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Radio 4,2 mins

Akhandadhi Das - 31/10/2018

Thought for the Day

Available for over a year

Good morning. It was incredibly moving to witness the outpouring of condolences, support and affection shown by the community of Leicester City Football Club towards the team鈥檚 chairman and benefactor, Vichai Srivaddanaprabha. Gratitude shown, not only for what he helped the team achieve but also, as acknowledged by Prince William, for his many other contributions to charities and sport. Particularly, poignant was the image of his wife and his youngest son, Aiyawatt, paying their respects in the midst of the sea of flowers and scarfs. Thai Buddhist culture shares much with other South-East Asian traditions like Hinduism. And, the primacy of family and the role of a son are well-engrained. The father is often the son鈥檚 first hero and by stepping into his shoes, a circle is considered to be completed. However, it鈥檚 less common these days to adopt one鈥檚 father鈥檚 profession or business. But Aiyawatt, has been the vice-chairman of the club in recent times and now the administration along with the hopes of all its fans may fall on his shoulders. The Manu-samhita says: the dedication and effort expended by parents to ensure the welfare of their children cannot be repaid 鈥 even in a hundred years; nonetheless, it suggests, children should sincerely endeavour to bring pleasure to their parents. But, sometimes, a parent鈥檚 expectancy can be too great. They may try to live through their children or hope they will take on their own unfulfilled ambitions. The Puranas describe how fathers may believe that their sons should reflect them in every way. It quotes one as saying: 鈥淵ou have taken birth from my body and heart. You are therefore my very own self in the form of my son.鈥 But, children鈥檚 responsibilities towards their parents are balanced in the scriptures with those of the parents. Parenthood is more than just providing one鈥檚 offspring with the necessities of life and a good education. The duty is to guide them in moral character, to help them distinguish truth from ignorance; so that they may advance from illusion to enlightenment. In the Hindu text, Mahabharat, it is said: Mother is greater than the Earth, Father is higher than the heavens, the mind is faster than the wind and our worries are more numerous than stalks of straw. I think these are grouped together to indicate how by recognising the debt we owe to our parents, we might grow strong and confident in the challenges ahead in life without them. We may or may not follow our parents鈥 path exactly, but I think we feel more secure knowing we, at least, keep true to their exemplary virtues, wisdom and values.

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