You've heard, many times, the statement, 'to get respect you have to give respect'. I think many of you have heard that before, and many think that it applies between guru and disciple as well. Yes it does. And if you don't give your master, your guru, respect, you won't get respect from God. This is true.Respect is a most important aspect of this existence. We need to respect, firstly, our elders – and when I say 'elders' I'm talking abut mothers and fathers, uncles and aunts. We need to show them the utmost respect. It's because of them that you have some direction in life. They have set and created a path for you. It might be a spiritual path, or a material path, or one of accumulation, but they have created this path for you to take to another level.
It's the same with gurus. They have created a spiritual path for you to take to another level. You cannot sit and sing, “Om Guru,” all your life. You'll go nowhere. You need to start walking that path, take your first step. This is very important on this journey. It is the most unique journey in this life, and on this journey every bit of respect adds to your spiritual journey. Your humility, your love, your forgiving nature – all this is part of respect. Once you respect our elders, your gurus, and your masters, God will shower everything upon you.
We have people seated here who have the utmost respect for their gurus. They can tell you that, both materially and spiritually, they are short of nothing. Why? Because God has given them both aspects of life: pleasure and pain. And how do you handle the pain? Take it and convert it to pleasure. It is very important, absolutely important. When I say 'pain', I'm talking about your material accumulation. How you take that and use it on the spiritual journey makes it a joy, not a pain any more. And that comes with respect. Charity is part of respect. Because we respect those who need the charity, we give charity to them. Charity is respect, and we need to have this respect all the time. Not one moment should you have your guard down with respect. Between mothers and sons, daughters and fathers, there should be utmost respect.
I think our present society has made no room for respect towards our parents. This is the society that we all live in – where respect does not exist. Fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, are in constant argument – all the time. The only reason we do this is because we do not respect each other. But respect goes further than that – to our religion. Hinduism demands respect as part of dharma. Hindus respect humanity so much that if a Christian is on his deathbed, a Hindu will not try and convert him to Hinduism, but instead will let him leave his body as a Christian. Sometimes I wish other religions would show the same respect toward Hinduism. It is lacking because of all of you, because you do not show any respect to the religion of sanatan dharma. You need to show that respect by following the scriptures.
Marvelous scriptures have been put together by great saints for our reading, in this 21st century of kali yuga, and yet we ignore all these scriptures. In the Bhagavad Gita, chapters 14 and 15 talk about how you can gain this respect by losing the attributes of nature, the modes of nature. And another thing Krishna talks about is humility. We have Patanjali's Yoga Sutra which also says that, even in yoga, respect is important. Then you read the Ramayan, where Hanuman showed the utmost respect to Sita and Ram. Everything in Hindusim is based on the great ideology of respect. Yet, in this society now, we are delinquent children with no respect. It has failed between teachers and students, between teachers and seniors. Why? Because we grew up in homes that did not nurture the tradition of respect in sanatan dharma – the most beautiful tradition of any in the world.
In the olden days, if you saw an elder you would put your palms together and say, “Ram Ram”. Today we put our knuckles together and say, “Hi”, to our fathers, our mothers, our sisters and brothers. We don't know how to respect any more? I went to school to complain and the principal stood there and said, “Hi,” and raised his fist. I thought he wanted to fight with me. This is true. See how we are moving – away from igniting that beauty within ourselves called sanatan dharma - righteous living. Just think about it.
I get SMSes daily, and emails daily, from mothers and fathers about their children's behaviour. Why? Because we have failed to teach our children how to respect others. So how will they respect you? Respect is the most important aspect of this religion, of sanatan dharma. Remember that. Hari om and God bless you.
