In a most celebrated portion of the Taittiriya Upanishad, it is stated:

Matru devo bhava (revere your mother as God)
Pitru devo bhava (revere your father as God)

In the Hindu culture, reverence to our elders is held utmost as a form of worship (Upasana). Thus, in accordance with this, children, teenagers and young adults (and older adults!) performed Matru Pada puja for their parents at Chinmaya Sannidhi on the 1st of October 2006.

This occasion featured an introductory talk by Brahmachari Gopalji, resident teacher of Chinmaya Mission Sydney, who described how blessings of our parents are essential to be successful in life. He noted that this puja was an opportunity for all of us to display our love and gratitude to our parents who had given us just about everything we had in life.

Thereafter, a short puja was conducted, which featured invoking the Lord in the parents, washing their feet, offering chandan, kumkum, and flowers. The children then fed their parents sweets, encircled them, performed Arati to the parents and last but not least, recited a beautiful poem revealing their love and gratitude. The brief puja ended with the parents giving their children a big hug and fed them sweets to return the favour!

This simple and beautiful event speaks volumes for our ancient Spiritual culture which is very much based on the principles of love and harmony. As I watched the children performing the puja to their proud parents, all I could think of was the genius, the compassion and love with which the Rishis had devised these wonderful rituals so that from an early age, we develop love in our hearts and learnt to share it with the world around us.

More photos from this event can be viewed by clicking here.