MAKE YOUR MARRIAGE – A CELBRATION FOR LIFE

A few years back a survey was conducted by an organisation based in Western world which was reproduced by Readers Digest here in India. Subject was “Courtesy” and criteria was “How often citizens of a country say “Thank you or Sorry” to opposite person. India rated as one of the last in this survey.

Subsequently Readers Digest, also carried out the survey on same subject “Courtesy”. However, criteria this time was different. Criteria was “How often the Children staying away from Parents, call back their parents”. India rated on top of the list. Reason? Most of the children, whether staying as nuclear family in same city or different state or different country, responded that they call their mothers daily – at least once in a day with some of them saying they call them 3 to 4 times in a day.

Some may argue that Indians are not independent. They depend on their parents throughout their lives. Well, that is not true, else Indians would not have shown the phenomenal progress in every field they have worked in. In fact these are our Family-Values that inspire us to remain rooted to our Families at the same time make independent valuable contribution in the domain they work in.

Where the world celebrates Father’s day, Mother’s day, Thanks giving day, once in a year, here in India every day is Mother’s day, Father’s day and Thanks giving day, for us. We believe, - “Real courtesy & care is towards our parents. When one discharges that courtesy and care towards one’s parents, one’s courtesy towards others is fulfilled automatically.

These are our Family Values, This is our family bonding and tradition in India. Which is Very Strong and is recognised, respected and appreciated world over.

However, in present scenario, our values are getting influenced by western culture. We are seeing increasing number of Family discords, Divorce cases, living-in relations etc. etc. I take comfort in the fact that our Value System is quite strong and it is going to take long long time, may be generations, to get eroded.

It is with this backdrop that this article is written so as to bring awareness in people, how they can live Happy Married Life and avoid such painful discords in their lives.

Here in India, for us Lord Shri Ram is our Ideal. Our Lord, who set an example for us, as to, how an ideal human being needs to live his life based on Dharma (the righteousness). How a human being needs to conduct his life as a King, as a Son, as a Brother, as a Husband, as a Parent, with his Seniors, his Juniors, his Peers. A perfect way of perfect living. That is why He is known as Purshottam (the superior most human being)
Lord Rama had made following two promises to His wife, Sitaji (Sita Mataji for us) – One, on the day He married Her and the other immediately after His Rajya-Abhishek (Coronation as a King), on His return after 14 years of exile in a forest:-

1)    On His marriage day He said to Sita Mataji, “Although I am a king and am entitled to marry, more than one wife, but I promise to You that You will be my only wife. I will never marry anyone else.”

2)    And on His Coronation as King, He said to Sita Mataji, “Though no one is entitled to sit on the Throne beside the king, but You as my wife and queen will always sit beside me on the same throne.”

Which meant Sita Mata enjoyed equal Powers, equal Status as that of Lord Shri Ram. That also meant She will have equal powers in taking decisions for the state. Which indirectly (or rather directly) meant that no decision will be taken without consulting Her. Absolute Equality in everything.

“ONE MARRIAGE” AND “EQUAL RIGHTS”
ESTABLISHED BY LORD RAM
about 2 million years ago in Treta Yuga


Coming back to our lives in today’s scenario:
– We expect our wives to be like Sita Mataji, but do we ever consider developing qualities of Shri Ram in ourselves
– We expect our husbands to be like Shri Ram but do we ever consider developing qualities of Sita Mataji in ourselves

THINK ABOUT IT

A little introspection will open our mind to the phenomenon that is known as ADJUSTMENT which is the key to Successful & Happy married life that becomes a Celebration of life for us.

Before we discuss the aspect of Adjustment, let us see, what are the Mantras for Happy Married Life. All the Mantras are absolutely equally important irrespective of the order in which they appear.

1.    You can be happy only if you keep your spouse happy. Simple.
-      That means the man can be happy only if he keeps his wife happy – it is very obvious, because an unhappy wife cannot keep her husband happy.
-      And wife can be happy only if she keeps her husband happy – again, very obvious, because an unhappy husband cannot keep his wife happy.

a.    But then, issmey bahut saarey rodhe (Stones, Hurdles) aate hain, bahut saare:
b.    Most of the times these stones are thrown at the Husband. And who throws these stones? Your own dear and loved ones – Mother, Sister, Brother, Relatives, Friends.
c.     And the stone they throw at you is – “Yeh to Joru ka Ghulam ho gaya hai bas”. (He has become a Slave of his Wife)’
d.    Sometimes they don’t realise that by taunting like this they are making life difficult for their own Son, Brother, Relative and Friend
e.    Sometimes they say it seriously (mostly Mothers and Sisters), and sometimes they say it jokingly (Brothers and Friends). I am just telling about the general phenomenon. Exceptions are always there.
f.     Friends generally taunt jokingly because they miss their friend in their evening parties.

