Generation Gap
93
they should be cared for. You will receive as much happiness as
you give to them.
I ran into a man at an ashram. He told me that he had been
living there for the last ten years. I knew his parents and told him
that they were poverty-stricken, suffering tremendously and dying.
He told me that he was helpless and could not do anything for
them because if he were to leave the ashram to take care of them,
he would be neglecting his religious practices. How can anyone
call this religion? Religion is to care for others. People’s worldly
interactions should be ideal. How can any interaction that causes
a person to neglect his own parents be considered religion?
(P.569)
In the prime of my youth I took good care of my mother. I
was able to do at least that much. For my father, all I managed to
do was carry his body over my shoulders at his funeral. I realized
later on that such was my karmic account and that I must have
had countless fathers like him in my previous lives. What more
could I do then? I found the answer and it was to take care of the
elders that were living. Those who have departed are gone forever.
Take care of the ones who are living. It is better to start now,
although late, than never. It is a great blessing to take care of the
living parents. The rewards are immediate. They are next to God;
although you cannot see God, you can see them.
(P.570)
It is the elderly that suffer the most, but to whom can they
complain? Their children do not pay any attention to them. The
generation gap is too wide between the old and the new. The old
people cannot change and adjust to the new pace of life, even if
they suffer.
Questioner : Every old person is in the same situation.
Dadashri : Yes it is the same everywhere. What can be