My Pillars of Strength - Thakur, Maa, Swamiji and my Mother

On my wedding day Sunilji Chincholkar came to bless us. He is a saintly person and renowned speaker on 'Dasbodh' and 'Samarth Ramdas' in Maharashtra.He said to me in Marathi "Agdi Shiv Parvati saarkha joda distoy" means this couple looks like 'Shiva-Parvati'. I kept wondering about his comment because usually people will say 'the couple looks like 'Lakshmi-Narayan' the God and Goddess of wealth.

Within a few days and even later i came to know how true his words were. The Lord Shiva and Mother Parvati live on Mount Kailas and do not possess any material wealth. Mother Parvati has sons Ganesh and Kartikeya who are actually not born to her. Neither i nor Sudhir had the qualities of 'Shiv-Parvati' but how true it became in other matters. When i met Sunilji ater few years i asked him why did he say so? He too said he didn't know but that, these are His mysterious ways, isn't it?

When due to various reasons we came to know that we ever won't have a child, i became upset and would often keep crying. The tears would not stop flowing as though the cloud had burst. I always  feel that the mental agony and pain a woman undergoes for not bearing a child is more than the physical pain she feels while giving birth to a child. Physical pain is seen and felt by her and others too but the 'aseem dukha', the intense          sorrow of a woman who cannot be a mother is unseen and ignored by each and everyone. 

I must have read Holy Mother more during this period than any other time. That time i used to teach in a school called 'Sandipani' in Nagpur and was the class teacher for V standard. My mother finally said, "Shraddha,  if these 40 children whom you teach in a class remember you for next 40 years then you have achieved motherhood. Now a days even the real children forget their parents during their lifetime. Don't grieve and stop crying."  Her words brought a great change in me and am sure my school children whom i taught will never forget me.

Today this is for Holy Mother, Swamiji, Sri Ramakrishna and my mother who are always with me in every situation.