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Articles Born to Love article, as published in The Hindu Dec. 26, 1998. Article from The Star, Penang, March, 1999. Mother's Day Article from The Record, Closter, New Jersey, May, 1999. UNO Press Release of May 6, 1999.

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By Bob Groves
Staff Writer

Hundreds of Hindus crowded into a worship center Sunday to hear a small, smiling man they regard as a spiritual father tell them to praise God daily for their mothers’ priceless love and the gift of birth.

"Every day is Mother’s Day. You don’t have to remember your mother only one day of the year," said Dada J. P. Vaswani, an 80-year-old guru from Pune, India, and the leader of the worldwide Sadhu Vaswani Mission.

"Mother is the transmitter of tradition from generation to generation," Vaswani told about 350 followers who sat cross-legged, their shoes removed, on the carpeted floor of the Sadhu Vaswani Center here.

One floor below, a similar-sized overflow crowd watched his address on closed-circuit television.

"Without the love of the mother, a child can never grow," said Vaswani, whom some regard as a saint and whose annual visit to New Jersey drew the faithful from the tri-state area and beyond.

God himself is both heavenly father and universal mother, he said. Vaswani – a former physicist and magazine editor know affectionately as "Dadaji" – spoke softly.

Sometimes it was in English, but mainly it was in Sindhi, the dialect of the Sind province where he was born. The province became part of Pakistan in 1947.

The nine-year-old center in Closter is part of a global service, worship and goodwill mission started by Vaswani’s late uncle, Sadhu Vaswani.

Asked Sunday about the renewed missile testing race between India and Pakistan, Vaswani brought the discussion back to the theme of the day, saying the rival nations "shouldn’t forget this fundamental fact of life: Both are children of the one mother."

"Instead of trying missiles, they should open their arms and bless each other in love, and there will be great things for both countries. India without Pakistan is empty; Pakistan without India is blind. The two must come together," he said.

Instead of fighting over who owns the province of Kashmir, he said, "they should get together in the spirit of understanding and try to solve the problem."

Many great men throughout history publicly acknowledge their mothers for what they achieved, the guru said in his Sunday sermon.

St. Augustine’s mother helped him get back on track in moments of self-doubt, and Abraham Lincoln once said, "All that I am, I owe to my mother," Vaswani noted.

Vaswani drew laughter from the audience when he said mothers used to read stories to their children but now turn them over for hours at a time to television and "chit-chat" on the Internet. But he also chided parents for not paying attention to their youngsters.

"You’re busy getting silver and gold but neglect the richest treasure of children. Without love, no child can grow in the right way," he admonished.

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