On Mothers ... wisdom from the old country

A continuation of sorts of the posts over the years.

Growing up in India, there was no concept of a special day for mothers.  Or fathers.

In my initial years in the US, the concept of wishing mother or father seemed strange.  Very odd.  The idea of wishing on a designated day is the strange part that is, not the idea of recognizing the mother's importance in life.

I would imagine that mothers were way up high in pretty much every culture's list of important people, and the old country emphasized it in so many different ways.  A long, long time ago, we learnt a verse in the Sanskrit class in high school:

राजपत्नी गुरोः पत्नी मित्रपत्नी तथैव च
पत्नीमाता स्वमाता च पञ्चैता मातरः स्मृताः
- चाणक्य नीति

Transliteration:
raajapatnI guroH patnI mitrapatnI tathaiva cha
patnImaataa svamaataa cha pa~nchaitaa maataraH smRutaaH
- chaaNakya nIti

Meaning of the subhAShita:
The king's wife, the teacher's wife, friend's wife, wife's mother and his own birth mother - these 5 should be deemed as mother figures

The source from where I copied and pasted it has a commentary on the deeper meanings of this verse.

I have had an incredibly lucky life with wonderful motherly women.  As I noted in this post, my mother, grandmothers, and aunts, made sure that my life was sweet--literally as well.  Older friends here in the US sometimes treat me as their son.  Life can't be that bad then.

Incidentally, another verse advises to keep mothers, fathers, and teachers also happy.  I hope students in my classes are reading this post ;)  It is from Manusmriti--the Laws of Manu--which is about 2,000 to 2,500 years old.  Manu wrote:

तयोर्नित्यं प्रियं कुर्यात् आचार्यस्य च सर्वदा ।
तेष्वेव त्रिषु तुष्टेषु तपः सर्वं समाप्यते ॥

- मनुस्मृति

One must do all he can to keep his parents and teacher happy. 

If they are satisfied it is equivalent to any (all) penance.

- Manu Smriti

It has been thirty-plus years since my last Sanskrit class.  It has at least served one purpose--I continue to remember and value the verse on the five mothers.