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God In Human Form > Page1
7. The familiar form in which God first appears to us is our own mother. The Veda says, "matri devo bhava." "Let your mother be your God." Who but the mother does the new-born child see? The Lord Himself stands there as the embodiment of tenderness. It is this worship of the mother that we would carry to love of country, when we sing "vande maataram" and then to love of the universal Mother Earth.
And yet in the beginning the first image of the Lord Supreme that comes before the child is the mother. It is not impossible to attain moksha through the worship of the mother. What is worship of the mother but worship of the Lord as love incarnate the mother is only the occasion and the symbol. The Lord pours into her His love and tenderness and impels her from within. The poor woman does not understand whence this passion and attachment wells up in her heart.
Does she cherish the child reckoning that he would be useful to her in her old age? Not at all. She gave birth to the child. She went through agony. Those pains have made her mad for the child, have made him all the dearer to her. Without loving him she cannot live. She cannot but love. The mother is the embodiment of boundless service. Worshipping the mother is the noblest form of worship.
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