Who Will Come To My Aid If Something Bad Happens To Me?

I regard the title of this note as the name of a serious psychological disease. A vast number of persons who have come in my contact suffer from this syndrome. Aged and young alike are the victims of this syndrome, though the seniors suffer more. The answer to this question is that God will come to my aid and for the non-believers, my past actions ('karmas') will come to my aid if something bad happens to me. "Bad" also needs to be defined and clearly understood. Nothing that happens as a result of the working of Nature is bad.

Indian culture and tradition has inculcated in us the concept that father and mother are gods (Pitra devo bhava, Mtra devo bhava) and we have to be loyal, respectful to them. Serving the parents and the grand parents in every possible manner brings us divine blessing. I find it difficult to accept this concept in toto. We should be thankful to our parents and elders for all the sacrifices they have made for us. It should give us pleasure and satisfaction to serve and help the seniors. If the father is corrupt and debauch, we need not be loyal to him. Our loyalty should be for certain ideals and values and not for individuals.

I am loyal to my boss because he holds the key to my promotion. I am loyal to my party President for he will nominate me to Rajya Sabha. Personally speaking, I am now from this burden of loyalities. At 73, I have no professional promotion to seek and I do not nurture any political ambitions. This is one of the many reasons why I feel so light and unburdened these past many years. Still there is one aspect of this 'pitra devo bhava' concept that causes lots of problems for old persons of my age group. They expect too much from their sons and daughters, and, being disillusioned, indulge in self-pity and frustration. My message to fellow greys is that the children are now Papas and Moms and their first priority is to take care of their families. Let us accept the one and the only truth - God will come to our (and everyone else's) aid if something bad happens to us. Chances are that nothing 'bad' will happen to anyone of us.