with the comment under the second part of this series. But let me clarify.
MS 30 November 2007, 4:36 AM Beautiful and excellent indeed !
The article was eye opener for many. True ! Great Mahatmas predict or say things with their true vison and foresight. But it is difficult to find them these days. Self had experienced only the Kanchi Paramacharya here. But even they do not claim any knowledge of astrology or speak about planetery influences !! Indeed.
About Moha for children- true the mother has deep rooted bond and affection for her children. It is rather vatsalya and not MOHA!! Mothers cannot be detahched to their children - Rao saab should understand this. Mothers- affection, guidance and blessings are required for any child, as protection. One cannot cut off that deep rooted bond and live like saints. A chidl may neglect parents, father may neglect family, but very rarely u may come across a mother who does not care for her child. Rao saab would have experienced this himself, Hence to call it as Moha Or desire- Sorry I do not agree with you Rao Saab !! .
My comment: Cow Rhino
Let me refer to two beautiful experiences of my life. I had gone with a colleague to Kaziranga, the sanctuary for rhinos in 1962. We were to go on an elephant ride in the afternoon. In the time available, I read quickly some literature on rhinos. When we reached the spot where a cow rhino was with her calf rhinos, I asked the mahaout to take the elephant near the cow rhino. My friend objected to it.
As you got nearer, the cow rhino would charge at the elephant because she will think that we had come to take away her calf rhinos. The male rhino will continue to laze in the sun. Nothing happens after that except that either the rhino chases the elephant or the elephant chases the rhino and then the fight ends. It is the fight of two of the strongest herbivores in the animal world. There is no blood shed , no death. The mahout wanted me to enjoy this experience but my colleague got frightened.
Lioness mother
In 1970, I had gone to Gir, the sanctuary for lions in Gujarat. I saw the lioness guarding her offsprings while the lion was lazing in the sun. The guide asked us not to get near the lioness and her offsprings as she would otherwise jump at us and kill us. The MOTHER.
I uttered within myself YA DEVI SARVA BHUTESHU MATRI RUPEN SAMSTHITHA etc from Durga Saptashati. Everywhere in nature, the mother is an angel protecting her offsprings. It is what we see in all families all over the world.
An American woman had asked me, while I was doing her astrological reading in Washington DC, “ Do you know what it is to be a mother ?”
I kept quiet and laughed within myself.
In Russia, mothers come and ask questions about their children and children about their mothers (rarely about their fathers). I am quite used to Hindu mothers who come to consult me not with a question but with a long questionnaire--all about their children. If she has three children, she has thirty quetions.
Why I call it a Moha is: when her child is a child only, it needs mother most. As it grows up, it should be allowed to have its independence and mothers should understand that everyone is born with his own karma, karma samskaras and fate. And when the child has reached the age of thirty and settled or/and married, excessive attachment to the child is a case of moha only, not duty anymore. You will see Hindu mothers treating their sons of forty years as children !
Read Bhaja Govindam of Shankaracharya. Read the poems of saint poets and see what they advise you to move into spiritual life into which every good human
being must step sometime or the other. Inability to detach from children at some
stage is to increase and mutiply your own worries.
Spiritual importance of mother
It is time Indian parents of new generations told their children about the spiritual importance of serving mother.
In Ramacharita Manas of Tulsidas when Lord Rama is to go into exile, he goes to his mother, Kaushalya to seek her permission and she tells him. Jo keval pitu ayesu tata, To jaani jaahu jani badi maata, Jo pitu, matu kahau ban jana, To kanan sat Avadh samana. In any case, if it be only your father's command, my son then do not go; put only your mother first; but if both your father and mother have asked you to go to the forest, then the woods will equal a hundred cities like Ayodhya.
I have not seen a single case of a person who has served his parents sincerely, particularly mother, and suffered materially.Pitri devo bhava,matri devo bhava are not mere beliefs.
(3 Dec 2007)