Author: Dr. Manasa Nagabhushanam, Daiv
Listening to our parents is not weakness; it is the quiet beginning of greatness.
On the morning meant for his coronation, Rama entered his father's palace expecting blessings. Instead, he found Dasharatha broken by grief, unable even to speak. It was Kaikeyi who conveyed the old promise: Bharata would be crowned, and Rama must live fourteen years in the forest. Valmiki records Rama's answer with remarkable restraint: "R? mo dvir n? bhibh??ate", Rama does not speak twice. Once he gave his word, there was no argument, no bargaining, no second sentence. Even his face, the poet notes, showed no change. A throne, a kingdom and the love of an entire city were set down as lightly as a garland removed after a festival. Pause and ask: how many of us listen to our parents even when the request is small? We debate, postpone, sigh, or hear only the words we like. Rama heard even the request a grieving father could not voice and answered it completely.
His obedience was not fear. It was trust that a parent's word, spoken in love, carries a wisdom the young mind may not yet see.
Today, recall one piece of advice your parents have repeated many times, perhaps a health check-up, a phone call or a habit. Act on it without a counter-argument. If they are no more, honour them by doing something they would have wished.