Universal Motherhood: How We All Can Help Melt Suffering
“Let us stand together and show the world that compassion, love, and concern for our fellow beings has not completely vanished from the face of this Earth. Let us build a new world of peace and harmony, deeply rooted in universal values which have nourished humanity since time immemorial.”
— Amma (Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi)
This call to action expresses an urgent vision of what “Universal Motherhood”—something Amma also calls “True Motherhood”—is about. It’s a set of essential and innate qualities that is far beyond gender, or the role of parenting: faith, love, patience, empathy, and self-sacrifice for the good of all. A quick scan of any news publication, whether local or global, shows how these qualities are often missing in today’s world.
Since March is Women’s History Month, and includes International Women’s Day, Amrita Virtual Academy (AVA) has prepared a special collection of talks, guided meditation, yoga, and other inspiring content to help us deeply connect with these innate values and qualities of Universal Motherhood. Absorbing such content is a powerful way to foster desirable qualities within ourselves and contribute to positive change in the world.
Transcending Limiting Gender Roles
I personally don’t usually feel drawn to speeches, but one of the new releases in the AVA March collection is a talk Amma gave at the 2002 Global Peace Initiative of Women Religious and Spiritual Leaders. She delivered the address at the United Nations General Assembly Hall in Geneva, Switzerland, after she was presented the prestigious Gandhi-King Award for Non-violence. Amma spoke openly and passionately about how women’s power has been diminished over the years, stating… “Primitive customs invented by men to exploit and subjugate women are alive to this day. Women and their minds have been hypnotized by these customs.”— Amma (Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi)
Amma then noted that, for our vision of humanity to be realized and for peace to become a reality, it is important to gently temper the more instinctive aspects of human nature.
In the speech, Amma illustrated her words on submission with a story about an island’s very first woman priest. The other, all-male, priests did not like having a woman priest one bit. One day, all the priests set forth together on a boat to a meeting on another island. Along the way, the boat stopped. The lead male priest had forgotten to fill the gas tank. “No problem,” said the woman priest, “I’ll go fetch gas”. Saying so, she stepped out of the boat and walked lightly across the water toward the shore.
The male priests all stared, astonished. Then they started belittling her: “That woman is so stupid, she doesn’t even know how to swim!”
In the same way, the almost impossibly miraculous powers of motherhood are made fun of, rather than admired and respected. We can begin to gently reverse this tendency by learning from inspiring talks and practices, surrounding ourselves with uplifting people, and connecting with our own inner sense of Universal Motherhood.
Also, while it goes without saying, it is important to recognize that not all men exhibit such primitive behavior. This story from Amma is to make a point.
Inspiration and Influence of Universal Motherhood
Behind people with inner strength, happiness, generosity, understanding, and compassion, you’ll usually find great mothers who taught and inspired them. In the speech I mentioned above, Amma also told the story of a real-life example from her life experiences: a six-year-old boy who’d seen his father brutally murdered by terrorists. Afterwards, the boy often talked about vengeance.
However, his mother always told him that it would only make other mothers, grandmothers, and children as unhappy as he and his mother were. It would not bring his father back and would not accomplish anything useful. So saying, she regularly encouraged him to forgive the terrorists and not perpetuate the cycle of violence.
Later, when the boy grew into adulthood, he became engaged in social work and asked Amma to pray that the terrorists would see their error.
This is truly radical forgiveness. But, are we ready for that? Often in the Amritapuri Ashram in India, Amma mentions that at least we can be kind, and show love to those closest to us; and, in this way, the outer and inner worlds can be transformed. Demonstrating even a few of the qualities of Universal Motherhood toward our nearest and dearest ones can have a huge effect on the world, perpetuating a cycle of love and compassion.
This new collection will hopefully inspire us toward this transformation. I was personally inspired by a lot of it, and hope it has caused lasting growth in my own qualities of Universal Motherhood!
Thanks to Nikita for sharing her inspiring experience with Amrita Virtual Academy.
We encourage you to try out the new collection Awakening Motherhood, here. It is a special collection of talks, guided practices, yoga and more.
The collection is part of the AVA Membership. As an Amrita Virtual Academy member, you have access to more than 80 different courses and retreats in different fields.
Discover more about the AVA Membership here.
Or sign-up here.
