Countries like Belgium, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Holland, Portugal, Russia, and Spain have more than 50 per cent divorce rates. In Bharat it is about 1 per cent. As Bharat is highly spiritual, religious and cultural, this 1 per cent should also concern us. While child marriage is no longer in vogue, increase in late marriages and live-in relationships must be of concern to the Hindu society.
Traditional Family Values
Bharatiya values encompass a rich legacy of traditions, ethics, and principles rooted in ancient wisdom. Central to these values is the concept of family cohesion, emphasising duty, righteousness, moral order, respect for elders and hospitality. The pursuit of knowledge, as exemplified by the reverence for education and scholars, is another hallmark. With the spread of Sanatan culture, these Bharatiya values spread to China, South East Asian and Far East Asian countries. Today, Bharatiya family values are respected in the western world also.
According to Tamil poet and scholar Thiruvalluvar, a good family man is one who is devoted to all three relationships (parents, wife, children), and extends support to sants, poor and needy in a balanced and righteous manner. He earns well but avoids hoarding wealth by engaging in philanthropical activities. Thiruvalluvar further states that such a person will lead a complete life with no complaints. The only way to live is to live righteously. If one lives by the right virtues and assists others to do the same, such a family life is better than the tapas (penance) of sants.
Indra Nooyi is an Indian-born American business executive who was the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of PepsiCo from 2006 to 2018. She was consistently ranked among the world’s 100 most powerful women. In 2014, she was ranked at number 13 on the Forbes list, and the second most powerful woman on the Fortune list in 2015 and 2017. She sits on the boards of Amazon and the International Cricket Council, among other organisations. Indra proudly gives credit to her family for her resounding success. Nooyi’s mother was a home maker. While not having a formal education herself, her mother devised strategic games at dinner for her daughters. When Nooyi and her sister were between 8 and 11 years old, their mother instructed them to write a speech about what they would do if they held a position of power such as president or prime minister. If Nooyi fell short in a task, her grandfather would make her write, “I will not make excuses” 200 times on a piece of paper. These lessons have made her tough enough to ride over challenges in the fiercely competitive corporate life. In spite of her busy travels and hectic corporate activities, Indra is very particular about her children and their studies. They are allowed to go for games only after they have completed their homework. If the topmost leader of a company can take interest in the proper upbringing of her daughters, can anyone say one is too busy.
Many famous and successful personalities like Sudha Murthy of Infosys, Missile woman Tessy Thomas of DRDO and many women associated with ISRO Chandrayan are serving both nation and their families with equal poise. America born astronaut Sunita Williams was initiated in Hinduism through her father Dr Deepak Pandya. She took sacred Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Ganesha idol and her favourite food samosa on her first space mission.
The Harilela family, with about 80 members, live in a 40-bedroom mansion in Hong Kong, with the next generation living in a connecting house. They are the most successful Hindu Sindhi family in Hong Kong. They are away from Bharat for nearly hundred years. For international travel and business reasons they have acquired passports of England and other nationalities, and use nicknames like Harry, Bob, George and Gary but all of them worship Bhagwan Shiva and strictly observe Mondays as vegetarian days. They have a fairly big temple inside their castle. Their mother Devibai often reminded them that ‘It does not matter what your passports say, when you stand in front of the mirror, remember that you are a Bharatiya.’ Harilelas are still highly regarded in the Hong Kong local Bharatiya community.
If the topmost leader of a company can take interest in the proper upbringing of her daughters, can anyone say one is too busy
Overseas Bharatiyas have built many big and small temples in all the countries they have migrated. Parents bring their children to these temples regularly especially during Hindu festivals. This helps in improving family bonds. Most marriages in the Bharatiya diaspora are still arranged by the parents and grandparents. These marriages are well attended by almost all relatives, no matter which part of the world they have settled. Large gatherings in Bharatiya marriages are the envy of other nationalities where the family ties are weak.
The small Western families have the curse of 4 Ds: Distance your Parents, Disown your Relatives, Divorce your Wife, and Destroy your children. West has even more cancerous problems.
Same-sex marriages, cohabitation and people are forming families outside traditional marriage frameworks. Single parenthood – women are choosing to have children without involving a father figure, and men are opting not to take responsibility for their children. Shifting gender roles and women taking on roles as primary providers while some men take a backseat, or couples split responsibilities 50-50.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Bharat faced balance of payment crisis. Bharat’s GDP was below $100 Billion. The sayings in those days were: Heaven is having an American salary and an Indian wife Hell is having an American wife and an Indian salary Bharatiya salaries have since increased manifolds. But western individualism and wokeism is ruining their families. Let us thank our sages and sants who gave us the beautiful family system, the elixir of all social misfortunes. Our age-old family system is saving the Bharatiyas and Asians in this 21st century.
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