पिता स्वर्गः पिता धर्मः पिता हि परमम् तपः |
पितरी प्रतिमापन्ने प्रीयन्ते सर्व देवताः ||

Depicting the importance of parents in our life this Sanskrit verse teaches us to respect and treat our parents above everything else. It means that the father is like heaven, he is the ultimate religion and father denotes the ultimate sacrifice and renunciation. If we keep our father happy and satisfied then every god will be happy and satisfied with our deeds and acts.

Today, when we human being are loosing the values, principles and relationship importance, we are forgetting our creator. There is a mention in the Indian ancient scripture that if you have bad impact of Sun, you pray and seek the blessings of your father and you will be alright.

It is advised in Indian culture that every morning, immediately, after waking up, we should touch the feet of our parents and seek their blessings for better day and fulfillment of our wishes and desires. Even today, in many traditional Indian family this practice is followed like a ritual.

So, to be happy and live life with utmost happiness, we must love, respect and offer our duty to our parents.

गुरु ब्रह्मा गुरु विष्णु गुरु  देवो  महेश्वरः
गुरु  साक्षात्  परम  ब्रह्मा तस्मै  श्री  गुरवे  नमः

I bow my head to my master who is like the god of creation, sustenance, destruction and omnipresent in us like the supreme knowledge.

The word GURU means the one who can remove the darkness of illiteracy, unknowing and unawareness about the reality and facts of life and lighten our life with the wisdom, knowledge, realization of good acts and deeds which will make our life enriching and successful.

Across the world, for each one of us the importance of Guru is supreme and above anything else. As one can observe, the light of sun on moon cannot remove the darkness for within our body as they are not capable of doing so. Its our Guru who can through the knowledge and understanding of worldly knowledge, help us lighten our inside darkness through nourishing and enriching our mind through knowledge and understanding.

In Hindu mythology, it is advised that when you see god and the Guru together, you should first bow your head toward Guru as he is the one who has taught and help you recognize the god. So, the one who helps us in learning, in creating the awareness, has to be given the priority over anyone else.

अहो भरत भावी प्रबल बिलखी कहे मुनिनाथ
लाभ हानि जीवन मरन यश अपयश विधि हाथ

After learning that Ram has been banished to forests for 14 years to fulfill the promise that king Dashrath has given to Bharat’s mother Kakayi. Bharath was in grief and shock.

He went to his guru and the priest of kingdom Vashisth and asked why is this happening? What is the mistake of my innocent brother Ram that he has to be banished to the forest for 14 years?

The Vashistha replied that O Bharat, the fate is supreme. Profit and loss, life and death, fame and defame are governed by the supreme power.

Through this verse the message that there is a supreme power that governs and controls us are clearly depicted. We as a human being are only authorized for our actions. Think about this from the perspective of leaving the outcome to the fate or time immortal and just surrender our duty through the karma which is free from greed or personal self benefits.

This reminds me of my childhood experience when I, after my school time use to help my father for farming. As a child I use to wonder why my father goes the puts the seed in the farm knowing that it may not cultivate and produce the desired outcome in form of rice or wheat. However, every time my father invests money in cultivating and seeding the farm.

Later on, I realized that we are only responsible for actions we can take and we have to leave the rest to the supreme power to decide the fate and allocate the outcome as whatever we deserve.

Apado duragaamee ch saaksharo n ch panditah

Amukhah sphutvaktaa ch yo jaanaati s panditah

अपदो दूरगामी  च साक्षरो न च पंडितः

अमुखः स्फुटवक्ता च यो जानाति स पंडितः

As the footless person cannot think of going very far one who only know the words cannot claim to be the master. One who can speak and communicate the knowledge clearly without hesitation can be called the master.

In our day to day life we know that having the knowledge is not synonymous of having the power to communicate and help other gain through our knowledge. To express our knowledge to others we need to have mastery over our communication skills. We need to use the techniques and art of communication to express our knowledge to others so that other can benefit from it as well.

Abhiwadansheelasya nityam vruddhopasevinah

Chatwari tasya vardhyante aayurvidya yasho balam

अभिवादनशीलस्य नित्यं वृद्धोपसेविनः

चत्वारि तस्य वर्धन्ते आयुर्विद्या यशो बलम

Person who habitually salutes and provides the services to the elder people. He is blessed with the growth in age, knowledge, fame and strength.

