Gauranga (Golden) Jubilee.

Every occasion is an opportunity to glorify Krishna. Today happens to be the starting of the fiftieth year of marriage of my parents. The golden Jubilee year. Interestingly, i was reading the meaning of Jubilee and came across this on the Webster's dictionary. Though it means a special anniversary, this one struck as a more apt meaning especially when in reference to marriage anniversary :"A special plenary indulgence granted during a year of jubilee to Roman Catholics who perform certain specified works of repentance and piety."
This was apt because; isn't marriage a manifestation of karma where the two souls come together to sort out underlying issues and ultimately gain freedom from the repeated cycle of birth and death, through the performance of devotional service? In that sense it is indeed performance of 50 years of repentance and piety. The only difference is that of all the 50 years this year is special because Gauranga has entered their lives this year, in a more pronounced way, with their chanting of the Mahamantra on the beads as opposed to just chanting in the mind, making it the Gauranga Jubilee year.
I picked a class on Rukmini's marriage to hear today and Guru Maharaj, HH Bhakti Tirtha Swami was speaking on how one should not become laid back and complacent but forge ahead with the consciousness fixated on the ultimate goal. Because, in a world of impersonal, broken marriages where cheating is rampant, where marriages are based on individual decisions, lacking the support and blessings of friends and family, in the times of difficulty the family tends to break apart. Though opportunities for escape and rescue by Krishna are there, one has to constantly work and make themselves qualified to receive help. So, here, they have started the process of application for help from Krishna.

In this world, it is said that affection of a mother for a child comes closest to the definition of selflessness which is the underlying quality in all relationships in the spiritual world. I am not much of a poet/ess but several years ago, i wrote a poem to glorify these two personalities who are my parents in this lifetime, as an expression of my heartfelt appreciation to the values that they inculcated in me. Here it is, i even doubt if the word unconditionality exists in the dictionary, my spell check says it doesn't ..
Unconditionality
We use the term unconditional
The meaning we do not comprehend;
To me it means one simple thing
My parents personified.
For, as a child when I ran to you
With grubby cheeks and moist eyes so blue
You held me close to your chest,
Settling all my unrest.
Forgiving my follies as a youth,
You gently pointed the way of truth
Nursing me when I was ill,
You watched over me till I slept still
Filling my heart with a warmth unknown
Yet so familiar that only parents can own
Listening to my endless banter,
With smiling eyes and kind words to offer
You never ridiculed my imperfections and sorrow
I owe you my today and tomorrow
Is this not an embodiment of divinity?
Parents - Aren't they personified Unconditionality?