I recall that my mother never celebrated her birthday.
She was content with the whole of India celebrating Independence Day and said that that was part of her birthday as well, the day the country got freedom from the British Raj at last.
I recall seeing my father, HH Shri Bhola Nathji (1902-1992) marching down on the Mall Road along with troups of school going children, as one of the eminent citizens of Mussoorie invited to watch the flag hoisting ceremony at Library or Gandhi Chowk in the city.
My mother, Smt. Savitri Devi,(1916-1967) was the youngest daughter of Lala Hargopal Khanna, senior advocate of Lahore and the Legal Adviser of the Punjab National Bank in India. He had the reputation of being amongst the most honest lawyers of the time.
Once when he was young and practicing criminal law, a client brought a false case before him. He was so disgusted and disappointed that he took down his board and stopped practicing criminal law and became a civil lawyer who attained great heights in the Banking and Conveyancing fields.His books on the subject still guide students and lawyers. It is said that when he eventually retired from his post as Legal Adviser they had to hire eleven men of Law to replace that one single genius!
My mother was always detached from the world. Although her father was very fond of her and took her for rides in the only Citroen Car in Lahore at the time, and wished to send her for higher studies to England, her mind remained distracted from the world of materialism. She wished to deliver her life to a noble cause. The plight of the poor and the suffering would cause her insufferable agony. The misery that she saw around her made her shed tears of sorrow for the people of the world. She had the heart of a mother. As the youngest sister in the family she would give away all the new sarees and clothes brought for her to her elder sisters. She had three sisters and three brothers.
She wished to do God's work in the world, and knew that one day she would be marrying a man of God. And that was how her marriage to HH Shri Bhola Nathji came about in Lahore in India in 1939. It was an arranged marriage, but divinely arranged and pre-ordained. She had intense faith in the holiness and purity of HH Shri Bhola Nathji, and saw the manner in which he gave peace to the people of the world. If HH Shri Bhola Nathji was like a lamp that gave light to the world, then she was like the oil and the wick in the lamp that helped sustain the light.
She gave birth to two sons, both of whom became scientists in later life, Pran Nath and Priya Nath (myself). And she finally left the world in 1967. Her last words to my father were : "I know of no other God in the world other than you!"
Although all Indian wives are told at the time of marriage that their husbands are like God, yet in the case of my mother this was a realization that came from deep within and it was a feeling that remained with her all her life.
I have maintained the tradition she left behind, of not celebrating her birthday, but rather celebrating the Independence Day in India and seeing in that the birthday of my mother as well who loved India dearly.
She was content with the whole of India celebrating Independence Day and said that that was part of her birthday as well, the day the country got freedom from the British Raj at last.
I recall seeing my father, HH Shri Bhola Nathji (1902-1992) marching down on the Mall Road along with troups of school going children, as one of the eminent citizens of Mussoorie invited to watch the flag hoisting ceremony at Library or Gandhi Chowk in the city.
My mother, Smt. Savitri Devi,(1916-1967) was the youngest daughter of Lala Hargopal Khanna, senior advocate of Lahore and the Legal Adviser of the Punjab National Bank in India. He had the reputation of being amongst the most honest lawyers of the time.
Once when he was young and practicing criminal law, a client brought a false case before him. He was so disgusted and disappointed that he took down his board and stopped practicing criminal law and became a civil lawyer who attained great heights in the Banking and Conveyancing fields.His books on the subject still guide students and lawyers. It is said that when he eventually retired from his post as Legal Adviser they had to hire eleven men of Law to replace that one single genius!
My mother was always detached from the world. Although her father was very fond of her and took her for rides in the only Citroen Car in Lahore at the time, and wished to send her for higher studies to England, her mind remained distracted from the world of materialism. She wished to deliver her life to a noble cause. The plight of the poor and the suffering would cause her insufferable agony. The misery that she saw around her made her shed tears of sorrow for the people of the world. She had the heart of a mother. As the youngest sister in the family she would give away all the new sarees and clothes brought for her to her elder sisters. She had three sisters and three brothers.
She wished to do God's work in the world, and knew that one day she would be marrying a man of God. And that was how her marriage to HH Shri Bhola Nathji came about in Lahore in India in 1939. It was an arranged marriage, but divinely arranged and pre-ordained. She had intense faith in the holiness and purity of HH Shri Bhola Nathji, and saw the manner in which he gave peace to the people of the world. If HH Shri Bhola Nathji was like a lamp that gave light to the world, then she was like the oil and the wick in the lamp that helped sustain the light.
She gave birth to two sons, both of whom became scientists in later life, Pran Nath and Priya Nath (myself). And she finally left the world in 1967. Her last words to my father were : "I know of no other God in the world other than you!"
Although all Indian wives are told at the time of marriage that their husbands are like God, yet in the case of my mother this was a realization that came from deep within and it was a feeling that remained with her all her life.
I have maintained the tradition she left behind, of not celebrating her birthday, but rather celebrating the Independence Day in India and seeing in that the birthday of my mother as well who loved India dearly.
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