Beyond Maryada PURUSHOTTAM

Give everything your best shot and persevere.

I remember our discussions about your father or my grand-father sir. He did not want you to become a farmer or an agriculturist. He did not want you to undergo the same suffering as a farmer, as he did. For him being a farmer was no life at all. I know sir, you love agriculture… to be nearer to nature and the Mother Earth. You are a good man sir. You sacrificed your life’s only love for your father’s ambition.

From the perspective of your father, you cannot be a teacher to… whereas all your close friends-like late Shri. Thirupathi Rao etc., were teachers. They settled at one place, looked after the job and agriculture! I know how you feel. Your father did not want you to be a Junior Assistant in the Andhra Pradesh secretariat; your father did not allow you to become a lecturer – though you had immense love for teaching. Finally, your father disliked the idea of your becoming “Municipal Secretary” (present day Municipal Commissioner) – for how could he bear people saying that your son works in Bahadiya?

You look smart in the police uniform sir. Very dignified indeed. You had also told that the photo was taken & framed at Anantapur Police Training College. Your father felt proud of you. Everyone in the Karimnagar district felt very proud of your achievement. I know in that police uniform how miserable you felt.

This uniform gave you much, but it has also taken much, materially. My life will not be enough to quantify those losses. But that was not all… this uniform has taken away peace from your soul. You were always disturbed… lived on the edge. Of late you complained of sleeplessness… the help was the pill. The fact is that you never had a good, deep, dreamless sleep till 24th March, 2023… all due to the uniform your father wanted you to wear. With inherent dislike you wore the uniform… What is beyond my mortal imagination is that if your work in uniform with this mindset could got you the coveted Indian Police Service (IPS), the President of India’s medal for distinguished service, what unscalable heights you could have scaled if you had chosen the profession of your liking. The entire existence bows before your love towards your father. Your father was blessed to have a son like you.

Hundreds of letters written by you to your father, brother, brothers-in-law and wife are lying securely in your small cup-board at your ancestral place. They vouch for your skills as a writer. Perfect command both on Telugu and English languages, coupled with beautiful handwriting; seeing all letters and content in it, I failed to visualize Mother Saraswathi & her husband of Hindu mythology. Pray tell me sir, were they you or you were them?

You are better than the Hindu God Lord Rama as a son… because you never deserted your father. King Dasaratha died broken hearted & empty; your father farmer Balayya died with satisfaction and contentment. You deserted your love for him.

People talk of Radha-Krishna’s love… the celestial couple. I pity those people and their unimaginative belief. I ask them to look at Shanta-Mutiam – an embodiment of perfect love and mutual devotion. I ask you frankly sir, which husband waited for 27 yug (each year was more than a yug) to rejoin his wife in eternity with perfect devotion like yours? A yuga, in Hinduism, is used to indicate an age of time. The word ‘devotion’ becomes meaningless and empty to describe you both; Shanta-Muthiam is the Prakriti and Purusha. Hence the existence bows before you both…nay…one.

The ‘Rakhi’ band was unheard… either by you or your fire beautiful sisters. Lord Krishna waited till Dussasan touched Draupadi… Rukma was a spectator when his sister Rukmini was stolen. On the other hand, you did not let even a speck of dust fall on them… you became them. It was because of you they enjoyed a perfect life. You are the personification of brotherhood.

In a country like India, women are used either for pleasure or religion. They have no value. Nor do they have any rights. You stood for their rights. Shri Rajender Sing Bedi’s thoughts in ‘EK chadar Maili Si’ are a mere shadow before you. Almost 45 years ago what you suggested to your sister regarding her widowed daughter in law was revolutionary. Even today it is unthinkable.

You are my Hero… You are the Man. You are the essence of a perfect Human being. You are much beyond Maryada PURUSHOTTAM. Sayonara Sir.


About the Author

Dr. K. Raja Gopal Reddy is a seasoned internationally qualified Insurance professional.

What you are reading here, may not answer all the questions we have, but has the absolute power of asking unsettling questions which increase the interest in the strange world, and show the contradictory wonders lying just below the surface of the commonest things of life. Look at this disturbing but beautiful thought of Friedrich Nietzsche “God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him”.

Dr. Reddy can be reached at: raja66gopal@gmail.com

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