Yes, My Son (A Story Of Non-Attachment)

Once long ago, a man had a young son.

He did everything for the boy.

He taught him everything he knew.

He gave him all that he had.

When the boy turned 20, he turned to his father and said, “Father, I have decided to leave home. I will now go my own way.”

The father said, “Yes, my son.”

After six months of living on his own, he asked his father for money.

The father said, “Yes, my son.”

A few more years passed. The son wrote a letter to his father from a faraway land.

The letter said, “Father, I realize you did your best. But your ideas about early to bed and early to rise I find to be rather foolish. I have found some friends. They live carefree. We are not beholden to this and that. I will live my life as I choose. And make rules as I see fit.”

The father penned a reply. He wrote, “Yes, my son.”

The son married. And his wife did not approve of his father.

She convinced him not to invite his father to the wedding.

The son wrote a letter to his father. Apologizing for not having invited him. And that he would one day come and visit.

The father penned a reply. He wrote, “Yes, my son.”

It had been years since the boy had come to see his father.

The seasons had not been kind to the aging man.

The boy and his wife had fallen on hard times.

He wrote a letter to his father, asking him for financial assistance.

The father sent him money, accompanied by a letter that said, “Yes, my son.”

The father grew old. His time had come.

He wrote a letter to his son, requesting to see him before he passed on.

The son came to see him.

He sat next to his father on the edge of the bed.

And he began to cry.

“Father,” he said. “I have not been good to you. Why did you not correct me? Why did you not lead me away from my own ignorance?”

The father did not reply.

The boy asked again, “Father, tell me. I am beside myself with guilt. Why did you not teach me the proper way of things?”

The father broke his silence.

“Son, when you were small, I had so much to teach you. I was overjoyed by the times I tried to guide you and instruct you. But all my efforts failed. And the reason I failed is because the things that I had to teach you were not born of wisdom. They were born of my own limited experiences. They were born of my own biased views. Truth be told, I do not know what is right and what is wrong. For there are so many things that I once swore were right. But in the end, they turned out to be wrong.”

The son replied, “But Father, surely what I have done cannot be right.”

The father said, “If it is not right, this is a conclusion that only you can make. And as I see the tears in your eyes, I must attest to the fact that it is right. For you speak with true sincerity. Son, in the end a man has very little to teach another. For his knowledge is born of his own sense of ego and need.”

The son said, “Father, do you not need anything from me?”

The father replied, “I stopped needing from you long ago, my son.”

“But why?” said the son.

The father said, “Because this need became a noose around my neck. And a weight upon your back.”

The son replied, “Father, do you love me?”

The father said, “I love the very sight of you, and the very shadow by your side. But I have abandoned all need. From you and from anyone and anything in this world. Understand, my son. That it is this, and this alone, that allows me to truly love you.”

Namaste.