The Sacred Duty to Parents and Gurus

In Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Bhagavan Srikrishna talks about our duties and reverence towards our parents and gurus.

पितरं मातरं विद्यामन्त्रदं गुरुमेव च ।

यो न पुष्णाति पुरुषो यावज्जीवं च सोऽशुचिः ॥

A man who does not support his father, mother, and his gurus who have given him knowledge or mantras - he is a sinner as long as he is alive. If you don’t take care of your parents and your teachers — the ones who shaped you — then all your status, all your external puja, all your fasting and temple-going are hollow. You’re considered impure — not only by society, but in the eyes of dharma itself. 

How are these relationships different from transactional relationships like between a seller and a buyer?

A buyer-seller deal ends the moment money is exchanged. You owe them nothing after that. But can you say the same about your parents or your Guru?

• Did you buy your body from your mother?
  
  
• Did you pay a fee to your father for being taught how to read, walk, think, or speak?
  
  
• Did you bargain for a mantra that awakens your soul?

No.

And they didn’t give these things with conditions either. But you exist because of these people.

You grow old.
You’ve given your entire youth into raising your child.
You dedicated your life to imparting knowledge. 

 And one day, they turn around and say: 'I owe you nothing. You are responsible for yourself’.

How would that feel?

This is not about enforcing guilt. It’s asking you to not become impure by turning into someone who’s forgotten gratitude and reverence. It’s not about fear. It’s about character.

What happens if a tree cuts itself loose from its roots and tries to walk away?

It will die soon.

Similarly if you forget your roots, you will die spiritually, emotionally, culturally, and socially.

Gratitude isn’t a liability. It’s what makes you human.

A person who walks away from this sacred bond is considered impure not because he broke a contract — but because he  lost their purity of soul.

Shravana Kumar was just an ordinary boy — not a king, not a warrior, not even a rishi. But he was extraordinary in one thing: his devotion to his blind, old parents.

They were poor. Weak. Couldn't walk on their own. But they had one wish before they died — to go on a pilgrimage.

Shravana didn’t have chariots.
What did he do?

He carried his parents on his shoulders, using two baskets tied to a pole — one parent in each — and walked across forests, rivers, and heatwaves for days just so his parents could fulfil their last desire.

This is not a transaction or paying off a debt. That’s dharma in action.

The parents felt thirsty. Shravana Kumar kept the baskets under a tree and went to get water.

And Then —  

King Dasharatha — a skilled archer — was out hunting. He heard the sound of water being collected in a pot and assumed it was an animal. He shot an arrow blindly.

The arrow hit Shravana, and he fell — bleeding, gasping, dying.
Dasharatha ran to him and was horrified.

Shravana didn’t curse him.
He just said:

'Please… go to my parents. They’re blind. They’re waiting.
Tell them… their son… is no more…'

Dasharatha, trembling, went to the old couple and told them what had happened.

They didn’t scream.
They didn’t rage.

They simply said:

'You took our only support away. As a consequence, one day, you will die unable to bear the pain of separation from your son.

And that came true.

Years later, when Rama was exiled, Dasharatha — once a mighty king — died crying Rama's name, unable to live without him.

• Shravana didn’t treat his parents as a burden. He saw them as his gods.
• Dasharatha didn’t mean harm, but his careless action towards someone doing their dharma caused lifelong guilt and a sad end.
• The entire Ramayana unfolds partly because of this one mistake — harming someone who was fulfilling his duty towards his parents.

• Reverence for parents is not optional in dharma.
• Ignoring it changes your destiny.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi