My Mother taught me one of the greatest lessons of my life; tie the
loose ends of life regularly, and to achieve that, she said, forgive and
seek forgiveness, don’t carry ill-will beyond a minute, and express
your gratitude before you lose the chance to do it. Her life was an
example! She took her last breath 13 years ago today.
The best accomplishment of my life was telling her
that I loved her and that whatever I am today is because of her, and
that I am grateful to her – just a day before she took her last breath.
The second best thing I have done was to sit next to her on my last few
visits, and listen to her without interrupting… and without arguing,
and that is all she wanted! She was in hog heavens and pushed me out to
go and do other things!
Her comments that have stuck to me
are – on the day of accountability (Qayamat in Islamic tradition) each
one is on his or her own, and solely responsible for his actions. Only
the good deeds you have done will gracefully save you. Then she said,
whoever controls his own self, has won the world ( It took me 20 years
to understand what she meant) and the Verse from Quran that says “to you
is your way of life and to me is my way of life”, let’s respectfully
accept each other as the way we are.
She was Pluralistic in
her approach – She had friends from every walk of life. There was the
Jain neighbor lady, Hindu friends, Swaran Latha, the Christian Lady and
the Parsi-amma Mrs. Bahramjee and of course Muslim ladies too. She had
no barriers between her and people around her.
Every religious
tradition has elevated mother to nearly the status of God, because she
possess many a qualities of God; kind, merciful, beneficent and caring
among thousand other qualities. Mother is the reason for our existence;
sustenance, nurturance and shaping who we are. I applaud those who have
grown up without a mother; it takes a lot to be a beautiful being
without the nurturance from a mother.
Every time I think of my
parents, I realize they have passed on the “Pluralism” gene to me, my
sister and brothers and my family. When I talk with my sister, I feel I
have not improved much in the last 40 years- I am right with her with
all that education and experience.
Well, I sat up this morning thinking about her and appreciating her, did my Prayers to thank her and I feel refreshed.
Now I ask you to consider tying the loose ends of your life, its nirvana! Mukti, Moksha, Nijaat and Salvation.
Thank you Mother.
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