34. We have to discharge our duties to our children. How can we cut the bonds with them?

Duty is different from attachment. Krishna is Narayana. Narayana is Shiva. Manmadha is the only son of Narayana. But when Manmadha committed the mistake, Narayana in the form of Shiva burnt His only son. Dhritharaashtra has one hundred sons. He could not punish even one son (Duryodhana). This is the difference between a scholar and an ignorant person. An ignorant person does his duties with attachment to the bonds. A scholar also does his duties but without attachment to the bonds. All these family bonds are temporary which are confined to this birth only. In the previous birth you were not related and in the future birth you will not be related with them. Shankara told that which is temporary must be unreal (Yat Anityam Tat Kritakamhi Loke). The two actors were not father and son before the drama and will not be father and son after the drama. The bond is temporary during the drama only, but if you analyze during the drama also they are not the father and son. Therefore that which is temporary must be unreal in the past, present and future. That which is permanent is only real always. If you realize this divine knowledge of Shankara you can cut all your worldly bonds. Shankara left His old mother for the sake of the Lord. He practiced whatever He preached.