A beautiful narration on how one can relate to God
has been given by the actor,
Ms Archana Puran singh in the "God and I" column.
She sees God in her parents
which in my opinion is one of the fundamental tenets of Sanathana dharma.
In Tamil we say, "Annaiyum, pitaavum munnari deivam."
Mother and father are the foremost gods.
From Rama, to Vyadha to Cirakaari
to the recent stories enacted by MGR or Shivaji
the tradition of respect to parents and adoring them as Gods
has been the main teaching.
Rama waited for a chance to show how he would treat his parents with reverence.
Sita told this to Hanuman in Ashoka vana
and how he was keen on grabbing a chance
to demonstrate his bhakti for parents,
when Dasharatah told him about the promises to Kaikeyi.
Vyadha, the butcher who taught dharma to a rishi in Mahabharatha
was also one devoted to parents as Gods.
Cirakaari, the son of Gauthama and Ahalya
delayed to carry out the order of his father
to behead his mother Ahalya,
for, though it was the duty of the son to obey his father,
he could not kill his mother - his other God.
Till the time Rama came to relieve Ahalya of the curse,
Cirakaari did not act,
that was lauded later by his father, Guthama
for saving his mother by not carrying out his order.
Why I say all these which are known to all is that
treating the parents as Gods is one of the foremost dharmas.
It is based on yet another basic tenet, namely,
'Sei-nandri maravamai' –
'not forgetting the good that one has done to us.'
If one forgets the good or help that others have done,
one can not be saved of the consequences.
There is no 'parihara ' or
no propitiation for forgetting the help done to us.
From Dharma sastras to Thirukkural say this only.
That is, when we receive something from someone
in a timely way that has done us good,
we should not forget it.
It is in this way Karna was right in siding with the Kauravas.
In modern times, I find poet Vaali trapped in this dharma!
'Trapped' because in spite of his spiritual leanings and
good works by writing the Ithihasas
in a way to take them to the masses,
he finds himself supporting or signing praises of one
who can not be supported.
It is because he received a timely help from that politician-cum-God hater
in his times of ill-health
that he can not but have to side with him
against dharmic expectations,
though he himself is a spiritually evolved person.
"Sei nandri maravaamai" is the trap that he has to endure!
This dharma of not forgetting the help / good
is basically connected with 2 kinds of entities.
One is the cow that gives us the vital food, milk
and the other are the parents
who bring us to this world and help us grow.
They are similar to Gods
to the Mother earth that sustains us.
Any abuse to God,
any abuse to earth,
any abuse to the cow and
any abuse to the parents
can not be rectified nor propitiated.
But today's culture of teasing parents as 'perusu'
or as oldies who can not 'understand' the youngsters,
or as those who are not in tune with times,
or as burdens
or causing harm and sorrow to them
would result in creation of avoidable bad karma
that will get manifested in a future birth.
There are instances where the mistake might lay with parent.
In such cases, dharmic stance is that of not returning the mistake,
nor abusing them for the harm that they do
but instead
keeping away -while not forgetting to do them
all that must be done as a duty-bound son / daughter,
more importantly doing the pithru rituals or
remembering them even after their death.
A case in point is how Bharatha was hurt by his mother,
Kaikeyi's wish.
As an obedient son, he must have accepted the kingdom.
(as how Rama fulfilled the wish of parents,
Bahrata also is expected to have fulfilled the wishes of his parents.)
But as younger brother to Rama,
he can not take up rulership.
It is a catch 22 situation
whereby he would be going adharmic if he chooses any one of the two.
This kind of dilemma in following dharma
will be discussed / analysed in my next post.
Coming to the present topic,
there are a number of indicators to all these in astrology
that guide us what must be done or
what must not be done.
Astrology is a body of knowledge
which indicates which karma leads to what result.
It indicates in clear terms that
the very basic need of life,
namely wealth and benefits coupled with peace of mind
can not happen
if one has offended the parents in a previous birth.
The 4 th bhava of 'sukha' (happiness)
and the 9th bhava of 'Bhaagya' are crucial for one's happy life.
The 4th is about mother
and the 9th is about father.
In addition, the moon is the signifactor for mother
and the sun is the signifactor for father.
If the 4th and 9th
and the sun and the moon are afflicted,
they are sure signs of disrespect or ill-treatment to parents
or behaving in ways that had hurt them in a previous birth.
The person will find a related deprivation,
depending on the affliction to these in his horoscope in this birth.
I will be covering a few of these indicators
at the end of this mail,
though in the present context
I wish to point out that treating the parents as Gods
is the realistic way of reaching God and
attaining all goodness in life.
-jayasree
*****************************************************
God gave us parents as He can't be everywhere
Archana Puran Singh
(God & I – column, DC dated November 3, 2008)
I DEFINE God as a parent, not necessarily as the father. Over the years I have found similarity in how I perceive my parents and God.
