Questioner: If a child, because of his suffering, asks his parents, “Why did you give me birth?” then what should the parents answer? Giving birth to the child is easy, but dying and mukti (liberation) is difficult.
Acharya Prashant: First of all, if the child says, “Why did you bring me into this world?” the parents must straightaway apologize.
(Laughter)
It’s not a matter of laughing; it’s a thing of basic honesty. And it is because parents have first of all committed the mistake of bringing another person into this world of agony, longing and suffering that they compensate by investing themselves in raising the kid. That is why it is imperative for the parents to bring education to the kid, give food to the kid, spend money on the kid. It is a compensation.
Have you seen how much of the parents’ time, especially the mother’s time, gets spent on the kid? It has to be done; it is a thing of justice. It is not a favor to the kid; the parents owe it to the kid. And the kid is very justified in asking, “Did I really plead to you to bring me in this world? Did I send a formal application? You, in your moment of personal wisdom and planned indiscretion, or unplanned lust, gave birth to me. Now, I sue you. Now, I demand damages.”
And all the money that gets spent on the kid is actually a compensation—compensation for that moment of indiscretion. It could be conscious indiscretion, by way of a planned birth, or it could be unconscious indiscretion, when you say, “Oh, the child just came; we didn’t plan it.” Whether conscious or unconscious, the fact is that it is an indiscretion. Because it is an indiscretion, so you pay for it.
