Children, Bharat’s (India’s) social and cultural environment is different from that of other countries. Therefore, we should be cautious about imitating life in such countries. There are many good things that we can accept from others; by imbibing them, we will become more expansive. But we should remain rooted in our age-old culture, then decide what to accept and what to reject. If we embrace something impulsively and without proper discrimination, we may find it hard to reconcile ourselves to it later on. Over time, it may prove burdensome.
In many other countries, 90 percent of youth finance their studies with loans or by working part-time, once they turn 18. They do not depend on their parents. But the situation here is different. Even if the unemployed son is 40, his mother will feel anxious. She may even work as a servant in the house next door so as to provide for her son. Mothers here will gladly forgo their meals to feed their children. Such love and familial bonding are our foundation, our wealth. Through blind imitation, we may lose this wealth of love.
However, the situation is changing even in India. Today, three people under one roof live as if on three different islands. There is no mutual understanding. The thought, “for me, for me”, motivates each one. This is not what our culture teaches us. The son for his mother, the mother for her children, the wife for her husband, the husband for his wife—our culture teaches us to uphold such ideals and live with mutual love, co-operation and a readiness to compromise, ensuring that the link of love never gets severed. What is required is a life lived in unity, like the links in a chain.
The “I and mine” thought is primitive. Those who harbour such thoughts will not gain anything; not only that, they will also lose whatever they have gained. The seed in the hand will not sprout and bear fruit. Only when it goes under the soil will it sprout, flower and bear fruit. Likewise, the attitude of surrender draws out our talents.
If we continue to distance ourselves from our own culture, the number of old-age homes here will increase, just as it is happening in other countries. The cause of this is that the children there do not have the time to look into their parents’ affairs when they grow old. If they have the time, they may not have the interest. Children forget their duties. The world today is not what it was 20 or 30 years ago.
Mutual responsibilities are not being fulfilled. People have forgotten their responsibilities, or perhaps, do not even know them. How can a son or daughter forget the debt he or she owes the mother who bore him or her in the womb for 10 months and went into labour to give birth to them? When we were young, how often we urinated and soiled our mother’s lap! How much we troubled her! We never even let her sleep peacefully. But she bore all that patiently.
She loved us without the least resentment. She caressed us, holding us close to her bosom. To reciprocate, at least once, hug your mother with affection. Prostrate before your father. That is puja (worship]. “Matru devo bhava, pitru devo bhava, acarya devo bhava, atithi devo bhava”—we used to abide by such time-honoured teachings. But we are losing such values. How wonderful it would be if we could revive them! But today, in the search for the new, we are losing our noble heritage. May your efforts prove to be the solution to such problems.
The writer is a world-renowned spiritual leader and humanitarian