House of surrogates

Published in the Times of India

Nitin Mehta| Oct 11, 2013, 05.22 PM IST

 

Channel 4 in UK recently featured a fascinating documentary about a surrogacy clinic in Anand, Gujarat. This has become a billion dollar industry in India.
At any one time, this clinic in Anand has about 100 women who carry the babies of couples from many parts of the world. The women carrying the babies stay at the clinic for nine months and are well cared for and paid $8,000. The money enables the women to fulfil life’s many necessities like better education for their children or building a new house. One of the ‘customers’ mentioned in the documentary said that she could get a surrogate mother in her country but the donor would probably be an alcoholic or a junkie as opposed to the Indian women who came across as cultured with loving families. While the documentary touched upon the poverty of the surrogate mothers and their desperate need to improve their lot, what came through was the dignity of these women and the composure with which they faced their situation. On Sundays the surrogate mothers children and husband visited them and the family bond was a joy to watch.

It is this family bond which is a great heritage of Indian culture personified by the Hindu epic Ramayana. Respect for the elderly, love for the children and putting others before you is the ethos on which Hindu families function. Ironically surrogacy is a concept that the Indian’s have been familiar with for centuries. In the Mahabharata, about 5000 years ago, Kunti conceived five children without sexual activity. There is also mention of pregnancies transferred from one womb to another. Lord Krishna’s mother Devaki’s pregnancy was transferred to Rohini.

The Mahabharata is a proof of a sophisticated, advanced civilisation that existed in India 5000 years ago but its origins go back over a million years ago during the time of Rama. What I would like to do is to explore the spiritual and psychological impact of carrying someone else’s baby both for the baby and the mother. According to the Hindu scriptures, as soon as a baby is conceived it begins to connect with the mother and as it grows it begins to pick up the mothers vibes. A fetus is not just a mindless mass of flesh but a highly responsive and evolving human being capable of receiving, understanding and responding to external stimuli. For 9 months as far as possible the mother has to be in a calm, happy mood and recite religious scriptures and chant god’s name. It is said that in the Mahabharata, Arjun’s son Abhimanyu had learnt the art of fighting while in the womb of his mother listening to Arjuna describing it. Prahalad Maharaj became a great devotee of Lord Vishnu after hearing of his glories while in the womb of his mother. Narada Muni was describing the glories of Lord Vishnu to Prahalad’s mother. Sukdev Goswami heard the whole of Srimad Bhagvatam while in the womb of his mother and narrated the same to Parikshit Maharaj.

The diet of the expecting mother is also important and traditional Hindu families are vegetarian which is considered ‘satvic’ or in the mode of goodness. It is therefore quite possible that these babies of surrogate mothers will subconsciously carry the impressions of their mothers and they will stay with them for their lifetime and will impact their character and attitude to life. Over the years there will be individuals all over the world who will have that link with mother India. Some of them will be drawn to India and may also make contact with their surrogate mothers and find that they have brothers and sisters. How weird and wonderful are the ways of the world.

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