Vedanta Society of New York---Vedanta 101: Part 6--Family Life (contd.)

-- Swami Vivekananda, Complete Works, VIII, p. 60

Vedanta 101: Part 6

Swami Tathagatananda
Spiritual Leader: The Vedanta Society of New York

Family Life (contd.)

Motherhood has been glorified in Indian culture since the Vedic age.

In his lecture, Women of India, Swami Vivekananda said:

"From motherhood comes tremendous responsibility. There is the basis; start from that. Well, why is mother to be worshiped so much? Because our books teach that it is the pre-natal influence that gives the impetus to the child for good or evil. Go to a hundred thousand colleges, read a million books, associate with all the learned men of the world---better off you are when born with the right stamp. . . . Born unhealthful, how many drug stores, swallowed wholesale, will keep you well all through your life? How many people of good, healthy lives were born of weak parents, were born of sickly, blood-poisoned parents?. . . We come with a tremendous impetus for good or evil. . . .
Thus say our books: direct the pre-natal influence. Why should mother be worshiped? Because she made herself pure. She underwent harsh penances sometimes to keep herself as pure as purity can be. . . . When a man comes in physical contact with his wife, the circumstances she controls through what prayers and through what vows! For that which brings forth the child is the holiest symbol of god himself. It is the greatest prayer between man and wife, the prayer that is going to bring into the world another soul fraught with a tremendous power for good or for evil. Is it a joke? Is it a simple nervous satisfaction? Is it a brute enjoyment of the body? Says the Hindu: no, a thousand times, no!" (Complete Works, VIII, pp. 60-61)

Vivekananda further stated:

"She (the mother) was a saint to bring me into the world, she kept her body pure, her mind pure, her food pure, her clothes pure, her imagination pure, for years, because I would be born, Because she did that, she deserves worship." (Ibid. p. 61)

Vivekananda, following the age-old tradition of India, gave due importance to the role of the family in the welfare of the people. Indian wisdom says that good children come of good parents who are morally elevated, physically strong, and mentally stable. The character of the parents creates a deep impact on the mind of the children. In this connection Swami Vivekananda used to tell the story of Queen Madalasa, a great character in our ancient literature. The Queen used to raise her children with a deep spiritual mood. She knew the divine glory deeply embedded in each life. The divine spark, the soul, is the only source of purity, strength, and perfection. While rocking the cradle with her own hands she used to sing out of deep conviction:

"Thou art the Pure One, the Stainless, the Sinless, the Mighty One, the Great One. Thou art not touched by the petty things of this world. Thou art the eternal spirit." (Ibid. III, p. 243, Ref: Great Women of India, p. 222)

Because she raised her four sons with the highest idealism, they made a deep mark by their excellent lives. Such anecdotes compel us to acknowledge the great influence a mother has on her children. Our history is replete with such examples.

Even the great monks like Buddha, Shankara, and Shri Chaitanya had profound respect for their mothers. In the great epic of India, the Mahabharata, we find that during the eighteen-days' battle of Kurukshetra, even the evil-minded Duryodhana, following Indian tradition, would every day invariably approach his mother, Gandhari, for her blessing and every time Gandhari would say, "Where there is righteousness, there is victory." (Mahabharata11.14.8, 11.17.6, Ref: Great Women of India, p. 171, Ref: The Cultural Heritage of India, Vol II, p. 606, (Calcutta: The Ramakrishna Institute of Culture) Her valuable advice has become a proverb in India. She never approved of the unrighteous actions of her son. In the face of defeat, he continued to seek his mother's blessing. Gandhari lost all her sons along with others.

In modem times, Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, and others carried forward this noble tradition. Swami Vivekananda used to say that mother's blessing is a thousand times more important than father's blessing. He was very devoted to his mother throughout his life.

Mahatma Gandhi, to assure his mother, took three vows---not to drink, take meat, or go after women before his departure for England at the age of nineteen. (Mohandas K. Gandhi: An Autobiography (Boston: Beacon Press, 1957), p. 39) From his autobiography we know how his reverential attitude towards his mother protected him under great provocation. Modern scholarship also attests the power of parental character and love, and of filial devotion. (Cf. Ways and Power of Love, by P.A., Sorokin.)

The noble character of parents does command the respect of children. This healthy tradition is a great source of spiritual training in India. It has been well said, "Centuries of life make a little history and centuries of history make a little tradition." A culture may be compared to "a torch that is passed on from hand to hand down the generations."

It is unfortunate that due to the materialistic attitude of modern life, India is losing her hold on spiritual values.

Part 7 Vedanta 101

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Books by Swami Tathagatananda:

The Vedanta Society of New York -- A Brief History, 2000

Mahabharat--Katha (Bengali), 1998

Ramayan Anudhyan (Bengali), 1996

Healthy Values of Living, 1996

Meditation on Swami Vivekananda, 1994

Meditation on Shri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda, 1993

Glimpses of Great Lives, 1989

Shubha Chinta (Bengali), 1988

Smaran--Manan (Bengali), 1987

You can order these and other books on Vedanta from The Vedanta Society of New York.

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