The One who has shown the WORLD to You...

One of my former colleagues by the name Narayana Shripathi never knew that the day of his retirement would come so soon. On the 1^st of June 2023 he was finally relieved from the company’s active work. Though young, he knew that he had finally crossed the threshold of “going back to the pavilion” – a phrase that he commonly used to say - "work time was over" and therefore he had taken voluntary retirement. We were both behavior analysts and had worked in the same division in one of the IT giants. Both of us were very unique in the way we conducted our training programs – while my sessions were more humorous, his were the ones that had a very serious atmosphere - the ones where you could not even look at your neighbor for even a fleeting moment. We both got along well – as they say “Good cop – Bad cop” or “tough cop – Soft cop” or in Hindi “Naram – Garam” go on well. 

 After a long time, we did meet yesterday at a restaurant while I had gone with my friend for a meeting with one of the Government Official. I was extremely happy to meet him and right from the word go we started to speak about our good old days that we had while working together. At one point I remembered jocularly calling him “Dasharatha” (of Raamaayana fame) because he had 4 sons – Duttaprasad, Abhignyadutta, Gurudutta and Devadutta (in the same order of from elder to younger). The uniqueness in them was that, the first two were twins and the next two were also twins but separated by a gap of 3 years. All of them had finished their graduation and had immediately got into employment with the giants of Indian Corporate World. The boys were brilliant and I always complimented him on his wonderful gifted children. When I asked him about them, he gave a wide smile. Although he felt proud about, he said there was more to it. When I asked what it was? Narayana went on to tell us about a task that he had given to his children to understand their inner status. I was curious to know what it was?, as Narayana was definitely a brilliant behavioral analyst.

Narayana then told us this episode. It so happened that one day Narayana withdrew Rupees 4 lakhs (Rs. 4,00,000/-) from his bank and called all his 4 sons into his study room. He told them that he had a task for them. He gave each one of them Rupees 1 Lakh (Rs.1,00,000/-) and told them “here is one lakh rupees – I give you 1 week to use this money to go wherever possible & prostrate to that entity which has shown you the world. Take a photograph of it and come back”. After a week all the 4 came back to meet Narayana to report about the completion of the task. Narayana then asked them to explain where they had gone and what they did

• Duttaprasad the eldest of the four said he went to a grand mall and bought a MacBook of Apple. He said that the laptop was itself a world which introduced him to the wonders of every single information that was available on the internet. It also allowed him to access intricate information and also protect the same with an excellent intrusion prevention system so that he is able to use it whenever he wants it without the system getting corrupted. This laptop costed him a good Rs. 1 Lakh.

• Abhignyadutta the second son also said that he had been to a wonderful store and purchased a latest IPhone. He said it had functions that made him really versatile in assessing information and getting to know the world in a flash. Also it allowed him to communicate and share information in the form of text, video, audio and a mix of the three to any person in the far corners of the world. It had so many features that it practically made him powerful by using them. He said he now has the whole world in his pocket. He said his phone costed him Rs. 80,000/- and he had saved Rs. 20,000/- which he had with him now. 

• Gurudutta the third son, very softly mentioned that he travelled to Uttarkashi (in the north Indian state of Uttarakhand) and went to a Guru who had initiated him a long time ago. It was to the Guru that he went with 5 types of fruits and a garland, did pooja to his guru’s divine feet. He prostrated before the Guru for showing him the path of self-realization and how to do the sadhana (penance) in understanding the soul better and also work on the inner journey to attain moksha. He said meeting the Guru and the journey only costed him about Rs.20,000/- and the remainder sum of money he had with him. He showed the photograph of him and his guru to Narayana. 

• Devadutta the last son just stood silent looking at the floor. When Narayana asked him about what he had done and whether he had completed the task. Devadutta said “Here is the entire money (keeping the money on Narayana’s table). I’m sorry I could not complete the task just like how my brothers have done. I am very unfortunate and not as lucky as they are.” Narayana was surprised and asked him "why what happened?”. Devadutta said - the entity who showed him the entire world left this entire world a couple of years ago. She was none other than his mother and remembering her dearly he said "I could only bring her photo". He went on to say “it was she who introduced milk to me to first quench my thirst and hunger; She showed me how the hand fan kept mosquitos away; she took me down the dream land with her stories; she kept disturbances away to let me know the benefit of restful sleep; She introduced me to the crow, the sparrow, the cow, the dog, the squirrel, the pigeon, the eagle, the horse, the camel, the elephant while she fed me; she taught me to hold her hand and the value of holding on to worthy relationships; she taught me the variety of languages so that I can communicate with the external world, she taught me the wonder of books and to love the knowledge & wisdom that each gave; she made me learn how to hand over charge & yet monitor growth and learning by sending me to school to be taught by teachers, she made me understand the value of efforts & said only when you toil burning the midnight oil you’ll glow like a sun; she made me emotionally strong by allowing me to cry, laugh, cheer, be compassionate, feel pity, be courageous & brave; she also emulated an epitome of most respected behavior that allows me to deal with the world respectfully today; She showed me the right path in life to tread on when walking in the world alone or with people; she induced patriotism into me and to love my country more; she forbade me to hurt anyone or tell lies or be addicted to bad habits; She told me there’s no shame in saying a sorry, when you are wrong or misunderstood; She forced me to always work with conscience – don’t be mute to injustice and never to lose my good-self no matter what… there’s more that I’ve learnt from her which moulded me into living in a manner - to see the world as it is, enjoy the world as it is and leave the world as it is. There’s no one who has shown me the world as she did, no one who taught me how to live in this world as she did and no one who educated me on how to leave the world as she did. I prostrated before her and now I prostrate before you for being that person who brought this woman into your life and made her my mother.” Narayana’s eyes welled with tears as he related this entire episode to us & we were just listening with rapt attention. Finally Narayana said – “You know Avinash, Devadutta in undefinable, something in him is different and I don’t know what Punya me & Shrilekha had done to be gifted with such a son. With such a son who would not feel proud? who would not feel blessed? who would not feel happy - this is it that's more that i wanted to tell you”

The pride very clearly noticeable on Narayanas face and it also had a sense of satisfaction, contentment, happiness, tranquility – rather a mixture of all these. I was still lost in thoughts when he said a bye to me and left. This 23 year old had devastated my mindset and brought me back those memories that were somewhere hidden in my mind. Those great moments that I had lived with my mother. Each word Devadutta mentioned were so true and unchallengeable. No wonder it is aptly said “There’s no GURU as your Mother – she moulds, bakes, strengthens, teaches, punishes & nips all the jagged edges to make us worthy in the world to live in." It may be an experiment of Narayana but it certainly is a lesson for me to love my mother more. So lets honour the one who has shown the world to us.

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