According to Indian culture, Parents are placed on par with Gods. The apt phrase, ‘Respect your parents, teachers and elders’ just sums up the whole nation’s philosophy. India is well known for its virtual importance of discipline and moral values, which we take pride in being an Indian.
The unconditional love that mother has for her children is unmatched that she handles her child with complete care and protection. We run short of adjectives and superlatives to describe the relationship between a mother and her child.
A mother is one who takes care of us even before we were born and continues to do the same till her last breath, that pretty much sums up how children mean a mother. Likewise, a child, after gaining consciousness and maturity, starts reflecting the love on mother.
The Story:
We have come across boys doing anything for their passion, film stars, sports stars etc- but there are also some boys who do anything, or everything, for their mother. They enter into the grand scheme of things and do everything to sacrifice time, energy and fulfill mother’s dreams just to bring a ‘smile’ on her face. Have you heard about Kailash Giri Brahmachari? Pretty sure that his story would send jitters down your spines!
In an unfortunate incident, Kailash Giri fell from a treetop and picked up a fracture when he was eight years old. Having been from the economically poor background, they couldn’t afford to get the treatment done. It was then his mother Kirti Devi prayed for his recovery hoping that she would undertake a journey to some of the religious places, if her son is cured.
Kriti Devi’s constant prayers reaped rewards as her son recovered soon without consuming any medicines. Seeing this, she expressed a desire to go on a pilgrimage of the Char Dhams, the four most sacred religious sites in India for the Hindus. In order to fulfill his mother’s wish, Shravan Kumar, after turning 24, walked with mother on his shoulders more than 36,582 km with grit and determination.
“When I was about eight years old, I fell from a treetop and suffered a fracture. Expensive treatment was not possible because of financial difficulties. It was then my mother prayed for my recovery. She vowed to undertake a journey to some of the religious places if I was cured.
Her prayer bore fruits and I recovered quickly and that too without any medicine. She could not perform the thanksgiving trip for one reason or the other. But when I turned 24, I started taking my mother to religious places,” Kailash is reported to have said.
Similiar to Sharavan Kumar, whose story from the Ramayana, is an epic, Kailash too carries his mother on shoulders in a double basket. With his mother on one side and the clothes and day-to-day items on the other side so as to balance the weight.
He walks 4 to 5 km like this every day, starting his day at 6.30 am, resting some time in the afternoon session and continues to walk from where he left off again when the sun sets. Both the mother and son then take rest for the night at some roadside temple or the other.
It is learnt that Kailash cooks food from whatever people provide him, and serves it to his 92-year-old blind mother first before taking his. Their fantastic journey has witnessed every snippet and corner of the country where they have covered most of the famous temples and holy cities in India such as Rameshwaram, Basukinath Dham, Tarapith, Badrinath, Kaashi, Ayodhya, Chirtrakut, Jagannath Puri, Tirupathi, Kedarnath, Hrishikesh, Haridwar, Ganga Sagar, Allahabad, Narmada, Pushkar Agra-Mathura area.
“I have to complete this Yatra (journey), both for myself and my mother. I have travelled for 20 years, I will walk for a few more. My mother has no one except me. My brother and sister died and my father passed away when I was 10 years old. Who else could have fulfilled her wish, except me?,” Kailash told Times of India.
Kailash said that he would be pleased if a few youths start respecting their aged parents with utmost dedication after seeing them. “After seeing me, if a few youths start respecting their aged parents and see almighty in them, I will be satisfied,” he added.
