After travels from American coast to coast and islands in the sea, at last my hands are on the keyboard and I’m here to celebrate with you. In America, it’s Mother’s Day. Happiest Mother’s Day to you! Whether you ARE a mom, you WILL be a mom – or you HAVE a Mom, I wish you well.
We’d never be here without our moms. We’d never be who we are, either. Isn’t that so? And if we shift to a broader perspective, we’d never be here without our big, beautiful Mother Earth!
Finally, let’s go all the way–to the ultimate view of things–shall we? We’d never be here at all–or be who we are, or live each day to experience all that is this life–if the female essence of natural creativity, Prakriti (also known as Shakti)–were not continuously giving birth to all phenomena! Mother is the Creator. She is the Source of All.
(Prakriti is directly translated from the Sanskrit into English as “Nature,” and you’ll soon see why…)
My Mother's Mom
According to Ayurveda, this Divine Creative Energy–Prakriti–expresses itself through every woman. That’s your Grandmother! That’s your Mom! And that’s you! This vital creative force ceaselessly brings every variety of form into existence, right through us. We are instruments of the Divine. We may first envision what we want to create. Then we create – whatever our karmendriyas/karma indriyas (our “organs of action”–our arms/hands, legs/feet, vocal chords, vagina/uterus and anus) put forth or transform in the world, these are our creations! We can see what we create–perfect children, ill children, art, a business, a community event, a palpably loving (or other!) vibration in our home, a website, a wild garden, a beautifully prepared bowl of strawberries and a cup of honey-sweetened tea. Yes, as women–as mothers and as daughters–we are naturally Maha Manifestors! (Yes, Maha means ‘Great!’)
Whether we create intentionally or without much awareness, we ARE creating. Prakriti has to manifest continuously! And if we’re honest, we know by now that our creations–no matter how seemingly small–are real, and make a significant impact on those around us, on our world, and of course, on ourselves.
Mother Nature is always alive, always busy creating her plethora of forms. Prakriti unfolds through us whether we know it, or not. Ayurveda is really all about seeing how we are uniquely created by Nature, how Nature creates through us and, how we can recognize, cooperate and channel this Divine Energy and engage our natural and awesome capacity to create harmony, beauty and sustenance for ourselves, and others.
When your mother gave birth to you, she did so naturally, according to her nature, and the circumstances of Nature at the time. Your mother beautifully played her part as an agent of Prakriti. Can you see this? When you can, you are knowing the Divine…
In the 1991 Bill Moyers video documentary–’Spirit and Nature‘–the Native American elder Audrey Shenandoah spoke about a survey of grade-school children who were asked: “What is sacred to you?” Most of the kids said, “My mother.”
My First Guru & Me
I feel just exactly the same way about my own Mom. She has been a deeply positive force in my life, and I’ll surely write more about her in posts to come. But whatever our opinions of our mother may be, or our feelings about our relationship with her or about her life, there’s no denying that our deepest connection with our mother–beyond any particular limitations of personality and situation–is our link to life itself.
Nature’s intelligence–Prakriti, the life-flow creating life ever anew–is expressed partly through our genetic heredity, in which our father and mother and a whole cast of ancestors played their parts. So if you look, I guarantee that you can see your mother in yourself. Whether you happen to like it or not, she’s quite literally in your genes!
According to Ayurveda, your mother gave you another most precious gift: your initial source of ojas–your essential, deepest life force, sense of self and capacity for immunity. In Ayurveda, this is an actual liquid substance in the body made up of albumin and globulin. In every person, ojas flows throughout the body, but a special 8 drops of ojas – called paraojas (supreme ojas) - resides in the heart, protecting and nourishing the seat of our human consciousness. During pregnancy, a mother’s ojas becomes unstable, constantly moving between mother and fetus for the first seven to eight months. Through this sharing and our mother’s nutritional intake, emotional state and sensory exposures, our own ojas is formed, and paraojas takes its place in our heart, to last our lifetime. Thanks Mom!
OK, so now, you exist. What happens next? As is often said in India, “Mother is the first guru.” Even in your mother’s belly, you learned and responded to your mother’s voice and to her moods. And once you were out in the world and held in Mama’s lap, you studied her face with your little eyes with the keenest interest, as if your life depended on it. Because it did! By relating to Mom, you learned how to relate to people, to enjoy a good laugh, to express your pain, to get nourishment and avoid danger. Unless you lost your mother at a very early age, your first lessons in navigating through situation after life situation came from Mom, your primary example and guide. Thanks Mom!
For many of us, this is just the beginning of living in relation to Mom. But whatever your mother story, I hope you can see–from the personal to the ultimate–there is a LOT to celebrate today! Every mother has played her part according to Prakriti’s flow through her. Whether she understood this or not, Mom’s a vessel of the Divine, she is a form of the Goddess and at least for this, we honor her. When we honor Mom with this understanding, we honor the Sacred, we honor ourselves and we revere the root of our connection to life. That’s the way it is.
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Here is an interesting exercise… Sit down with a piece of blank paper or your journal. Write down the following questions, and note whatever answers want to come.
How do I look and move like my mom? (Get in front of a mirror if you can, or ask a sibling to help you here…!
How has Prakriti created through my mother?
If there is something to forgive Mom for, can I also see how she played her Divine role?
How is Prakriti creating through me?
How do I think like Mom?
How do I act like Mom?
How has Mom blessed me?
If you feel there will be value, you can ask these questions again replacing “Mom” with “Grandmother” or any matriarchal figure who has been important to you.
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Happy Mother’s Day, dear One.
I honor you and your Mom today, and I celebrate the capacity we all have to dance in powerful healing rhythm with the creative Divine, right here on our Mother Earth~
~ Niika
Oh.. AND this..
Ayurveda holds the keys to self-knowledge and to living powerfully and playfully.
Got questions about Ayurveda? I love ‘em! Email your questions or post a comment and look for answers on next week’s blog post.
Until then, sisters – Be Divine…!
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