Are scriptural models of duties to be implemented as it is today – should children obey their parents just as Rama obeyed Dasharatha?

Anwser Podcast

Thank you so in scripture there are different duties given at different times how do we know which duty is relevant now and which is not relevant now say Ram obeyed his father but is it that today all children are supposed to obey their parents like that, suppose somebody wants to become a brahmachari see in general scripture is for emulation not for imitation emulation means we understand the essential principle and internalize that in our life it’s not for imitation if parents demand that their children obey them like say Ram obeyed Dashrath then they have to ask whether they are ready to be like Dashrath when Vishwamitra asked give your son to me Dashrath was ready to give how many parents are ready to do that today so certainly we can take inspiration but I would say that it cannot be used to rigidly imitate so basically there are three steps in understanding how to apply scripture first is that we look at the action second is we look at the essential principle underlying that action and then we consider how that essential principle applies now in our life so for example the essential principle in Ram is not just duty duty is there, duty to parents is there but the underlying principle is selflessness so that selflessness may apply in a different way in different situations so it’s not all the way necessarily in exactly the same way and another important thing is that in that relationship Ram is God so he is demonstrating the ideal over there we can’t say that in the same way today if we understand our ultimate purpose in life which is to love and serve Krishna then whatever roles and relationships we have in this world if that goal is clear then others will fall in place so so Krishna says that I will give the intelligence by which you can come to me so that means that he will give us the intelligence by which we can know what to do when what to do when means it’s like if you are driving a car then sometimes the traffic is a lot then we drive slowly traffic slows down, we move fast traffic clears up, we move fast so like that in our journey towards Krishna or in our progress towards anything in life sometimes there is a traffic, we move forward slowly sometimes a particular relationship may demand more time say when somebody becomes a mother pregnant, that takes a lot of time at that time that is what is required at that time, that’s what should be done other times so everything else gets subordinated at that time but once the road clears we can move faster so even in relationships it’s not fixed because this is what Ram did if you see Ram talked about his destiny and Kaikeyi said this, I consider my destiny, I consider the will of destiny that’s why I agreed but when Sita was abducted he did not consider the will of destiny my duty is to protect her so I have to get her back so the thing is that the real challenge comes when we have different duties and we have to decide which duty is more important so we just can’t rigidly imitate scripture in today’s world what we can do is take the inspiration, take the principle and see how it applies best so I am just now writing a book on the Ramayana, essential lesson from the Ramayana is, from me to we, we should just become more concerned about others in our relationship, specifically how we express it, that will vary so if say somebody becomes a Brahmachari, it’s not that they don’t love their parents it’s just that they feel inspired to you know, dedicate their life to cause a service to God similarly we live in Grahastha Ashram and then how much we can connect with our parents, how much we can care for our parents all these are decisions which will vary so I’ll conclude with this point that that you know, following scripture is not about turning back the clock it is about turning on the compass so turning on the compass means that if we hear scripture in a submissive mood and we practice bhakti our heart becomes purified and in that pure heart the intelligence of how to serve in our specific situation becomes clear so you see Chaitanya Mahaprabhu refused to meet Pratap Rupa, saying that a king cannot a sanyasi should not meet a king but Prabhupada he was in America and he came all the way from America to India to meet Indira Gandhi and Prabhupada said that a sanyasi should not associate with a king Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave the example that a sanyasi should not associate with a king and a sanyasi should not associate closely with a woman Indira Gandhi was a woman and a head of state and then Prabhupada came to meet her why? because it’s not just rigid imitation what is the essential principle? Chaitanya Mahaprabhu felt that in his time his closely associating sanyasi would be a slur on his reputation oh what if a sanyasi would announce the world he is hobnobbing with kings but in today’s world if a spiritual leader gets to meet a head of the state that actually increases the reputation of the spiritual leader so Prabhupada did not stick to the external form he understood the essential principle and then he based on that essential principle he took on a form that was exactly opposite of what was earlier so that way if we turn on the compass practice bhakti sincerely pray to Krishna and then apply the essential principle of scripture in our life then we will be able to take inspiration from the scripture without feeling the need to imitate it did I answer your question? yes.