In plain words
When will he ever learn?” the mother said, wiping her tears. The train moved on. Some days later, on their way back, the parents wrote to their sons to come to the station and meet them. The elder came, bowed to his parents and spoke to them lovingly. The second did not come. Paying no heed to his parents’ letter, he went to the cinema.
In time the sons finished their studies. The elder found a high position. The second got a clerk’s job. However hard he tried, he could not get a good post. His own conduct was the root of it. The elder touched his parents’ feet and said, “It is by the power of your blessing that I have found this high position.” His mother drew him close: “My child! It is your good qualities that have raised you so high,” she said. In time, through his careless ways, the younger son lost even the clerk’s job. The elder, meanwhile, won a great promotion. Everyone came and bowed to him. The younger son, who would not bow to his parents, had to bow even to petty clerks.
“Yad bhāvaṃ tad bhavati.”
Your future rests on your own conduct. When you do not honour your parents, even dogs will not look at your face. Whatever country you go to, however high you rise, you must not forget your mother and father. The Veda teaches, “Regard your mother as God; regard your father as God.” But modern studies make people forget even their mother and father. What gain is there in such studies? One who honours his parents and takes their command upon his head rises to a very high place.
Students! Your parents are bearing many hardships to bring you up. Even when they have no food to eat themselves, they bring it home for you. So that you may prosper, they give you a good education. If you do not honour such parents, how can the world honour you? Sankrānti today means that which brings a good change. There must be a change in us.