Walk With Your Parents To Find Your Zen Zone
Week 78: Walk With Your Parents To Find Your Zen Zone
Unedited unabridged version of my column Run&Bee in Hindustan Times on 4th January 2020
Runners are a reflection of what the society is. But my submission is that anyone who gets up early morning and goes for a walk or a run has to be a good person.
I am a firm believer that we need to first become our own best friends to become even better friends of everyone else around us, including our family. But has that meditation in motion made us focus a bit too much on ourselves, to the extent of becoming oblivious to those who should matter a lot more to us?
(not my photograph)
Throughout Indian religious text, call it mythology if you may, a lot of emphasis has been paid to giving regard and respect to parents whether it be Lord Ram just walking away from his kingdom because his dad mentions it just once or Shravan Kumar taking both his elderly blind parents for a pilgrimage courtesy a single utterance by his parents.
(not my pic)
Today’s average runners who go out to find their true selves remind me of Kaushik, a brahmin sanyasi in Mahabharata who attains special powers after having religiously meditated and practiced spiritual austerities for years. One hot day, a crow and crane were in a dog fight. This led to a dry leave falling on Kaushik’s head, interrupting his deep concentration. The brahmin’s angry gaze was ample to burn the birds to ashes.
A few days later, when Kaushik went out asking for alms, the lady of the house, who had been nursing her sick husband, told him to wait for some time. The brahmin lost his cool and threatened the pativrata lady with his newly acquired powers. The lady told him that she wasn’t any bird that he could fry. That surprised him as to how could she possibly know that. She had not been meditating or praying. She had just been doing her duties wholeheartedly towards her husband, that led her to read his thoughts.
(not my copyright)
The lady redirected the brahmin to Dharmavyadha, the enlightened butcher, to learn about dharma. The butcher who was looked down upon by the society for his profession, didn’t meditate or pray. But he did spend every moment of his existence in the service of his parents. This made Kaushik realise that he needed to rush back to his own home to take care of his old parents rather than trying to find God in the jungle while meditating.
While we runners get so deeply engrossed in our running meditation, elevating to higher levels, participating in every possible race, each time improving our personal best and beating everyone else in our running groups and on social media, we at times lose touch with our basic values. In our eagerness to get better, we ignore our families, spouses, our children and our parents. Some of us do go out with our spouses for our runs, a lesser amount go out with our children and hardly any go out with our parents.
It was our parents who never hesitated to hold our tiny hands when we couldn't even stand, leave alone walk, so what stops us? In our enthusiasm to run, we have forgotten those who taught us how to walk. Even with our busy running schedule, we could dedicate one Sunday a month to taking our parents out, walking or maybe even running. We shouldn’t postpone as it soon will be too late. At the end of the day it’s not even about physical activity and exercise, it is about spending quality time with folks who love us unconditionally.
On 5th January, the first Sunday of 2020, is my mother’s first birthday after her death, come along for a Walk With Your Parents at Aerocity Delhi. Let it be a kickstart to the new year where you prioritise your loved ones over and above all else. You can register for free at www.drrajatchauhan.com. These memories with your loved ones will easily outweigh any number of medals or your personal records.
