ਮਾਤਾ (maataa)
Meaning: noun: Mother
Quote:
ਪਉਣੁ ਗੁਰੂ ਪਾਣੀ ਪਿਤ ਜਾਤਾ॥ ਉਦਰ ਸੰਜੋਗੀ ਧਰਤੀ ਮਾਤਾ॥
ਹਵਾ ਗੁਰੂ ਸਮਾਨ ਅਤੇ ਪਾਣੀ ਪਿਤਾ ਸਮਾਨ ਜਾਣਿਆ ਜਾਂਦਾ ਹੈ। ਪੇਟ ਦੇ ਸੰਜੋਗ ਕਰਕੇ ਧਰਤੀ ਮਾਤਾ ਸਮਾਨ ਹੈ।
pauṇ guroo paaṇee pit jaataa. udar saňjogee dhartee maataa.
Air is the guru and water is known to be the father. Earth is the mother resembling the womb (that gives birth to all). -Guru Nanak Sahib, Guru Granth Sahib, 1021
Message: Whatever culture or religion we belong to, we all refer to earth as a mother. Earth is like our mother from whose womb we have emerged and who is loving, nurturing and protecting. Earth is more than just the environment within which we spend our lives. Just as a mother provides for her family, the earth sustains all people and all species living on it, without discrimination. As Sikhs believe that the Divine is all pervasive, hence the earth also is a vital part of the Divine.
Like a family in society, the earth forms a basis of a kinship system which binds human beings, plants, animals, birds, land and water into one huge family. We are connected and interdependent and she is the mother.
As such, mother earth should be given the reverence she deserves. Humans need to be more conscious of how they are using or exploiting mother earth and take decisive steps to refrain from doing any further damage.
Etymology: From Sanskrit maataa/maatri/maatrikaa (mother) → Pali maataa. Its modern forms are: Punjabi maa/maaee, Lahndi maaṅ/maaee (woman, mother) and Sindhi maaee (respectful address to a woman) → from Prakrit maayaa/maai; comparable to Assamese maau, Bengali, Gujarati and Oriya maai, and Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Hindi and Marathi maaee (mother).