When I do something bad but harmless, my parents forgive me. But when I do more than that, they rebuke and chide me.
God too, I feel, is the same with me.
There are times we wonder why God allows too many bad things to happen in the world? But He can only show us the way, eventually it is we who have to make the choices. Like a parent may warn the kid not to play on a slippery floor as he may fall and hurt himself, but unless the child slips and falls, how will he learn. Parents can only ensure well-being of their child, they cannot save the child from everything.
Parents are God's workers on earth.
He can't be everywhere that is why He gave us parents.
God for me is the most beautiful and perfect parent with whom I have fights and disagreements. He has given me lessons as I have grown up.
As a parent, I want my kids to experience pain because without it you cannot enjoy life. I don't seek His guidance when I am in a fix.
My God has a great sense of humour. I hear him point out things to me when I mess up, but need be He won't let any harm come to me.
(As told to Saumya Bhatia) — ARCHANA PURAN SINGH is an actor
From Jayasree:-
Some astrological yogas (yoga means combination. Here planetary combination)
that show what kind of life one will get for the way one treats or ill-treats one's parents,
makes them suffer on account of oneself or causes hardships to them.
(1) Papa karthari yoga:- Sun hemmed in between malefic planets
(mars, saturn, rahu, ketu and ill-associated mercury are the malefics)
Results :- Lot of enemies. Would not hesitate to do adharmic acts.
Loss of name and wealth.
Previous karma :- Disrespect to parents.
(2) Adhama yoga :- Moon in Kendra (1,4,7, or 10) to sun.
Results:- loss of wealth, prosperity, happiness, knowledge etc.
Previous karma:- Not taking care of parents.
(3) Sama yoga :-Moon in the 2nd place to Kendras of the sun.
Results :- Medium results as told for Adhama yoga.
Previous karma:- Treating the parents in a mixed way - both well and ill in the previous birth.
(4) Varishta yoga:- Moon in the 3rd place to kendras of the sun
Results :- The problems told for Adhama yoga will get vanished.
Previous karma:- Due to unavoidable reasons such as employment, one might have to leave parents. But still could have taken care of their needs and their goodwill.
(5) Jalathi yoga:- Good aspects and association to the 4th bhava and the 4th lord getting exalted and ownership in other than 6,8 or 12th houses.
Results:- all prosperity, good family life, all comforts, accolades from superiors and employers etc besides doing good social works for the society.
Previous karma:- taking good care of the mother who was abandoned by the father in the previous birth.
(6) Bhagya yoga:- 9th bhava getting good aspects or association and the 9th lord in exaltation or ownership in houses other than 6,8 or 12
Results:- born in a good and great family, good grooming, blessings from all (devas, pithrus and great persons), all round prosperity and happiness.
Previous karma:- A case of 'pithru vakhya paripalanam' of carrying out father's commands in doing dharmic help and works to others.
(7) Guhu yoga :- malefics in 4th and the 4th lord in 6,8 or 12.
Results:- Deprived of mother, her care, prosperity, relatives and well-wishers and be in the company of immoral ones in abandoned places.
Previous karma:- Ill-treatment of the mother, leaving her in the lurch, abusing her and beating her in the previous birth.
(8) Nir bhagya yoga :- 9th bhava getting aspects or association with malefics and 9th lord in debility, or enmity or combustion in 6,8,or 12th.
Results:- Losing the inherited property, living in utter poverty and misery and abusing sadhus and teachers.
Previous karma:- causing harms and hardships to father and abandoning him in his old age in a previous birth.
There are combinations that show
how treating parents- in -law would give good or bad results accordingly.
If a person ill-treats his wife,
he will be deprived of happiness on family side in his next birth.
Added to this, he has to undergo the result of the sorrow
undergone by his in-laws
for his ill-treatment of his wife.
Apart from these there are combinations which show
that abuse of parents or
disrespect to parents or
doing works in such a way that bring bad name to the parents
will invite troubled relationship with parents in the present birth,
losses of all kinds and
more importantly problems in getting children or
problems with their own children.
The rationale with any result is that the cause of it is directly connected to it.
If one loses wealth, it must be understood that
one must have snatched wealth from someone in the previous birth.
Likewise if one abuses the parents,
they will get children who would abuse them or ill-treat them.
In the case of parents,
the additional karmic result is loss of all prosperity and happiness.
We see a number of persons around us undergoing the bad results as listed above.
The causes behind can be assessed from Dharmic sense.
It must be an eye opener in this Kali yuga
that the more suffering we see,
the more moralistic and responsible we must become.
Quotable quote:-
"It is Dharma which brings prosperity and happiness.
But why then people not follow it "
- Ved Vyasa in Mahabharatha
