Generation Gap

Author(s): Dada Bhagwan
Publisher: Dada Bhagwan Foundation

Page 45

your son grows up and insults you, you will feel sorrow and pain, and that sorrow will be the repayment of the borrowed happiness. So be cautious from the very beginning. I have stopped borrowing such happiness a long time ago. When infinite bliss exists, where is the need to seek any temporary happiness? (P.295)
A young man asked his seventy-year-old neighbor who had very depressed, why now she was saying that she wished she were dead. The man inquired what had happened? In the past this same son of hers was very dear to her and was a source of lot of comfort. She told him that it was because her son had started quarreling with her and wanted her out of the house. This is how the accounts of attachment and abhorrence unfold in life. (P.297)
Penance is necessary on the path of liberation. In these times, one does not have to go outside of his home seeking penance, as did the aspirants of the past. Penance readily occurs in the form of conflict with other family members. You should consider yourselves fortunate that such instruments of penance are found in your own homes and view them as instruments of benefit for your spiritual development.
Even Lord Mahavir, in search of penance, had to leave his kingdom, to go to areas inhabited by uncivilized tribes. You, on the other hand, find such penance within your own homes. When a son speaks rudely to his father, the father thinks to
himself that had he known that his life would be reduced to this, he would never have married and had children. But unfortunately one does not come to this realization until it is too late.
Questioner: Does this mean that when we encounter unfavorable circumstances, our focused awareness (upayog) should be towards the Self?
Dadashri: All unfavorable circumstances in life are beneficial for your spiritual progress. They are vitamin for the Soul. In times of crisis, does one not withdraw into his real Self? If someone were to insult you right now, your focus would not remain in the external world and you would become one with your Soul. This is applicable only for those who have acquired the knowledge of the Self. (P.298)
Questioner: Who will take care of us in our old age?
Dadashri: Why do you have such expectations? It would be enough if your children do not abuse you. Do not expect to be cared for in your old age. Only about five percent of children take care of their parents; the rest mistreat them. (P.299)
A son tells his father that he is tired of listening to his constant nagging and that he wants his share of the inheritance. The father in turn tells him that he will not give a single penny of his hard-earned money to him because he had been a constant