Indian culture lays a very high importance on following of Sanatana Dharma. To simplify the process of following dharma, the great sages extracted sentences called mahavakyas from Veda. One of them is matrudevo bhava – revere mother as God. They say God is pleased when one pleases one’s own mother.
Ii is said that every human being has five mothers.
- Deha-mata or nija-mata – mother who gave birth to the physical body. First priority goes to this mother. They say that one should make every effort to make one’s own mother happy. It is not possible to become happy without making this mother happy.
- Go-mata – Indian culture considers cow as mother. We drink real mother’s milk only for first two years of life. After that throughout the remaining life we drink cow’s milk. So one can see why cow is considered as mother. That’s why Sanatana Dharma does not approve of eating cow’s meat. In fact Sanatana Dharma does not approve of eating meat at all. They say instinct to eat meat is an animal instinct which is carried over from numerous past animal births. In human birth one gets an opportunity to overcome those animal instincts by engaging into spiritual practices, which is also in line with the main goal of human birth and that is to get liberated from cycle of birth and death through 84 lakh species.
Another practice is eating meat after sacrificing animals believing in the fact that they are sacrificed for Mother Kali. Wise and experienced people say that real Mother Kali does not expect her children to sacrifice animals, also her children. It is fantasized form of Mother Kali that accepts meat of animal sacrificed in the name of pashubali. Pashu does not necessarily mean actual animal. Sanskrit words are many times used to symbolize. Pashu means pashuvritti i.e. animal instincts which one is supposed to sacrifice to Mother Kali. It is Goddess Lalitha Devi who helps to overcome these animal instincts. That is why she is called Pashupaash-vimochini (one who helps her children to get out of strong clutches of animal instincts carried over from previous animal births). - Bhu-mata – land that helps to grow crops that feed us. That is why it is practice in Indian culture to salute Mother Land in the morning before placing feet on her.
- Desha-mata – country of birth. They say it is duty of every person to pay back to the country of birth.
- Veda-mata – mother of original scriptures of Sanatana Dharma. One can pay respect to this mother by studying and following dictates from Vedas.
