Daily-Bhagavatam 70 – 11.07.60 – Parent in the service of the supreme parent
Thank you. तासां पतक्त्रि सुस्पर्षे तासां is of the little birds. So here the Avadhut Brahma is instructing Maharaj Yadu about the nature of material life through the story of the Kapota and the Kapodi, she and the pigeon and their children.
So तासां पतक्त्रि, of the baby birds, पतक्त्रि, their feathers started growing. सुस्पर्षे, the feathers are generally soft. So when those feathers touch the parents, the parents touch the children.
कूजिकैर And then they were gently chirping also, learning to make bird sounds. मुद्धचेष्टिकैर And their activities were charming, मुद्धचेष्टिकैर They were making attractive and deluded चेष्टिकैर through their attempts to walk, to flap their wings, to fly. The baby birds were captivating the hearts of their parents.
प्रत्युद्गमैर अधिनानाम So प्रत्युद्गमैर, when they were trying to fly eagerly by jumping up, अधिनानाम So of the children, the happy children, पितरो, the parents, मुद्धमापत्हु They became joyful. The joy of assuring a new life into the world and helping that life to gain a proper hold on life. That means to beget a child and then to help the child grow and become a resourceful, responsible, happy in life, competent in life, that is a great, great joy to the parents.
Now, at one level, this joy itself requires so much selflessness and sacrifice. Parents, instead of thinking of their own pleasure, think of the welfare of the children and delight in the children's growth. And in this reciprocation of love, the children learn and grow, not just in acquiring the skills for living, but also in acquiring the security of the love of their parents.
And similarly, the parents also grow, grow in acquiring a mood of selflessness of service and of seeking for others' welfare. And though this is wonderful, still, at one level, it is inadequate. The reciprocation of the love between the parents and the child, especially when the child is growing, and the parents and the child, both delight in the growth of the child.
That is wonderful. But then why is it inadequate? It is wonderful at the level at which it is there. Certainly, parents are negligent to the child, and the child is impudent to the parents.
Both these are undesirable. And as compared to that, parental and child's reciprocation of love is beautiful. At the same time, sometimes this reciprocation of love can make Krishna's love seem redundant to us.
If the parents start thinking that I alone am the provider and the protector and the trainer and the benefactor of this child, then the parents subconsciously or consciously assert the position of God and that becomes detrimental to their spiritual life. And similarly, the child becomes so dependent on the parents' love that the child is no longer able to recognize that as I grow, my love also has to grow and grow from my human parent to my divine parent. And this growth is the privileged opportunity for a soul with a developed consciousness.
Now, when that divine connection is not established amidst the loving reciprocation between the parent and the child, that loving reciprocation may be beneficial at the material level in a limited sense, but it will be not lastingly beneficial. And the parents, if they are God conscious, as soon as the child and the children also become God conscious, that does not mean that they no longer reciprocate love with each other. The parents understand that actually this child belongs to Krishna and it is he who has placed this child in my care.
And yes, I definitely have to do all that I can to take care of this child. At the same time, I also need to have the humility to acknowledge that I cannot take complete or perfect or perennial care of the child. So the best that I can do for my child is to remind him that he is not my child alone, he is Krishna's child and to connect him with Krishna.
And by that, the child's ultimate welfare is promoted, is facilitated, is nourished. And that is the ultimate joy of parenting. Whatever joy the parents may get in taking care of the children, if they connect themselves with Krishna and then use their connection with their children to stimulate their child's connection with Krishna, then the reciprocation of love with Krishna at its centre becomes far, far more fulfilling than just parenting at the material level.
Because parenting at the material level may satisfy some aspect of our being, but actually it doesn't touch our core, that is our soul. But when parenting is done at the spiritual level, then the joy that comes by seeing the children growing is not just the joy at a material level of seeing the children becoming better materially, but also the joy that comes from knowing that this child is through it all going to go closer to Krishna and therein find lasting happiness. And thus, by connecting ourselves with Krishna and connecting our wards with Krishna, our parenting becomes pure and perfect and offers perennial blessings to us also because Krishna becomes pleased with us for having brought a soul back to Him and it becomes perennially beneficial even for that soul because that soul has become connected with Krishna.
So in this story, unfortunately, we'll see that the pigeon did not do such connection and that which could have become the source of great satisfaction becomes a source of great frustration. By studying the past times in the scriptures, we can learn to avoid the satisfaction and we can learn to pursue and cherish supreme satisfaction of parenting in the service of the Supreme Parent. Thank you.