Nothing equals a mother's love and she expects nothing in return from her children. She is always willing to lay down her life for them, according to Malayaman.

Lord Langdale said, “If the whole world were put into one scale, and my mother in the other, the whole world would kick the beam.”

Thus the whole world is small beside a mother's love. Even if children hurt her through words and actions, she is ready to forgive them. We are sometimes so busy with our work that we forget to pay attention to our mothers. But a mother, even if she is unwell, keeps it from her son or daughter, because she does not want to burden them further. Such is the selflessness that characterises the love of a mother.

Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar said a mother could get no better gift than hearing others praise her children. She will experience greater joy upon hearing others speak highly of her children, than when she gave birth to them.

Another Tamil poet Vilambi Naganar said mother was the reward that one's good deeds in the previous births. But these days, we think that just calling up our mothers on Mother's Day is enough, and that we do not have to do anything else to show our love for them. When we owe everything to them, can we not do much more for them?

Vilambi Naganar exalted mothers to the status of gods. He said there was no greater refuge than the mother in times of trouble. That was why one referred to one's country as one's motherland, and one's language as mother tongue. “Even our Gods have shown us the greatness of mothers, by according a high status to their respective Consorts. Goddess of knowledge Saraswathi is always portrayed as seated beside her consort Brahma. Parvati constitutes one half of Lord Siva's body, which has earned for Him the name Ardhanaari. Lord Narayana holds His consort Goddess Lakshmi in His chest. She has permanent residence there. And He has names such as Lakshmi Narayana, Lakshmi Varaha and Lakshmi Narasimha. The Lord forgives us our sins only because of the benign presence of the Goddess beside Him. Her kindness is greater than that of the Lord's. Just as mothers forgive us for our mistakes, so too does the Divine Mother.”