MOTHER: A Mirror of “Path to Spirituality”
The heart of a Mother is most beautiful and the best.
It cannot be seen or even touched—it must be felt with heart.
(Ashraf)
God created the elements of: Attention, Beauty, Compassion, Devotion, Enthusiasm, Emotion, Forgiveness, Faith, Feeling, Generosity, Gratitude, Grace, Humility, Hope, Hospitality, Imagination, Joy, Kindness, Laughter, Love, Logic, Morality, Meaning, Nurturing, Openness, Piety, Peace, Patience, Quest, Reason, Reverence, Silence, Spirituality, Suffering, Teaching, Unity, Vision, Wonder, Yearning, Zeal, etc., mixed them all and formed the ‘Spirit of Motherhood.’ God then infused it in the Heart and Mind of a woman—the wife of man—the very moment she got conceived to become a Mother. Thus, the responsible life of a woman got realized in the sacred moment of her attaining the Motherhood. The Prophet of Islam (pbuh) pronounced that “Paradise lies under the feet of a Mother.”
Understanding of reason and logic through five-sensory personality originate in the mind. The higher order of understanding that is capable of meaningfully reflecting the soul comes from the heart. Discussing each of the element, mentioned above, embedded in the heart of a mother, needs a big-book size explanation. However, to explain some of them will help understand, how a mother is mirror to the path of spirituality. Reflecting upon the element of emotion, we all know that a mother is very intimate with her emotions, so far so that she is capable of perceiving the dynamics that lie behind them. Emotions reflect intentions and just like currents of energy, pass through every one of us. Awareness of these currents are the first step of learning ‘how our experiences come into being and why.’ Without an awareness of emotions, one is not able to experience Reverence. Because a mother is very intimate to emotions, Reverence becomes a way of her being. The path to Reverence is through a mother’s heart, and an awareness of such feelings opens her heart. This higher order of logic and understanding of the multisensory personality of a mother reveals connectedness between the forty elements—and there are many more—mentioned in the beginning. It is the Reverence of a mother that the Prophet of Islam said three times, respect your mother, and after that said only one time, respect your father.
Throughout a person’s lifetime, starting from the first cry as a new born baby—the only cry that fills a mother’s heart with joy, the cry that opens her arms for the first embrace of her baby and mother’s spiritual love is transmitted to the heart and soul of the baby—to the last breath of his life, that person’s effort continues for spiritual growth and self-development. Life as a process of growth, from one stage to the next, is spiritual as well as physical. These stages may be described in many ways, but fundamentally they include: a foundation stage set by one’s mother when the knowledge of truth or the gift of salvation is first acquired; a growth stage where the person practices that truth, develops virtue, self-control, insight, and self-confidence; and finally the stage of maturity where the person realizes the fullness of perfection: the stage of oneness with his God as well as the humanity. A person may reach the final stage of perfection, even a stage where one may feel God’s presence directly, but for a mother that person is still like a newborn baby. More often in a mother’s person Divine presence manifests indirectly—as an opening of the heart, a burst of joy, an expansion of love, or feelings of deep compassion.
Spiritual maturity is an acceptance of life in relationship, first with mother, and then with the rest of humankind. Once a mother opens the door of relationship, it forms a spiritual web of one’s life with other peoples with the crucial strands of being family, friends, marriages, and partnerships. Our deepest values are expressed through the essential bond of relationship. The relationship established through marriage is a fundamental, the deepest, most mysterious, and most profound exploration open to humankind; it is plunging into one another’s Soul. The marriage of two persons is brutally intimate and closest one that it becomes a sacred adventure; an adventure that divinizes the woman when she becomes a mother. Just like God, a mother is embellished with an unconditional love for her offspring. A verse from a film song, “ay maan teri surat se alug bhagwan ki surat kaya ho gi,” beautifully portrays ‘what is a mother.’
Going to Mother’s Kitchen
Mother’s kitchen is a culinary alchemy,
a place where we cook—actually
and spiritually. We come to it
for nourishment and serenity.
We come to it as to a center—
the heart of the house,
the heart of dwelling.
In the kitchen we are one,
linked by hunger—
actual hunger and spiritual hunger.
We go to MOTHER’s kitchen to be
nourished and revealed.
What a holy place is a MOTHER’s kitchen!
(By: Gunhilla Norris)
Mirza Ashraf