Many years ago, when I wrote this post on Kerala's caste system, I had not considered that people would start sending in abusive comments about one caste over the other. It baffles me that this is how Indians, all of us, continue to judge each other on account of caste differences. [ READ: Guru Kripa: Powerful Lessons at the Lotus Feet ] My question is - why do you ABUSE any caste or community? I suggest that you read about the lives of great Masters and their stories - none of them judged anyone on the basis of caste. You can read the life stories of Sri Adi Shankara Bhagawadpada, Tulsidas, Jnaneshwar, Namadev, Sri Aurobindo, Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Paramahansa Yogananda, Shirdi Sai Baba, and many more Gurus in Sanathana Dharma. NONE of them endorse these caste hierarchies in Bhakti Marga. Assuming that Guru Sampradaya does not appeal to your sensibilities, do read this new book 'Ants among Elephants' written by Sujatha Gidla, who writes about herself as being born
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She was trapped inside the fortress, because the gates had been shut, and because of the royal decree, would not be opened till sunrise. She had to get out to her baby in the village below. She scaled the walls, and climbed down to the foothills, going down a vertical drop of over 2700 meters, so that she could go home to her baby to feed him.
Quoting a Marathi poem
And as she strolled around inside the gigantic fort
Tired and desperate, found a last resort
She found the vertical drop of the hill lacking a fence
Without a slightest fear of death to sense
The mother in her drove away her helplessness
Hiding her milk pots there and she slid/ clung/ down the dizzy ravine
She plunged in through the unknown path and way
where bravest of the men would not travel in day
The thorny bushes scratched her clothes, limbs and face
As she struggled to reach home to feed her child in grace
No danger could have stopped her that night
A mother turned ferocious for a glimpse of her baby’s sight
She reached home and kissed her child passionately
Fed him, touched him and caressed him happily.
Shivaji strengthened that side of the fort, (the eastern side if memory serves me correct) and named it Hirakani Burj, and it still stands today, a long lasting testament to Mother’s love! (http://www.navhindtimes.in/panorama/tale-valiant-heart)
As someone who loves wildlife and spends a lot of time in the wild, I have had ample opportunities to see such instances, both in person and on video. I have seen a video shot by a friend of a Sambhar Mother with her fawn cornered in a pond by a pack of about 10 Dholes (Wild Dogs). She stands facing these ferocious and hungry pack, thwarting any attack from any side from the pack and an hour later, exhausted, she emerged triumphant, with the pack beating a retreat. You can see an edited version of the video here https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150346684655158&set=vb.665030157&type=2&theater
I have seen in person, a pair of parrots, chase away a mighty Black Kite.
Many many instances can be recounted both from human history and natural history. Part of what we are, is because of that strong force – the maternal love that we have gotten from our Mothers. Her offspring, are a part of her, she has carried them in her, nurtured them, undergone pain in delivering them, and she is definitely going to stand up to any force, however stronger or greater than her, to protect and nurture what she still considers a part of herself.
Which, on another note, is also reason why, Mothers never get over the death of an offspring, where as Siblings and Fathers always do. ..
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