Narayanasramam

[Guest guest]

Duty by Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha

 

I often hear people say: 'It is my duty to do this, to do that, etc.'

Some also speak in the same strain when those about whom they speak are their

own dear and near ones, sometimes wife, husband, children,

parents, etc. I am very sorry for this kind of a treachery of human

relations.

 

What is there to be termed as duty when life's basic and natural traits and

impulses are concerned? No one speaks of a duty in the matter of breathing, of

evacuating, of eating and drinking. The existence of the body necessitates all

these functions. In the same manner, the existence of the mind and the inner

being of ours brings in their wake a number of similar needs and urges. To love

her son is not 'a duty' of the mother. To be devoted and loving towards the

husband or wife is much less a duty. Equally so to be regarding one's own

parents and the elders in general cannot be termed 'a duty'. A normal human

mind, which thinks and acts with a right sense, cannot but express all this. It

is as natural and irresistible a process of the mind as are eating, drinking,

evacuating, etc. of the body. If the concept of 'duty' has to be courted in

order to give vent to these natural, primary, and irresistible expressions, it

is too bad and deplorable.

 

What is meant by 'duty', of which we often make mention? You begin to

think of duty only when what you propose to do does not have an innate

and ready acceptance in your mind, when your being is not heartily out

to do it. Any thought of duty implies, in other words, the working of

two distinct factors, which are opposite to each other. First comes the basic

resistance or unwillingness which the mind raises. In order to overcome this

resistance, you then try to bring in the concept of duty, holding it as a worthy

ideal to be pursued. Thinking of the ideal, you then proceed to act with a view

to realize it, not anything else. It is therefore more a sense of compulsion, of

obligation, that makes you do what you do, and not the natural outpouring of

your own free and innocent nature. If you ask me, this is far from what is good,

what is pleasant, what is desirable and what is really expected of a wise man.

 

The child is always a full answer to every question of ours. Look at

the child and see how it acts. It does not have any sense of duty or

compulsion. Its mind is incapable of it. Yet he does manifest love to

the mother, to the father, to the others dear and near, known to him in one way

or another. In so loving, the child is quite lavish. He does so with all freedom

and fullness. Despite your growth, maturity and wisdom, if you are not able to

do what even a little child in his state of rudimentariness does consistently,

what a great travesty!