269 duties
When we have responsibility
What is the point of lamenting over it?
Running away by refusing it
Will the duty disappear?
We never came alone
We never live ‘alone’
Without others toil
We cannot survive
Once it become our share
Will all these disappear?
How can we justify
To live on others toil alone?
We cannot clap
Using one hand
There is no progress for us
Without others contribution
Once we take courage
Even mountain will become a dust
If we run out of fear
Even a mustard seed will become a mountain
Duty will become light
Once we do it joyfully
If we do it with murmuring
Then it becomes unbearable burden
With the help of grace of God
With the support of others
Let us do our duty
To make life meaningful one.
13-1-15, 9.30. am. Gurukulam.
Chakaravarthy called me on 12th night and said that as my mother cannot stay and adjust with others, there will be less opportunity for me to come often to the ashram in future. She returned after one week staying with my sister. My mother has no complaints again my sister or grandchildren, but only with the floor of the toilet. Then as a joke I said to her, ‘your grandchildren are earning so much and they can even change the floor for you’. I also suggested so many alternatives. But the floor was only an excuse and my brother-in-law said, ‘she made up her mind not to stay and she finds comfortable only with you’. Knowing my mother well, Chakaravarthy suggested me to come at least a couple of days regularly every month for my goodness and need. Then as usual we two argued over it—both of us are ‘argumentative Indians’. Then when I began to sit after 11.30 to remain silent, the first line of this song came in my mind. Then this morning (13-1-15) when I sat for my morning meditation and worship, I wrote this song.
One secret that I learned in serving my mother is that if we train our spirit to do our duty joyfully even the most difficult and burdensome work become light. Whereas when I do my duty with murmur then even simple work becomes too heavy which soon will exhaust both body and spirit. Particularly regarding our responsibility towards our parents, siblings, children, relatives are very demanding. The best way to handle it is to do it enjoying than doing it as mere duty or out of compulsion. Particularly with one’s mother what we need to do is not a duty, dharma or even seva. It is not even paying back our debt to here, which is impossible. We can pay back our debt to others but not to one’s mother. There is a Tamil saying: As God cannot be physically everywhere He created mother. Several times I heard my mother saying to others when they ask what I am doing, ‘he is doing amma puja (worship)’. Just read what a hunter says to a Brahmin when he was sent by woman to learn the secret of her power which nullified his (Brahmins’) power as he unable to burn her down as she delayed to give him food as she was serving her husband:
- …these my father and mother are the idols I worship with whatever adoration due to the gods. 19. Thirty three million gods with Indra at their head, are worshiped by all men, so are these aged parents of mind worshipped by me….21 these my father and mother are my supreme gods…. I always try to gratify them with the offering of fruits, flowers, and gems. 2. To me they are like the three sacred fires mentioned by the learned….they are to me as the sacrifice in the four Vedas. 23. My five vital airs, my wife, children, and friends are all for them. With my wife and my children, I always serve them. 24. …with my own hands I assist them in bathing; I also wash their feet, I give them food. 25. I speak to them only what is agreeable, avoiding all that is unpleasant and disagreeable. I even do that which is not virtuous, to please them. 26-28. …I am always diligent in always waiting upon them. The parents, the sacred, fire, the soul, the preceptor,–these five….deserve the highest worship from a person who seeks prosperity. By properly serving them, one acquires the merit of perpetually keeping up the sacred fires. It is the eternal and invariable duty of all who lead domestic life. [Fowler to Kunshika].— M.N.[Manmatha Nath] Dutt, Mahabharata, Delhi, Parimala Publications, 7 vols. VANA PARVA, Vol. 2, Ch. CCXII. p.322
13-1-15. Gurukulam.
269 கடமை
பொறுப்பு நமதானபின்
புலம்பி ஏதுபயன்?
மறுத்து ஓடுவதால்
கடமை மறைந்திடுமோ?
தனித்து வரவில்லை
தனியே வாழவில்லை
பிறரின் உழைப்பன்றி
நாம் பிழைக்கவில்லை
நம்பங்கு என்றவுடன்
இவையெல்லாம் மறைந்திடுமா?
பிறர் உழைக்க வாழ்வது
எவ்விதம் நியாயமோ?
ஒருகை கொண்டுதட்ட
ஓசை உருவாவதில்லை
பிறர்பங்கு அன்றி
நம்முன்னேற்றம் இல்லை
துணிந்து இறங்கிவிட்டால்
மலையும் துரும்பாகும்
பயந்து ஓடிவிட்டால்
கடுகும் மலையாகும்
விரும்பிச் செய்துவிட்டால்
கடமை எளிதாகும்
முணுமுணுத்தே முயன்றால்
தாங்கா சுமையாகும்
இறைவன் அருள்கொண்டு
பிறரின் துணைகொண்டு
கடமை நாம்செய்வோம்
வாழ்வும் வளமாக.
13-1-15, காலை, 9.30. குருகுலம்