Easwaramma Day - My Mother is my First God

Do you recall your mother making a sacrifice for you at some point in your life? Big or small, if our mothers have sacrificed their time, money, energy and much more for us, shouldn’t we be doing the same for them- if not more?

Loving Sai Ram to all. My name is Pranav Wadhwani, an SSE student from Auckland.

Before beginning this article, I would like to give a huge shout-out to my mother, as she has always been there for me. The unconditional love that she has for me is impossible to comprehend. Whether it's day or night, summer or winter, in spite of her health, her job, or housework, she always makes time for my sister and me. She always stands by us, inspires us to learn music, and makes every effort to put Samskaras (values) in us as well, so I believe if there is a heaven, it must be at my mother's feet.

My mother is my deity, my living God, and from this day ahead, I will devote myself to serving, respecting, honouring and loving her for the rest of my life with all my heart and soul. Finally, I pledge to show my mother the same kind of unreserved affection that she has shown to me.

It would be impossible to list all the sacrifices my mother has made for me as it would be an infinite list that would make it hard for anyone to read. Therefore, I will share a few instances where my mother has made small and big sacrifices for me. One such instance that I can recall off the top of my head was when I was around five or six years old. As a child, I used to have frequent ear infections and terrible pain as a result. It was at these times when my mother would wake up at two o’clock in the morning to my wailing sounds to comfort me. This was a huge sacrifice as my mom would lose her sleep to make sure I could sleep peacefully. Another smaller sacrifice my mother makes for me every day is feeding me with hot food, she makes sure I have enough for my stomach before she starts eating her food. Her stomach fills up just by watching me eat. So, thank you to my mother and all mothers out there for all the sacrifices you make.

When I was a child, my mother used to sing Sai Bhajans to me and encourage me to clap and chorus. She also used to take me to our local Sai Centre- this prompted me to start singing Sai Bhajans myself as I grew older. She is the one who inspired me to learn music, especially my favourite musical instrument, the tabla.

I think the above sums up why I think of my mother as my first God, but as we all know, Swami always told us to respect our parents, especially our mothers. Here is a small quote by Swami describing the utter importance of mothers and why we should consider them our first God: “God is the mother and father of the world. Our parents are the mother and father of this body.”

It is not only important to respect your mother but also respect your mother tongue and motherland. My mother tongue is Tulu, a language spoken predominantly in Mangalore, Karnataka. Honestly, I only know a few phrases of this language, but I respect it as, at the end of the day, it is my mother tongue. Moving on, my motherland is India, which Swami holds a lot of pride in. I love and respect my motherland, India, as well as New Zealand, where I am living now. Here are another few quotes by Swami on India which show us how much love and respect he had for India:

Lastly, everybody knows how much Swami loved and admired his mother. When Easwaramma wanted to help sick people in the area who didn't have a place to go, Swami built a free hospital service- the super-specialty hospital. To get water, people in towns had to walk for miles. Easwaramma told Swami that the villages needed help getting water. Swami said that it would happen, and it did. Because there wasn't enough water, bore wells were dug. In the same way, children had to walk a long way to school. Swami made free schools for them to attend.

Swami did all this for one sole purpose, to satisfy his mother Easwaramma. ‘Easwar- Amma’- the mother of God indeed. On this auspicious occasion of Easwaramma Day, let us respect and make sacrifices for our mothers because we know they have and will continue to do the same for us. Let us make up for the sleepless nights that our mothers have lived through for us, the countless hours that they spend every day to fill our stomachs and the nine months of pain that they went through to mould us into the successful children of God.

I want to conclude my article by seeking blessings from you all.

Om Sai Ram

Pranav Wadhwani

(SSE student from the Sai Centre of Auckland City)