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Friday, April 13, 2012

One should never forget the path he trod

षडेते ह्यवमन्यन्ते नित्यं पूर्वोपकारिणं।
आचर्यं शिक्षिता शिष्याः कृतदारश्च मातरं॥
नारिं विगतकामस्तु कृतार्थाश्च प्रयोजकं।
नावं निस्तीर्णकान्तारा नातुराश्च चिकित्सकं॥७३
श्रीमहाभारते उद्योगपर्वणि प्रजागरणपर्वणि विदुरनीत्यां अध्यायः ३३
ṣaḍete hyavamanyante nityaṁ pūrvopakāriṇaṁ|
ācaryaṁ śikṣitā śiṣyāḥ kṛtadāraśca mātaraṁ||
nāriṁ vigatakāmastu kṛtārthāśca prayojakaṁ|
nāvaṁ nistīrṇakāntārā nāturāśca cikitsakaṁ||73
śrīmahābhārate udyogaparvaṇi prajāgaraṇaparvaṇi viduranītyāṁ adhyāyaḥ 33A

Vidura the wise half-brother of Dhritarashtra is presenting the principles of lifemanagement and statescraft in the chapters in Udhyogaparvan of Mahabharatam, to the King and the brother.  He is acutely conscious of the fickleness of sense of gratitude in human beings.  Certain people get attached and show the utmost concern about certain relations or connections so long as these relatives and connections are of any use.  One the purposes of these helpers are achieved, then they are forgotten for ever.
"These six things are usually ignored and treated with scant respect even though they were of great utility at a point of time.
They are:-
1. The students do not care much about the teacher who had shown them the path to life and imparted valuable knowledge .
2. Once a person gets married his whole attention is concentrated on his wife and in this process he simply has not time to think of his own mother.
3. A person who was just going after a woman for romantic reasons, simply ignores the woman once he had received from her what he wanted.
4. A fellow who has employed a priest or preceptor to perform rites for certain benefits, once such benefits have been realized by the employer.
5. A boat is ignored for ever once the its owners have sailed across wide rivers and other huge water depositories.
6.A man is very much devoted to the doctor and always sees living god in him when the former is in the grips of disease, but once he is cured, the doctor becomes a stranger to him.

Here Vidura is stating the ground realities of life.  He is not canvassing the philosophy that human conduct should be like this.  Respect to Mother, Teacher, Preceptor and elders is a quality expected of any cultured person.  One should never forget the path he trod.  But the average human mindset does not consider gratitude as a cherished quality.

--
।श्रीकृष्णो रक्षतु।
|śrīkṛṣṇo rakṣatu|
Have a nice and happy day
with profound respect and warm regards
K V Ananthanarayanan
blog   http://kanfusion.blogspot.com/
त्यजन्तु बान्धवाः सर्वे निन्दन्तु गुरवो जनाःI
तदापि परमानन्दो गोविन्दो मम जीवनंII
let all my relatives abandon me, let the great people insult me, still I am in supreme bliss since my life  is GOVINDA alone.
Iकृष्णात् परं किमपि तत्वं अहं न जाने"I
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु।
lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu|

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