Swami Vivekananda on His Mother – The love which my mother gave to me has made me what I am

Today - January 12 - is the birthday of Swami Vivekananda.

Swami Vivekananda said this about Bhuvaneswari Devi, His mother

…always suffering, always loving . . . The love which my mother gave to me has made me what I am and I owe a debt to her that I can never repay . . . I know that before I was born, my mother would fast and pray and do hundreds of things which I could not even do for five minutes. She did that for two years. I believe that whatever religious culture I have, I owe to that. It was consciously that my mother brought me into the world to be what I am. Whatever little good impulse I have was given to me by my mother, and consciously, not unconsciously.

Source – Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda 9 202-3

We need to learn to respect the unfathomable pain and struggle our mothers, sisters, wives and of other millions of women. They never advertise their struggle or pain. We owe to them what we are today and what we will be tomorrow. We are here because of women. (hindu-blog.com)