There is an old fable which says: That a King named MIDAS kept praying to his God to grant him a certain gift that everything he would touch would turn into gold. The story says that his request was granted. The king was so happy to be the richest man on the face of the earth. He spent long hours touching everything changing all things to gold until he made hills of gold in his palace and stores.
Eventually, when he started feeling hungry and thirsty, the King touched the bread and immediately it turned to gold and when he touched a cup of water it changed to gold. King panicked and lost his mind.
The story ended up in a tragedy where King Midas died of hunger.
Many of us now-a-days are so driven to be respected, that often comes with power that money seemingly buys, that we sacrifice being loved at the altar of respect.
`Barfi` the movie starring Ranbir Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra is an amazing wake up call for many of us. The movie is all about, how many of us sacrifice love for comfort and respect, instead of sacrificing our comforts and respect for love.
Many of us get so caught up in getting respect that we forget that love is what makes us truly happy as human beings. Respect is conditional but love, is unconditional. There are too many do`s and don`ts in being respected none what so ever in love. The divine love of Raadha and Krishna or Meera`s love for Krishna transcends limitations that respect puts on relationships.
In respecting, people are constrained, in love people are liberated. To feel true happiness, especially in families, father should allow love to govern his relationship with his children. In love it doesn`t matter if children stand up when the father enters the room, in respect the father feels offended if the children don`t get up. In love the father will always forgive the mistakes his child may commit.
In the movie three idiots Ranchod Das, played by Aamir Khan liberates his friend`s father the who is too concerned about his son becoming an Engineer and working for a huge salary, so the father`s so called friends can respect the father for having raised a very successful son. The father realizes his folly, and allows his son to do photography which the son loves, and loves his son unconditionally.
Let`s love our family members for who they are, and not make our relationship` conditional to what they achieve, this way they will be liberated and our relationship will be alive and growing, always.