^[1]The following is a talk that Ma gave on Mother’s Day 1992:

We have set aside a day to remember our mothers and show special love and respect, but in reality each and every day in one’s life should be mother’s day. No one can ever repay the debt to one’s mother. The sacrifice, the love that the mother makes is so vast and her love, companionship, and caring are so deep that this personality, the role of a mother, can never be replaced in life.

At the physical level, the greatest mother is Mother Earth. She has to carry the burden, not only of everything that exists on earth at the physical level, but also the vast burdens of our karma, both good and bad. No matter what mankind does, still she fulfills her role as mother, offering us all that she can.

Lord Ram lived to be the perfect human being. Besides being an avatar, the life he led was an example at every step of the way for mankind. He demonstrated how one should behave, how one should relate, as a father, as a son, as a king, as a brother, and so forth.

Sitaji also was that example for women, teaching how to lead an ideal life and to be perfect as a mother in every sense. In all her relationships, as a daughter, as a wife, as a sister, and so forth, she played that ideal role. She was truly dedicated as a wife to her husband. Each considered the other part and parcel of themselves, the aspects of Shiva and Shakti, half male and half female. Ram didn’t have to tell her what she should do or what she shouldn’t do. Her devotion to, and unity with Ram was so complete that before Ram even needed to speak, she would act accordingly.

As the ultimate personification amongst all the incarnations of the Divine Mother, Sitaji followed the principles in the Indian scriptures. She is considered to be the perfect example of true love, true compassion, sacrifice, and tolerance. She was at the pinnacle of sacrifice and tolerance. Without indicating anything externally in terms of her pain and sorrow, she kept smiling, although internally her suffering was intense.

The height of Sitaji’s suffering is seen in the Ramayana when she had to leave Lord Ram. It is most commonly understood that it was Lord Ram who asked her to leave Ayodhya because of what the people were saying at the time, but it was rather the reverse. After her rescue from the demon Ravana, the people of the kingdom felt that she was impure and that Ram shouldn’t have taken her back. This put Ram was in a very awkward position. He couldn’t give her up, and in his heart he knew she was the Divine Mother. But at the same time, as king, he had to consider the will of his own people. Actually, it was Sitaji herself who finally said, “Lord, please, let me go. You have to sacrifice me so that your duties are not brought to an end.” Ram was against the idea, but she insisted, saying, “I cannot leave you until you ask me to leave. The command that I should go must come from you. Then, and then only, I can go.” After leaving Ram, she gave birth to the twins, Luv and Kush. She raised them to the best of her ability in terms of their samskaras (positive and negative influences), and throughout the training of the children, she never spoke negatively about Ram or the people of Ayodhya.

We all have to remember that children are raised carrying the maximum samskaras, the influence at all levels, from the parents and especially from the mother herself. From the very moment the child is conceived until the birth, the child is with the mother. Whatever the mother eats, drinks, thinks all has a tremendous subtle impact on the samskaras of the child. At the physical level, for the period that the mother carries the child in the womb, and at the time of birth, the pain that she goes through is a debt that can never be repaid by the child. It is so infinite that no matter what one does for the mother, that debt is never repaid. It’s possible that this concept is not clearly understood and maybe not even accepted, but reality remains, for all people everywhere. At a subtle level this bond, and this relationship of give and take, is permanent.

The mother, in her role and capacity, has to teach her child the three most important factors of human life: love, tolerance, and sacrifice. It is only the mother who can teach that to the child. These three qualities, in fact, are much more predominant in women, in the mother, than in men. This aspect can be given only by the true mother, by the true woman at heart. For all of us, the infinite form of the Divine Mother is not far away — it is within our own beings as the kundalini energy. But that energy of the Mother, through the kundalini, is in each and every human being both the mother and the father. So ultimately it becomes the joint responsibility of both the parents to instill these qualities in their children.

Work with your own energy, in terms of evolving spiritually and attaining your goal, at an inner level, to unite the Shiva within with the kundalini energy. That unity of Shiva and Shakti has to be brought about while we are still in the body as fathers and mothers, as husbands and wives, to truly have that love and respect for one another. That is what the child is going to learn the most. If the parents lack that relationship between them, it will have a tremendous impact on the child, and society will suffer as a whole over time.

Finally, on this auspicious day, I would like to convey my love and blessings. May the divine energy within you manifest to its fullest, taking you to your ultimate goal through the motherly love of our own beloved Guruji and the forms of the Divine Mother. May their grace and love thrive in your hearts and make the qualities of love, sacrifice, and tolerance bloom and develop fully within you, bringing you closer and closer to your goal. Finally, to our mother, the physical mother who gave us this priceless body, to her we pay our deepest love and respect.