There is a family of three, father, mother and the son. When the father brought home his earnings the mother felt happy. Whenever he came home empty-handed the mother used to get angry. The son watched the alternation of happiness and sorrow in the home.
Unable to bear the troubles at home, the father went to a temple of Kaali. He prayed: "Oh Dhevi! I cannot bear these troubles. I cannot live with my wife. Please see that her life is ended soon." "Be it so!" declared the Goddess. The wife died.
Watching this, the son went to the Kaali temple. He prayed intensely to the Goddess. She appeared before him and asked what he wanted. "Please restore the life of my mother," he pleaded. "So be it!" declared the Goddess.
The father desired the death of the mother. The son desired her revival. Their prayers revolved around death and life. Have such prayers any meaning? How much more sensible would it have been if they had prayed for the gift of goodness. The father surely could have asked the Goddess, "Oh Dhevi! Confer good sense on my wife." The prayers of the father and son only brought about death and birth.
(Svaami sang the Bhaja Govindam song in which Aadhi Shankara deplores the human condition which is caught up in the cycle of birth and death and Govinda is the only redeemer).
What folly is it to be caught up in the endless cycle of birth and death? What is the purpose of life? It is to live for some ideals. The Vice-Chancellor (who had spoken earlier) said that there is the practice of performing annual ceremonies for one's departed ancestors. The Vice-Chancellor said that while performing these ceremonies the young people should remember the departed ones with gratitude and love. The children should show their gratitude first and foremost to their parents because they owe their life and all that they enjoy to their parents. The anniversary of their passing should be remembered with grateful tears.
(From Bhagawan's Divine Discourse of 18.8.1996)
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