Slokam 3

Suneeti is an enlightened soul.  She advices her son to overcome his grief of rejection, and seek shelter at your feet. Not many mothers will advise  this path, particularly when their children are so young.  Dhruva is fortunate to have the guidance of his wise mother.  It is also commendable that the child was able to act on the advise and take the correct step. 

The intensity of the impact of the event on Dhruva was so severe that he retreats to the forest and pursues a concentrated effort to invoke the Paramathma. 

Would the child have taken to this enlightened path, if the mother had not pointed him in the correct direction?   That would have been unlikely. Dhruva would have continued in the palace and tried to win over the father’s affection,  without success for much of his childhood and adolescence. 

Another question would be – would Dhruva ever have taken to spiritualism if he did not face a hostile environment at home?  Unlikely. 

The important conclusion to be drawn from this slokam is that events in life are designed to steer us to the correct path. It is absolutely futile to pursue attempts at trying to seek worldly attachments as a means of attaining  nirvana through relationships, wealth and power. 

It is implied in the Slokam that the earlier we embark on the path of seeking the feet of the Paramathma, the better.  Once we get entangled in this life,  we will not be able to extricate ourselves. The web of delusions and attachments will be all consuming.

The slokam also implies that parental guidance is all important in going down the correct path.  Many parents in the modern world have such a huge struggle on a daily basis that we are unable to raise our heads to see the big picture view of life’s objectives.

It is the primary duty of parents to provide early guidance on the priorities of life. Without these seeds being planted, our children will be lost to the traps set by this world.

The slokam also touches on another important aspect relating to actions of the past. It has been said that our Karmic actions from the past cannot be overridden without going through pain and suffering in this life, which will then lead to more mistakes and more suffering and ultimately spiral into disaster.

The slokam points out that surrender to the  Paramathma is the only source of release from the impact of karmic influences.  This is a release that most of us instinctively seek but do not know the path to take,  or more likely,  think that the path is closed because of inappropriate karmic actions that may have been performed in the past.  The slokam implies that it is wrong to think that those with less than perfect Karma cannot approach the Paramathma. On the contrary,  it is more than likely,  that except for the experiences on the bad side of life, we will never turn to the Paramathma.

Given, this tendency within us,  it is important the we learn the lessons of life early on, when we are too young to get into any major trouble.   Once we are entrapped in major situations later in life,  there can be either no redaction, or it will be an all consuming life of remorse and regret.

So like Dhruva took the cue from just one incident and realized the correct path under the guidance of his mother,  may we pray that we and our children come to the correct conclusions early on in life.