2.    That is where comes the need for Adjustment:

a.    We all know that Marriage is nothing but adjustment. That is what we tell our children. “You will have to adjust”.

b.    Both have to Adjust to the needs and likings of each other

c.     Husband has to understand that a Girl has left her Father, Mother, Brother, Sister, all her relatives, Child hood friends, for him, so he must devote his full attention, care and time to her

d.    Wife also has to understand that once in a while her husband need to spend time with his friends. Same is true for husband allowing his wife to spend time with her friends.

e.    Wife – the newly wedded girl comes to the house of her husband, where everyone is new to her. She will have to make efforts to develop lovely relations with them. She will have to understand that it is she, who will have to adjust first with new environment and new relations. She cannot force her own likes and wishes on the entire household. It will take time before they realise the merits of her likings and wishes and start adjusting to them

f.     Out of all the relations, case of mother-in-law & sister-in-law takes importance. While it is Wife’s natural Desire to have control on her husband, his mother and sister view it as losing control on their son/brother, to someone who is a total stranger. For them it becomes a painful experience since they have enjoyed total control on him for so many years. It becomes a power struggle for them.

g.    For Sister it is not much of a pain because she also gets married and has to handle her own family, but for mother it is very painful.

h.    Regarding mother, she needs to understand that their Son’s wife is fully capable of taking care of her son in terms of feeding him like mother, taking care of his emotional needs like mother, protecting him from any danger as mother and everything else that a mother does for her son. These are God Given abilities in any Girls. So, Mother need not have any doubt about it.

i.      IN ADDITION to above, the Wife takes care of her husband’s Pride & Prestige : his Maan & Samman. The smallest example can be, even for a trivial thing, she will always say, “Unse pucchh ke batati hoon” (“let me ask him, I will get back to you”). Not that she is not capable of taking decisions, but it is question of creating her husband’s respect everywhere. It is just a small example, she does so many things to take care of his Respect, Pride and Prestige

j.      In addition to mother, every member in the family will also have to understand that a new girl has come into the household, they will have to give her space & time for her to adjust, they will have to show patience and love and accommodate her.

(It is like when you buy new mobile and request the shopkeeper to transferring data from old to new mobile, first thing that he tells you is, “do not touch anything till complete data transfer happens”. Isn’t it? The new girl has come into your house with so much of data in her brain. Give her some space, some time till data transfer takes place)

SO, ADJUST, ADJUST, ADJUST & ADJUST. ADJUST WITH EVERY ONE AND EVERYTHING. A very difficult thing to do.

I have a different & Simple Mantra for you about Adjustment. If you can implement it, You will have no problem in adjusting with anyone.

YOU NEED TO ADJUST ONLY WITH YOUR OWN PERSONAL EGO

If you can adjust with your own Ego, no problem remains that cannot be solved. All other adjustments happen on their own without any major effort.
COMING TO NEXT POINT:

3.    One must realise that, Four people just cannot go wrong in the couple’s life. Two – Mother and father of Boy and Two – Mother and father of Girl. They may appear to be wrong in immediate scenario but in the longer run these four people will always work out to be correct. The reason being, Boy’s Parents will always want good for the boy and Girl’s Parents will always want good for their daughter. Hence as far as Couple is concerned, they will always work out correct in longer run – Provided the couple is willing to adjust with their own individual egos and does not go overboard in immediate scenario while dealing with each other’s parents.
(Spoiler alert /exception to the rule - not for running your house see point 4 and not for fights see point 5)

4.    Girl should never run her home on the basis of her mother’s wishes. Same is true for the boy, he should also never run his home on the basis of his mother’s wishes.

It seems contradictory to above point, but it is not. While your parents will always work out to be correct in the longer run, and for that reason, you must consult them. But implementing their suggestion or not is the decision you have to take on your own. Because you know intricacies of your own family, your own home. Because ultimately you are responsible for running your own home and it is you who will have to face the consequences of implementing any suggestions. You cannot later-on go back and tell your parents that it was their suggestion that you implemented. So take suggestion by all means, but implement it with your knowledgeable wisdom.

5.    When you implement all these things You will definitely live a Happy Married Life. But believe me, there is nothing like – “once there lived a Prince and Princess, they got married and lived happily thereafter.”

That is not going to happen. There will be fights between you two, there will be narazgi between you two. There will be times when you will not talk to each other – may be for a day or two, or week or two or for a month. This will definitely happen. In fact if it does not happen, then there is definitely something wrong somewhere. So the fights & narazgi must happen for a happy married life.

But remember, whenever that happens, please solve it among yourselves. DO NOT bring your fights to your parents or any third person.

