Page 78 - Hinduism

to the poor and the needy. Her domestic life is not one of mere passivity and dependence due to feminine receptivity and responsiveness, but she is the queen or mistress of the home and its mainstay and prosperity or Laksmī incarnate. As patnī, she often leads the pati in sweetening his masterful will.
Her life of love is enriched by the advent of motherhood. Her instinct of self-sacrifice and service are fully brought out in the bearing and rearing of the children, worthy of the gotra and the spiritual tradition. It is motherhood that elicits the infinite spirit of self-denial and affectionate solicitude and is manifested in the fostering of the child by endless privations and patience bordering on martyrdom. The forgiving nature of the mother increases with the prodigalities of the children even if they happen to be prodigal.
Wifehood is, therefore, extolled in Hinduism as the symbol and embodiment of Divine Love. The Īśvara- Iśvari relation of Godhood is a dual-non- dual relation of Pārvatī-Parameśvara or Sriyaḥpati. Īśvara rules by law and Iśvari by love and the two are glued together as one. It is Divine Motherhood that is the operative grace of God which consists in forgiveness and the redemption of the sinner from his ways of wickedness. The mother's love is spontaneous and the Divine Mother forgives sins by Her overflowing love.
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