• Simple advice to a confused soul with a request to use her Buddhi and decide for herself.

“Doesn’t your Guru and the faith you want to embrace say the same thing, that one must revere one’s mother as God? How can you even think of forsaking your mother and go against her wishes?”

The girl, the daughter is totally confused. The faith she wanted to embrace was the faith of her father’s too, the faith of her forefathers. The Guru, her mother mentioned, was her deceased father's too, the faith of all the people in her larger family who converted and embraced another belief system for whatever reason.

She tried to argue, but all her arguments, indeed, she was silenced by one single argument of her mother, “by embracing that faith, it is not only you who would rot in the hell, but you would also make us rot in the hell, the whole family… your siblings, your grandmother and grandfather, your uncles and aunts… for the simple reason that we could not take care of you. That we allowed you to perform apostasy, to abandon the right path…”

The girl was in tears. Of course she would not like to be the cause for her mother and other relatives rot in the hell…

She approached her Guru, “I have often heard the same injunction from you, Sire… the scriptures say the same thing, Matru Devo Bhava - Revere your mother as God. But, if I force myself to follow her, I shall not be happy either. I need a loving God not a God who threatens you with hellfire for eternity…” she went on and on. Her arguments were based on the scriptures and literature of her mother’s belief system.

The Guru smiled, “Indeed, so. The scriptures indeed say just that we should revere our mother as the Embodiment of Divinity, the Embodiment of Light, for Deva and Devi derived from the word Divya means just that - the Light Beings.

“And, it is not only the mother, but also the father, and the Acharya, your teachers, even Atithi or strangers who may come to your place as guests without any prior appointment. Atithi, without tithi, without date… revere all as the Devas, as Devis, as the very Embodiments of Light.

“This is an ideal situation, my child, my friend… the question is, again it’s not about the mother alone, but also about the father, the teacher and the strangers you may meet - are they really reflecting the Light Divine, the Light of Wisdom?

“At times like this, we have to use our viveka, the faculty of wisdom. Revere your mother, father, teachers and strangers as - by the way not God, not Brahman, but - Devis and Devas, that is Embodiments of Light Divine - is incomplete truth, half truth. We have to use our viveka to understand, before implementing such injunctions.

“You have certainly heard the story of Prahlada, who went against his father’s will to worship him as Deva, even as God - for the little Prahlad knew it well that his father did not walk the path of Dharma.

“Vibhishana abandoned his adharmika brother Ravana to side by Rama, whom he saw as the Embodiment of Righteousness.

“There are many such stories. In fact, I can share with you the experiences of so many people who are still living among us. They all resorted to Viveka when in doubt.

“What is Krishna’s central message in the Bhagavad Gita? You have been studying Gita… having said all, I must leave you to make your own decision. Know the Truth and become free, free of all falsehood. 

“Pray my child, my friend… Become silent, meditate in silence and invoke Maa, the Mother Divine within you to guide you. I bless you with clarity if buddhi, of intelligence, so you can decide for yourself.”

Thus……,