Srimad Bhagavatam – day 602
It is essential to establish a deep bond with infant when feeding it
“Desirous of being fed with milk, Little Krishna ran towards his mother who was vigorously churning yoghurt and while causing her immense joy, he caught the churning rod tightly in order to prevent her from continuing her chore. He then happily sat on her lap. Seeing his pleasant, charming face, Yashoda lovingly fed him milk”.
The infant who is being breast-fed, studies the mother’s face very minutely. He/she captures the mother’s image and registers it firmly within his/her mind. This is applicable not only to humans but to all species of living entities. Thousands of birds of the same species lay eggs simultaneously in adjacent nests situated in the dense forests. Yet, when the eggs hatch, the mother bird distinctly recognises its nest and its chick from among the millions of nests and chicks located adjacent to one another. It flies down to its nest and feeds its own chick. Likewise, the tiny chick waits eagerly for its mother. It refuses to accept food from any other bird of the same species, as it recognises its mother. In every species, be it human, birds or animals, the new-born lovingly watches the mother when it is being fed and captures the photographic image of the mother fixing it firmly in the mind.
For this reason, the mother should lovingly watch her infant as long as she is feeding him/her. Irrespective of whether the infant is bottle-fed or breast-fed, it is necessary to lovingly watch the infant’s face and establish a deep connection with it. This is the only opportunity to establish this eye contact perfectly. Once this connection is established, the infant searches and identifies its mother even amidst thousands of people. During marriages and other gatherings, don’t we hear ladies discussing, “How did the infant recognise her mother? We too have draped the same colour sari and we resemble her. Yet isn’t it surprising that the infant didn’t get confused?” The truth is that the infant has imprinted the image of her mother firmly in her mind.
More often than not, the mother is preoccupied in other thoughts and is unable to give this attention to her infant when feeding. While the infant keenly looks into her face, the mother fails to observe her child lovingly. The present generation mothers are more preoccupied with the mobile phones. Either they browse the net, or are engaged in chatting with others while breast-feeding. Isn’t is necessary to look into your child’s eyes and enjoy the tender, loving gaze? There can be nothing worse than the situation wherein the mother argues with someone over the phone while feeding her child. True love between the mother and child is born during these moments when they lovingly gaze into each other’s eyes.
“Yashoda lovingly breast-fed Krishna till his stomach was full, nevertheless he was not satiated. Suddenly she remembered that the milk kept on the stove was boiling”.
In the era prior to invention of electric mixers, ladies used stone mortars to grind grains. The mother would hold the infant in one hand, while deftly rotating the pestle with the other. She would deftly switch the pestle from one hand to another, while holding the infant steadily in one arm. All along she would continue grinding the grains and would melodiously sing such that the infant fell asleep in her arms. There would be absolute synchrony between her song and the sounds made by the rotating pestle. In a nutshell, she would be multi-tasking.
The present generation mothers have no scope to learn of traditional stone mortars. Stone mortars have made way for electric mixers which make deafening, harsh sounds. Mobile phones have replaced the infant in her hand when grinding. Where then can we get to see and enjoy the beauty of a mother who melodiously sings lullabies for her infant who is asleep in her arms as she grinds using the stone mortar? To witness this, we need to travel to interior villages in India where the luxury called electricity does not exist.
It is a fact that many villages are still deprived of basic amenities such as water, roads, electricity. Due to drinking polluted water these villagers often fall ill. Seeing villages that exist in vicinity to cities we conclude that all villages are modernized with every home having TV, radio and mobiles. The truth is that such development is limited only to some villages located adjacent to cities. I have travelled to many villages located in interior provinces of Andhra and Karnataka where villagers, who have never ever seen a well-laid road, are dumbfounded when they see mobiles. We take great pride in modern scientific accomplishments, nevertheless there is a lot more to be done for all these villagers in India. In other countries no visible difference exists between villages and cities. Every comfort is available to the residents of villages throughout Europe, America and Australia.
Narayana