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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The month of May brings happy memories of our dear Mom, as we celebrate Mother’s Day on 14 May this year. A mother is one of the most prized creations of God and she is the most cherished gift of God to humankind. There is no treasure like the gift of a mother’s love on this earth and there is no heart so full of attentive love and care as that of a mother. I always remember very vividly how my own mother ran with lightning speed and jumped into the water when I told her that my younger brother had fallen in a pond and was drowning!

The story of the mother of Thomas Alva Edison has touched millions. After his mother’s death, Edison found a letter in her diary. It was a letter written by his primary class teacher to his mother when he was a young boy. In the letter, the teacher had written that her son was dumb with a very low IQ. But his mother had concealed this message and instead had told Thomas that the content of the letter was that he was a super-intelligent boy and that he should be educated separately at home. He believed his mother’s words and turned out to be one of the greatest scientists the world has ever seen.

We all will have many great stories to narrate about our beloved mothers, how they have played the most significant role in the development of our personality, character, our habits and our career. The first months of our existence revolved around this amazing person. There is no one who can understand us better than our own mother. Even when we were tiny tots, she understood our needs. We learned to love and trust others from the love and trust we received from our mother in our initial years. She has been our first teacher and role model who has always wanted us to be happy and successful in life.

Today, maybe we regret that we did not thank her enough or appreciate this singular precious gift — our mothers. Unfortunately in this age of consumerism and use-and-throw culture, there is a tendency to disregard and forget all that a mother has been to us. We need not wait for Mother’s Day to wish her and thank her for all that she is and all that she has been doing in our life. Everyday should be a day to appreciate her and love her through our words and deeds, and let it be a Mother’s Day celebration and tell them, “Love You, Mom!”

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