Worship of the Mother

One of the most important aspects of Hinduism is reverence for the Divine Feminine, the Shakti, in all her myriad manifestations. However, although there are truly infinite ways to thank and worship the Mother, I feel that three ways are most important.

If we hold three of Her aspects close to our hearts, cherish them deeply and thank God for them every day, we can honestly say that we are worshipping the Goddess.

These three aspects are: your mother, your mother- land, and your mother-tongue.

Your Mother

A mother is truly divine. It is from her womb we have come. Our life is a gift from her own; our nourishment flowed from her body. The love that sustains us, that embraces our soul, ceaselessly streams from her heart.

When I say your "mother" I mean many things. Of course I mean the actual mother who gave you birth. But, I also mean the divine Mother of all — the Goddess. In this Mother, we find not only our own mothers, but mothers everywhere. We find Mother Nature, Mother Earth, Mother Ganga.

These Mothers must be seen as divine. For your own mother, this means treating her with respect, with love, with patience. I know that when we are young, we tend to take our parents for granted, or to become frustrated at their attempts to teach us. We must not do this. We must find, in our hearts, her own blood and her own life. For that is how connected we are.

For Mother Nature and Mother Earth this love and respect means protection. She has given us all that we need to sustain our lives. And we are simultaneously destroying Her. Let us treat our Earth as a Mother. If our own mother were sick, we would not let her simply suffer, decay and die. We would fight tenaciously to bring her back to her full state of glory. Let us give the same to the real Mother. We must not pollute her or waste her. We must nurse her back to health.

Your Mother Land

Be Western (if you live in the West) when it comes to professional excellence, but be Indian in your domestic life, in your heart. The West has a great deal to teach in terms of external perfection — especially in professional, business and engineering arenas. But, we must not lose our souls in this attainment of external success. Our bodies and our brains may be in the West. But, our spirit must stay with our Mother land.

How to do this? First, have a "happy hour" in the evenings. But make it an Indian "happy hour." Make it an hour whose happiness lasts even when the 60 minutes are up, a happiness without a hangover, a happiness that runs to your soul, not just your bloodstream. The real happy hour is puja, Aarti, being with the family. You spend so many hours each day being Westernly perfect. Spend at least one hour being Indianly devoted. Then, you will see the real magic.

Maha Laxmi is the Goddess of Wealth. We pray to Her for prosperity. Yet, our real wealth lies in our heritage, in our roots, in the ancient wisdom of our scriptures. Let us not forsake the everlasting richness of our culture in favor of transient material possessions. Before we pray for more wealth, let us treasure the wealth we have already been given. This is the real prosperity.

Your Mother - Tongue

This is the language of your soul. Your brain may think in English; your mouth may speak English. But your soul speaks Hindi, or Gujarati or Punjabi or Tamil or Kannad or Sindhi...Do not cut yourself off from the words of your ancestors, for much of the wisdom and clarity is lost in translation.

A dog does not have to learn how to bark; a cat does not have to learn how to meow. A cow does not forsake her own natural "moo" for the chirping of the birds. It is wonderful that you are all learning English and French and Spanish and German. These languages will be of a great help to you in your academic and professional lives. But, your mother-tongue is the thread that connects you to your roots, to your family, to your true essence. Do not sever this connection, for it is the tube through which your life-blood flows. How can you truly know a culture, be part of a heritage, if you can not speak its language?