A man was suffering terribly and was in the agony of death. The physicians could not find a cure. A spiritual Guru who passed that way, after studying the case, said, “If you apply the “soil from heaven” on his forehead, he will be cured.” Everyone was confused as to how to get the soil from heaven. But one boy came forward and told them that he could bring the soil from heaven, and he ran. After a while he came back and handed over the soil to the Guru. The Guru kneaded it with water and applied it to the sick man’s forehead, and he was cured. The surprised crowd asked the boy, “From where did you get that soil of heaven?” He said: “I have learned that one’s father and mother are heaven on earth for him/her. So I brought the soil on which my parents’ feet rested.”

The feet of our parents and those who nourish us with food, knowledge and wisdom are great blessings of our life. In our culture, we consider them as our gods in visible form. There is great benefit and value in following the guidance our elders give us. In our culture, we have the beautiful custom of touching the feet of our parents, teachers and elders, seeking their blessing. The feet of our parents will have many stories to speak as they have trodden many steps of joys and sorrows, successes and failures, and sacrifices for our sake. Therefore, their feet are truly hallowed, and the soil where they stand is holy ground. As parents are synonymous with care and nourishment, the place they live in is heaven for their children. In some tribal traditions, they worship their parents as their gods after their death.

The month of May is considered in some traditions as month dedicated to mothers. As they have suffered and sacrificed so much to make for us a little heaven, it is our duty to give back to mothers a little heaven by making them feel cared for and contented in their life. There is the story of a paralyzed mother getting up and running to save her child who was about to be run over by a truck. Our parents forget their personal pains and limitations in order to save us, take care of us and keep us safe. So it is only fair that we overlook their shortcomings as they have overlooked ours while we were growing up.

Honouring our parents and teachers is a sacred duty and great virtue as well as an example you present to a society where such values are disappearing. They would scale any mountain, swim across any river, and walk through any desert to help us reach peaks of success and happiness. Today, we stand on the ground they have prepared, which is therefore sacred and the soil under their feet is heaven!

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Tears of ecstasy rolled down my cheeks as I listened to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and as the choir thundered in German, “Deine Zauber binden wieder, Was die Mode streng geteilt”, I sang along, “Alle Menschen werden Brüder, Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt!”

The music slowly stopped, but tears kept flowing, such the beauty of the rendition, such the power of the composer. And as the Ode to Joy kept resounding in my head, I wondered if this was how heaven would be!

“Bob!” shouts an angel, her wings swishing past me, “Bach is playing down the road!”

Since I’m new to heaven I shout back, “You mean someone is playing Bach’s piece?”

“No!” shouts the angel, “Bach’s doing a new composition,” and I fly along, my own wings swishing as I reach the German composer, and find him entertaining the heavenly audience with a composition he’s just written.

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The stars whisper stories in patterns
That only I can understand.
The beguiling darkness beckons me
To a world of mystery and unknown lands.
The moon sings me to
Dreamlands of hope and joy,
And the twinkling, shining stars remind me
That even in dense darkness one can find
Pinpricks of hope hidden in the sky.

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