A shattered vase,
    A sheepish boy,
    A kind smile ...
    ... Mother !
- Self. 
 
 

THIS happens universally -- in every home, in every culture, in every country. In the cocoon of Mother’s pardon, children grow up and flourish. That cocoon of pardon is a world by itself, almost fully blessed by the Divine. For, as is believed the world over, God sent Mother when He could not be present everywhere for the benefit of human beings. In Mother, humans find God, experience the Divine touch, sense the presence of the Almighty, see the human incarnation of the Ultimate. Pardon is Mother’s best tool -- to groom the little ones, to help them grow and grow up, to make them more complete persons ... and to perpetuate the kindness humans often require to nurse their inner and outer beings.

 

 

 

This is, of course, a universal experience. There is nothing new, there is nothing unique, there also is nothing that the world has never seen or sensed. Factually, therefore, it is not possible for anybody in the world to imagine life without Mother. Why does Mother pardon the little one, no matter what he/she does ? That is so because she is the author of and the witness to the work in progress. It is under her umbrella of kindness that the little ones grow -- everywhere, all over. She alone understands why the vase fell to the ground and got shattered. She alone knows that vase is of little value against the mind of her little one. The story is told of a young scientist in the team of Thomas Alva Edison (who invented the electric bulb). Edison asked this young man to bring the world’s first ever bulb for demonstration from a floor above to the ground floor for the Mayor and the Councillors to see how it glowed. In the excitement of the moment, the scientist tripped on a step and came down crashing. The world’s first ever bulb got smashed to innumerable pieces !!

 

The demonstration was put off to the next day. Again, Edison asked the same young scientist to pick up the second bulb from the laboratory upstairs and bring it downstairs for demonstration. Everybody gasped. But this time, the scientist did a good job, did not trip, and the demonstration was successful. After the Mayor and his men-and-women were gone, everybody pounced upon the old man Edison: Why ? Why on earth did you ask the same sloppy man to get the bulb ? What if he had tripped again ? -- they asked indignantly. Edison smiled, and said, in effect, “Yes my dears, I understand. If he had broken the second bulb, we would have made the third bulb or even the fourth or the fifth or the sixth bulb ... ! No matter that number, only this fellow would have got the bulb down to the demonstration platform. Look, I can afford to lose any numbers of bulbs, but cannot afford to lose a scientist” ! The legend has it that the next day, Edison found a slip on his table, written by the young scientist. He had written, “Thank you, Mother !” n