The Indian ancient wisdom as well as family system has always put in center, the service and respectful behavior towards elder people. This verse clearly mentions that one who does service and respect to the elder people; will automatically enjoy the benefit of healthy and long living, knowledge, fame and strength.

Vidya dadaati vinayam vinayaad yati paatratam

Paatrata dhanam apnoti dhanaad dharma tatah sukham

विद्या ददाति विनयम विनयाद याति पात्रताम

पात्रता धनं आप्नोति धनाद धर्मं ततः सुखम

Knowledge instills courteousness and through courteousness we become competent. When we become competent we can earn wealth through our competency and where there is wealth there is a persuasions (dharma).

The creation of wealth is an undisputable necessity to survive and thrive in the society and it has been the mean for all the causes and acts in the world. But, to earn wealth we must be a competent person and one can become competent only he acquires the knowledge.

Mukam karoti wachalam, pangum langhyate girim

Yatkrupa tamaham vande, paramanad madhavam

मूकं करोति वाचालं पंगुम लंघयते गिरिम

यत्कृपा तमहं वन्दे  परमानन्द माधवं

Dumb person becomes talkative and a lame person crosses the mountain. That’s the possibility through the blessing from the god. I bow my head to that charming lord.

There have been several examples and stories about the people who have made possible the impossible things through the belief in their courage and god’s blessings. To come out of obstacles and incapability, we need to work with trust on god and our capabilities. Everything comes true when we try for it and put needful efforts and resources required.

Mata shatru pita vairi yen balo na pathitah,

Na shobhate sabha madhye hans madhye vako yatha

माता शत्रु पिता वैरी येन बालो  न  पाठितः

न शोभते सभा मध्ये हंस मध्ये वाको यथा

The parent who does not facilitate and guide their child for studies  is like the greatest enemy for the child. The presence of uneducated person in the company of educated people are like a goose in the company of swans.

Amongst the many duties that a parent has for growing up their child to be an ideal citizen of the world, the most important amongst them are the education. It becomes the utmost duty of every parent is to provide education to their ward to the best of their capacity.

Here the capacity does not mean only having the wealth or supporting financially but also give sufficient time, share his life learning’s and teachings and make the child aware of right and wrong things of the world.

twamev mata chapita twamev

twamev bandhu chasakha twamev

twamev vidya dravinam twamev

twamev sarva mam dev devah

त्वमेव माता चपिता त्वमेव

त्वमेव बंधू च सखा त्वमेव
त्वमेव विद्या द्रविणं त्वमेव

त्वमेव सर्व मम देव देवः

Oh God! You are my mother and also my father. You are also my brother and sister. You are the knowledge, wealth and you are the supreme god for me.

When a disciple surrenders to god he starts seeing the ultimate truthfulness in god and existence of everything living or dead, every existent or non-existent material are the god and the initiation point of all beginning is god and everything can get destroyed but god exists.

If we see this verse in the context of our practical life and think of our father, mother, brother, sister, knowledge, wealth and everything else as god and start respecting them like god; we will be able to live very happy, conducive and peaceful life on this planet.

असतो मा सदगमय तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय
मृत्योर्मा अमृतम गमय
ॐ शांतिः शांतिः शांतिः

O Lord; Lead me from dishonesty and falseness to truthfulness; guide me from darkness to the awareness and from the fear of death to the immortality. Let the peace exist everywhere…

Falseness to truthfulness

The universal truth is that all living being, Hindu scripture has mention of 8400 thousand yoni (living being) has to die and we cannot carry anything. We are surrounded by the myth that what we can claim ownership is mine and everything else is of someone else and in the race to acquire and make the feel of ownership, we commit the worldly act of greed, dishonesty and competition. There is no harm in competing for the cause which has been executed as per the humanitarian principles and guidelines. But, if we become greedy and conduct harmful acts because we want to own the worldly things for material pleasure that would be categorized as the act of dishonesty and falseness.

We must surrender our duties and responsibilities on the basis that it fulfills our purpose of living in the world and in the process do not harm anyone. We must learn to live life with the nature’s harmony.

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