Namasthe- Like mother, like son.

October 27, 2008

Dear all,

Happy Deepavali!

This is a real story happened in the life of the famous Iswarachandra Vidyasagar. He and his elderly mother lived in Calcutta and they were not well off. They found it very hard to make both ends meet and even food was scarce. But Iswarachandra Vidyasagar was a bright child and he studied hard. Often he had to finish his home work under the street lights because they had no money spend on kerosene. But his perseverance and enthusiasm along with his pious and kind mother's encouragement helped him to achieve his dream of becoming an attorney. He passed law degree with flying colors and got a very good job and started earning good money.

One day he told his mother that he would like to get something really nice for her. All his life he could not buy anything for the mother. So he insisted mother to express her wish.

Mother was very reluctant to ask for anything and finally when he pressed her to express her wish, she told him that she wanted THREE JEWELS.

Iswarachandra Vidyasagar was surprised to hear about the desire for jewellery from her mother's mouth. With out showing any expression, he asked her to mention the names of the jewels she wanted to own. Then the mother said: My beloved son, I want you to start a school in our village. Children here have to walk a long way to go to school and because of the inconvenience, lot of them are not able to attend school. Jewel of education or vidya is the most important. That is the first jewel I want from you. Vidyasagar established a school with in a few months.

Then she told him to give the next jewel- a hospital in the village. He fulfilled that wish also in a few months. Everybody appreciated the kindness of both the mother and son and they were all extremely grateful to have a hospital not far from their home.

Vidyasagar was eagerly waiting to hear her mother's third wish. She said, beloved son, next jewel I want is efficient supply of pure drinking water in our village. During summer people are really suffering due to shortage of water and drinking water is another precious jewel for all of us. Vidyasagar ordered to dig more wells and pure drinking water supply was established in a few month's time.

Mother embraced her son and told him that with all the jewels he bought, not only she was decorated, the whole village was decorated. Beauty of the jewels he supplied would last for generations. She blessed him with the words: " I wish every mother on the world had a noble son like you. "

Vidaysagar's eyes were moist and he said: " Respected mother, I wish every son in this world had a noble mother like you. "

Regards and prayers

Savitri

.

October 27, 2008

Dear Savitriji,

Radhe Krishna!

Never heard this one before. We are really lucky to have a mother like

you in our group to give such motivating anecdotes. We will like to

be like Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, God willing.

Regards

KVG.

Savitri Puram wrote:

Dear all,

Happy Deepavali!

This is a real story happened in the life of the

famous Iswarachandra Vidyasagar. He and his elderly mother lived in

Calcutta and they were not well off. They found it very hard to make

both ends meet and even food was scarce. But Iswarachandra Vidyasagar

was a bright child and he studied hard. Often he had to finish his home

work under the street lights because they had no money spend on

kerosene. But his perseverance and enthusiasm along with his pious and

kind mother's encouragement helped him to achieve his dream of becoming

an attorney. He passed law degree with flying colors and got a very

good job and started earning good money.

One day he told his mother that he would like to get

something really nice for her. All his life he could not buy anything

for the mother. So he insisted mother to express her wish.

Mother was very reluctant to ask for anything and

finally when he pressed her to express her wish, she told him that she

wanted THREE JEWELS.

Iswarachandra Vidyasagar was surprised to hear about

the desire for jewellery from her mother's mouth. With out showing any

expression, he asked her to mention the names of the jewels she wanted

to own. Then the mother said: My beloved son, I want you to start a

school in our village. Children here have to walk a long way to go to

school and because of the inconvenience, lot of them are not able to

attend school. Jewel of education or vidya is the most important. That

is the first jewel I want from you. Vidyasagar established a school

with in a few months.

Then she told him to give the next jewel- a hospital

in the village. He fulfilled that wish also in a few months. Everybody

appreciated the kindness of both the mother and son and they were all

extremely grateful to have a hospital not far from their home.

Vidyasagar was eagerly waiting to hear her mother's

third wish. She said, beloved son, next jewel I want

is efficient supply of pure drinking water in our village. During

summer people are really suffering due to shortage of water and

drinking water is another precious jewel for all of us. Vidyasagar

ordered to dig more wells and pure drinking water supply was

established in a few month's time.

Mother embraced her son and told him that with all the

jewels he bought, not only she was decorated, the whole village was

decorated. Beauty of the jewels he supplied would last for generations.

She blessed him with the words: "I wish every mother on the world had a

noble son like you."

Vidaysagar's eyes were moist and he said: "Respected

mother, I wish every son in this world had a noble mother like you."

Regards and prayers

Savitri

..

October 28, 2008

Om Namo Narayanaya.

A nice piece on a great soul, dear Savitriji; thanks a lot.

No less a person than Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa had honoured Sri

Vidyasagar with a visit, simply because the Master wanted to meet the

great man. When the Master met this noble person, what he said was,"

Ah. Today at last I have come to the ocean. Up till now I have seen

only canals, marshes, a river at the most. But today I am face to face

with the saagar, the ocean..................Your activities are inspired

by sattva. Compassion springs from sattva. Shuka and other sages

cherished compassion in their minds to give people religious

instruction, to teach them about God. You are distributing food and

learning. That is good too.....Besides, you are already a siddha."

(p.100-101)**

Sri Vidyasagar's compassion was well known; it is said that he stopped drinking milk

so that calves would not be deprived of it. He refused to drive in a

carriage so as to not cause the horses any discomfort. His love and

regard for his mother was out of the world; when he could not get a

boat to carry him across a raging river he swam through it at the risk

of his life, so that he could attend his brother's wedding, something

he had promised his mother.

About God, Sri Vidyasagar has said, "It is indeed impossible to know Him.

What then should be our duty? It seems to me that we should live in

such a way, that if others followed our example, this very earth would

be heaven. Everyone should try to do good to the world."**

As an aside - my brother was named after this great person and bears

the name Vidyasagar.!! As kids we heard a lot about him from my dad. Thanks for bringing back happy memories.

Warm regards,

Veena.

------------------

** The gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (complete translation from Bengali to English - Swami Nikhilananda).--- On Mon, 10/27/08, K.V Gopalakrishna <gopalakrishna.kv wrote:K.V Gopalakrishna <gopalakrishna.kvRe: [Guruvayur] Namasthe- Like mother, like son.guruvayur Date: Monday, October 27, 2008, 1:15 PM