I cannot wish this to any mother, not even to the mother of my greatest enemy : to witness the downfall of her only son before her eyes! The slow and painful death of her son! To witness the agony and untold suffering of the son. Which mother on earth can bear such a horrendous sight? The mother who had carried the boy in her womb, suckled him with her own life blood, and spent many sleepless nights caring for him when he fell ill, and had protected and safeguarded him from every possible danger… how can she bear seeing the gradual painful death of her son? When this is her only son, who is the only relation for her on earth, how could she bear let him die? I close my eyes and recollect what would be going on in her body, mind and heart as she witnesses this sight!
Mary was no super human person; she had the normal natural feelings and temperaments, and she had the same kind of tender feelings for her son, like any other mother would have. Would she have ever thought that one day she would be forced to stand among the angry and violent spectacle and face one of the most cruel and horrendous punishments ever given to another human person? Maybe she had not seen such a thing happening outside the city, and this may be her first and last time that she walked the way to Calvary! She does not even realize that even as she gazes at her son, her bare-feet are bruised by the sharp stones and thorns, but she feels no pain…
She forgets the whole world the very moment her eyes met the loving eyes of her only son, whom she had loved more than the world ever loved him! Just a few seconds were enough for the mother and son to exchange epochs of history, which cannot be captured by any historian. The few seconds have imprinted all the feelings and sentiments of the son to his mother, and that one tender look of the mother was enough for the son to walk the rest of the path to Calvary! It is no magic, but the heart to heart communication between the two had transported both of them to an altogether different world, unknown to the mortals.
Every time when I talk to the inmates of an Old Age Home, I feel frightened to hear from them that their children had deserted them; that the parents did not find a safe place in the very house they had built with their sweat and blood. The children cannot bear the sight of their parents, and find it peaceful to keep them at their arm’s length, far away from their sight! I have seen the bitter tears of parents who long for the sight of their children and grand children, but cannot afford because they are not wanted by their very children! Parents become useless and unwanted after they reach a certain age, and they are considered a burden to their private lives. I would like to imagine what the life of the lonely man walking to Calvary would have been, had he not met his mother waiting with wailing, accompany him in spirit!
I also remember many of my friends who cannot talk to their parents, cannot go visiting them in their old age, cannot call them up occasionally to tell that they care for the old parents! Parents in their old age become nothing short of a burden to the children who prefer to have a private life of their own, without the watchful care of the old. The Old Age Homes therefore give the much needed respite to the children, and after their parents had been put up in the Home, they feel their responsibility done, and can continue with their lives as happily as they can. But no one can really tell the adult children what they would miss, when they refuse to have anything to do with their parents!
During my growing years, I always thought that my parents were occupying the visible representation of God for me; the Indian tradition always deemed the father and mother as the embodiments of God… pitri devo bhava, matri devo bhava… and therefore when I used to get up early in the morning, I would raise my folded hands in great respect and reverence to the persons who had given a name and shape (nama-rupa) to me, and I continued this ‘ritual’ for quite many days, until I began to realize that the devotion to the parents should be not only in external behavior, but also in the heart. But I feel deeply that my parents matter to me only next to God!
I find it hard and painful to come across persons who cannot face their parents, and ill-treat them, and put them to shame in public, that some of them are driven to streets. You were privileged to have your loving mother, walking with you all the way to Calvary, providing you with the much needed moral and spiritual strength! When you were a new-born, she suckled you with her milk, and today she suckles you with the spiritual milk you require to fulfill the will of the Father, and she would go all the way to be with you, and help you reach the goal. As I gaze at the tender and ever loving eyes of your mother, I can see the eyes of my own parents, and I feel energized to walk the rest of my path with you!
