Author: DAIV
Some devotion asks for nothing more than consistent, unglamorous presence.
Shravana Kumara, a devoted son to his blind and aging parents, carried them in baskets balanced on his shoulders across the country on a pilgrimage, since they could no longer walk the distance themselves. He tended to their every need along the journey without complaint, fetching water, finding shelter, managing their comfort entirely on his own. While fetching water from a river one evening, he was accidentally struck by an arrow meant for a deer, shot by King Dasharatha, who had mistaken the sound of Shravana filling his pot for an animal drinking. As he lay dying, Shravana's only concern remained his parents, waiting nearby, unaware of what had happened to their son.
His devotion was not expressed through a single grand sacrifice, but through the accumulated weight of ordinary days spent entirely in service of two people who depended on him completely. We often imagine caring for aging parents as a future obligation to plan for, rather than a quiet, daily practice already available to us now.
Today, offer one aging parent or elder in your life a small, practical act of care, the kind that asks for no recognition at all.