|| Shri Hari ||

Duties in a Household Life

 continued

Question -  Can a person be free from the debt of manes without giving birth to offspring ?   

Answer -  Yes he can be free.  He who totally surrenders himself to God,  becomes free from all debts -   

Devarsibhootaaptanrnaam pitreenaam

Na kinkaro naayamrni cha raajan

Sarvaatmanaa yah saranam saranyam

Gato mukundam parihrtya kartam

(Srimad Bhagwat 11/5/41)  

‘O’ King,  he who surrenders himself to God,  does not remain indebted and a servant (slave) to anyone - gods, sages, creatures, family and manes.’   

Question - How are we indebted to gods and how to rid ourselves of this debts ?   

Answer -  We receive rain, air, sunshine, sunlight and moonlight by which we maintain our body, and the earth holds all of us - thus we are indebted to gods.   The offerings of oblation to the fire god and performance of religious sacrifice nourish gods and we become free from our debts.   

Question -  How are we indebted to sages and how to rid ourselves of this debt ?  

Answer -  We are indebted to sages and saints for the books and ‘Smritis’  (19 books of traditional Hindu law)  composed by them.  Those books impart teaching and preaching to us and make us realize what ought to be done and what ought not to be done.  We become free from this debt by studying and teaching these books,  by morning-evening prayers and by reciting Gayatri Mantra (a Vedic metre which is to be recited daily by the twice born).   

(to be continued....... ) 

 ‒From the book ‘Jeevan ka Kartavya' by Swami Ramsukhdasji