Story of Bapu (Mahatama Gandhi) and Ba (his wife Kasturba) –

Once a reporter asked Bapu, “We have never heard any incident that you and Ba have fought for any reason whatsoever. How do you both manage to live so happily. Bapu called Ba and said, “Bring me a Fanus”, Ba asked, “just a fanus or a lighted one”. It was day time, but Bapu said, “A lighted one”. Ba simply lighted the fanus and brought it and kept it in the room near Bapu.” Reporter was amazed and asked, “Bapu, is this the reason, that she obeys every command of yours, that you both are living happily?” Bapu said, “it is not like that. Once you go away, she will come and ask me, “Are you mad. Why did you ask me to bring lighted lantern in the day time?” Bapu further said, “the secret is that we have never fought in front of a third person”)

So never fight in public or in front of a third person. And in relation of Husband and wife, anyone else is a third person, irrespective of whether it is your mother, father or anyone or even your own child. Everyone is a Third person.

As mentioned earlier, your parents will prove to be correct in longer run though they may appear wrong in immediate scenario. And when you go to them for their advice for some fight among yourselves, they will themselves get upset at your anguish and any suggestion given in anger & anguish is always short term. It cannot correct itself over a period of time.

6.    Getting your husband the respect he deserves among your relatives is the responsibility of wife. And getting your wife the respect she deserves among your relatives is the responsibility of husband.

Men must remember, your wife is the most important person in your life. And Women must remember, your husband is the most important person in your life.

7.    When, you are blessed with Children – Remember, it is the responsibility of Wife to ensure that they respect their Father. This is because, children spend most of the time with their mothers and it is mother’s responsibility to  inculcate basic values in children and also respect for their Father

8.  All decisions, that are concerning the family should be taken jointly by consulting each other. There is no superiority here. Like Ramji did by making Sita Mataji to sit on Throne beside Him. It is important because ladies look at problems in totally different ways and men in different ways. They say women have sixth sense. So, there should always be involvement of both in important decisions that concern the whole family.

9.    And now I come to a very interesting factor: Have a WOW Factor in your lives. Have a WONDER Factor in your lives. Enjoy differences with Passion. Enjoy disagreements with passion.
शादी, -
ये कहानी है "एजी सुनतेहो से लेकर – बहरे हो गए हो क्या" तक की | जब शुरू शुरू के दिनों में वो हमें बुलाती थी "एजी सुनते हो", तो क्या अच्छा लगता था ! है ना ! वो टाइम पर सब कुछ एक WOW फैक्टर लगती थी|  WOW!!!! और अब | "बहरे हो गए हो क्या?” हमें इस्स्में भी WOW फैक्टर ढूंढना है | WOW, क्या स्टाइल में बहरा बोलती है, WOW क्या वौइस मडुलेशन है, WOW क्या बगैर पॉज लिए बोल जाती है, WOW क्या Multi Tasking है – खाना भी बना रही है और बहरा भी बोल रही है | WOW, WOW and WOW.

पहले चाय के लिए आवाज़ देते थे तो क्या फटाफट ले आती थी - WOW. और अब ? चाय के लिए बोलो तो सबसे पहले, "क्या समझते हो मुझे, मशीन हूँ क्या?" पर फिर धीरे धीरे चलके आके चाय देती है | WOW उसकी भी उम्र हो गई है न, इस उम्र में भी क्या दिखती है, WOW | WOW क्या Gracefully चलके आतीहै !!! WOW !, WOW !!, WOW!!!

इसी तरह ये स्टोरी है "चलो आज लिंकिंग रोड जायेंगे" से लेकर "पागल हो गयी है क्या ? मालूम है सेंट्रल से वेस्टर्न साइड जाने को कितनी तकलीफ होती है ? कितना ट्रैफिक है ?" पहले तो मन में नैचुरली WOW आता था और अब कोशिश करनी पड़ेगी - WOW क्या गुस्सा है, WOW सफ़ेद मूंछो में क्या दीखताहै ; WOW टखला हो गया है पर क्या सूट करती है इस्को टखल | WOW ! WOW !! & WOW !!!

हरेक चीज़ में Passion से WOW  फैक्टर ढूंढेगे तो लाइफ हर समय Celebration बन जाएगी

Just imagine, Our average life span is approximately 70 years. We have lived anything between 20 years to 50, 60 years. You calculate yourself for yourself. Some of us are already on bonus. How much is the life remaining. How many years? 10, 20, 30 years? Let us say 20 years. That is equivalent to 1040 weeks.  That is 1040 Weekends. Out of that also some Weekends you will have some commitments which you cannot avoid. Let us say you are left with 500 Weekends. At least on these Weekends, leave everything aside. Have a date with your spouse. Go out for lunch or dinner with your spouse, your family. And please don’t take your phones with you. If you are expecting some important call, take it by all means, but at least don’t look at WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter etc. You have only 500 Lunches or Dinners left that you can enjoy together. Please do not waste them on silly things. So little time left. Enjoy. If you don’t, you will regret one day.

See Wonder in this too - 500 SUNDAYS, 500 LUNCHES OR 500 DINNERS, TOGETHER WITH MY SPOUSE – WOW. CELEBRATE YOUR LIFE TOGETHER

Youngsters have more Sundays, Make the most of them – CELEBRATE every Sunday with WOW Factor


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