You cannot dodge Karma, so treat your parents well 

By Satyendra

The corrosion of ancient Indian culture and values started with the advent of western education system and the death of the ancient gurukul system in India.

The breaking of joint families, the rise of nuclear families and the moving away of children in search of greener pastures has forced several of our elders to live alone.

Due to modern technology, the world has become a global village today. The exposure to alien societies and a mixture of cultures has shaken the very foundation of our ancient civilisational values. Our old parents, who were once an object of reverence, are forced to live a life of isolation.

The prime reason for this situation is the modern, western, economy- oriented education system. It teaches us how to earn money but does not teach us how to live a peaceful, blissful, and contented life.

The modern Indian society no longer believes in the ancient wisdom which taught, ‘santosham parmam sukham‘ or contentment is the greatest happiness.

Societal perception has changed so much that a reverse journey — from contentment to greed — has started.

Our children seem to have gone so far that they unhesitatingly abandon any process or person whom they think is detrimental to their happiness.

Old parents are the first casualty.

When the youth in their quest for a happy life leave their parents, they probably believe that they will always stay young.  Their world in the 30s and 40s is so different to the world of their parents who have crossed 60.

But what our youth forgets is that in less than 20 to 30 years they will be at the same crossroads where their parents were. Their children will treat them the same way as they treated their parents.  Remember, children only observe and emulate.

The Law of Karma

What today’s youth doesn’t know is that the Law of Karma operates on the cause-and-effect principle.

Let us analyse the karmic effect of such an action.

In our spiritual texts, three major types of Karma have been mentioned:

1. Prarabdh Karma: This is the accumulated Karma of our past lives, whose results we reap in this lifetime.
2. Sanchit Karma: This is a karma that we accumulate in this lifetime but the results of it are reaped in another lifetime. Such a Karma goes and gets stored in the godown of cosmic memory and comes to haunt us when cosmic intelligence decides it.
3. Kriyaman Karma: This is the good and the bad Karma that we generate in this lifetime, and its effects have to be reaped in this lifetime only.

Abandoning and disrespecting our elders falls in the category of Kriyaman Karma. The results are bound to come to us. That is why we see that those who don’t care about their parents in old age are mostly abandoned by their own children.

Our parents are not just two individuals. It is an arrangement of the cosmic intelligence. It is a tremendous energy that is responsible for our existence on this planet. Disrespecting this energy is a direct attack on our own existence, the result of which can only be suffering.

This is the eternal message of our civilisation.

(The column Spiritual Shades appears every Monday.)

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