Love and responsibility

I am reading the bestseller, Immortals of Meluha, a sort of historical/mythological fiction where the central character is Shiva. The book describes the kingdom of Meluha which is an almost perfect society created by Lord Ram. For all of us familiar with the story of Lord Ram, the name conjures up the image of a perfect person who lead is life strictly on the path of dharma. He is seen as the epitome of righteousness for silently obeying his father's orders to step down from the throne that was rightfully his and to spend several years in exile. A man must do his duty, do what is right - this is the message that most people take home.

But is it right to blindly follow orders? Is it the responsibility of children to obey their parents wishes, even if it seems unfair or downright wrong? A debatable subject in today's society. Given the glorious example of Lord Ram, a son understands that he should do as told. But is that all that Lord Ram did? Yes, obviously he followed the mandate. However, what is not dwelt upon is the fact that he did it for the love of his father, without any rancor, without prejudice towards Kaikeyi, without hatred to his brother. Doing something simply because "it is the right thing to do" without being convinced does not give you brownie points with the Almighty. If it was purely a check-box type list that you had to get through in a life in order to win celestial favors in the next life, perhaps doing the responsible thing will get you ahead. But if the act is done with an underlying ill will towards the other, both the action and its fruit are wasted. You are not much better than the person who does not fulfill his responsibility. If you are looking for a good outcome to your actions, there must be love and a genuine good intention as the foundation of everything you do. Do your work with love.

This is a lesson that I took a long time to learn. Now I am more watchful. I check the underlying feeling before I take up any activity and if there is a doubt about my motivation, I let the job wait until I am in a better frame of mind to do justice to it. Today I had to teach at the college but I was not mentally ready. So I decided to try something new. We had an impromptu debate in class on an ongoing current issue and used a lot of our skills besides the obvious technical knowledge to dialog and discuss openly without hostility. I think the students enjoyed the change. I certainly felt I had used the time allotted to me wisely. I know that it will be a long wait until I see the fruit of this interaction but since we all put our good intention and enthusiasm into it, I am sure it is worth waiting for.