On the occasion of Father’s Day, Sant Rajinder Singh urges us to perform our duties towards parents, besides remembering the one who has created us all — God

Today’s Father’s Day, and this is the best time for us to give special honour and gratitude to our fathers. It should include fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers. On this day we should also remember the one who created us all — God. In this connection, there is a wonderful story about a king who had no child. He was worried about his successor. The king, therefore, made an announcement that he was looking for an orphan to adopt as his own child.

The ministers asked him, “Are you going to have any criteria for selecting a childIJ” The king thought for a while and said, “Yes, we need to follow a few guidelines.” The ministers made their own suggestions, saying, “The person should be handsome. The one selected should come from a rich family. He should belong to a noble family.”

The king considered them all and being a wise and spiritual man said, “The only requirement from my side is that the person has love for God and love for one’s neighbour.” After much debate among the ministers who feared that such a person might be of a lowly, poor family, the king had his way.

The ministers commanded that all those who wished to apply to become the king’s adopted child should come to the palace on a particular day. One orphaned peasant boy read the notice and wanted to apply. He, however, knew he would never be selected because he was so poor. Then, the boy had an idea: He decided to work overtime so that he might make enough money to buy a set of clothes that would make him look more presentable to the king.

The boy worked hard day after day, late into the night, until he had enough money to buy a new outfit. Feeling a bit more confident, he decided to go to the palace and hoped that the king would select him.

He set out on the journey. Along the way, the boy met a poor beggar on the side of the road. It was a cold day, and the peasant could see the beggar shivering with cold. He felt sorry for the beggar and without even thinking about himself, he exchanged his clothes with the beggar so that he could remain warm. He totally forgot about the hard work he had gone through to buy the new outfit and, being a caring person, immediately jumped in to help the beggar.

As the peasant boy set out on his journey to the palace again, he suddenly realised that he had given away the outfit that would make him presentable to the king. He knew he could not be accepted wearing the beggar’s garments. The boy decided that there was no point in continuing further to the palace, since he would never be accepted in his rags. He was about to turn back when he said to himself, “Well, you have come this far to the palace. You may as well keep going and try out anyway. The worst that will happen is that you do not get chosen.” He, thus, decided to go to the king’s palace anyway.

When he reached the palace, the ministers, courtiers, and guards looked at him. They asked, “What are you doing hereIJ” On hearing the answer, the ministers and courtiers began making fun of him. “You have some nerve thinking the king will choose you as his son. look at your clothes. You are not even fit to clean the king’s chambers in those torn rags.” The peasant was about to turn back when another minister came out and saw what was going on. The minister said, “The king did not restrict us from letting anyone in. No matter what he looks like, the king has ordered that we let all the applicants in to see him. The boy was admitted through the gates and taken to the king’s chamber.

When the chamber doors opened, the boy was in for a surprise: He found that the person sitting on the throne was no other than the beggar he had met on the roadside and was still wearing the clothes he had given him. The peasant stood dumbfounded to see that the beggar was actually the king. The king got down from his throne, came up to the boy, embraced him, and said, “Welcome, my son!”

This is a wonderful illustration of what every father wishes for his son, and what God, the universal father, wishes for each of us. Every parent is looking for his or her child to have certain qualities. Every father wants his son or daughter to grow up to be a good person. God is no different. When God created the soul, the hope was that each one would be in the image of God and He wanted each person to live up to that noble image. It is when a soul inhabits the human form that the mind makes it go astray from the original intent of God to stay true to the noble virtues.

In this story, the king specified that the criterion for selection of a child was someone who loved God and loved his neighbour. That aspect meant more to the king than wealth, power, prestige, or outer beauty. Similarly, God wants the same for each of us. He wants each soul to have love for God and fellow creations. It was with this intention that human beings were created. God wants us to love everyone. Those who do are truly sons and daughters of God.

As we think about honouring our father on

this day, we should also think about honouring our universal father — God. The best way to do that is to remember and be thankful for the gifts we have received. The second way is to live up to the noble purpose for which we have been created. Today, let us reflect on the gifts we have received from God.

The writer is a spiritual master