Story of Nachiketa (Kathopanishad) Part 3

Previously: Nachiketa warns his father:

"Joyless are the worlds which he attains who gives such dakshina – gifts or alms."

Nachiketa loved his father. Like any other young; nine-year-old son- Nachiketa’s father was his mentor, his hero and as we can see, he seems to be very wise too. He warned his father, not to insult him, but for his welfare… out of love and respect he had for the father. But the father could not accept such advice from his young son. He took it as an insult.

Most parents and elderly people react in the same way. Every generation believes that they know more and the new young generation should not tell them what to do - that the youth should follow the elders without questioning.

We tend to forget that every new generation has one major advantage over the previous generation. Whatever knowledge has been learned, discovered or invented previously is already available to them and they can learn the next steps and advance their knowledge from that point onward. That is why the new generations have always been ahead of the previous ones.

Those, who cannot accept this basic natural fact, will always have a clash with the new younger generation.

Nachiketa’s father also thought that his son was too young to give him any valuable advice. He found it disrespectful for his young son to tell his learned father what to do. He was asking for advice from his friends and colleagues but he found his own son’s advice insulting and disgraceful to his position. His ego was hurt. He became angry and shouted “To death shall I give you”

The purpose of reading these stories is to learn from them.

Faced with a similar situation, when we receive advice from the youth or our children, instead of feeling hurt and disrespected; instead of getting angry, we should listen to them calmly and ponder upon their thoughts seriously.                   

                                     ‘Rajan Sachdeva’

To Be Continued........