Pita (Father)

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Taittiriya Upanishad says, “Pitru devo bhava” — consider your father as a god. We owe our existence to our father and mother, and in that sense they are our creators and therefore, gods. We cannot see God, the Creator of this universe, in person and offer our respects to Him. To make matters easy for us, God created father and mother and presented them before us in flesh and blood. By serving our father and mother we can pay back at least a little portion of the debt we owe to God for our existence and for the stage we have reached in life.

Our epics, Puranas, Upanishads, etc. all extol the father as of utmost importance in society. Subhashita Manjari mentions five persons who are to be treated as father — one who gives birth, one who initiates, one who teaches, one who feeds, and one who protects us from fear. Practically speaking, our biological father does all these five activities — he is the cause of our birth, he initiates us as a brahmachaari by performing the Upanayanam ceremony, he teaches us how to live in the world with honour and dignity he feeds us, and he protects us, his children, from all kinds of fear. As such, our efforts to serve and please our father should be fivefold.

Aadi Shankaraachaarya sees, in Annapurnaashtakam, Lord Shiva and his consort Parvati as father and mother. In a similar way, the Kogatas have seen Shiva as the universal father and portrays him in the book along with mother Parvati in different activities and moods in pleasing illustrations which are further beautified by sweet and delightful verses.

Mr R.N. Kogata and Mrs Lalita Kogata have probably the world’s biggestcreation and collection of more than 7800 types of status/idols and painting of Lord Ganesha. They run a Ganesha Gallery as well in Udaipur, Rajasthan. Other books authored by them are Maa – the Mother, Pati – the Husband in the eyes of Wife, Patnee- the Wife in the eyes of Husband, Insaan and Indian Marriage – Customs and Rituals.

The Kogata couple have already created 1,000 different paintings of Lord Ganesha based on the 1,000 names of the elephant-faced god Ganesha as given in Hindu scriptures. Mr Kogata is a Chartered Accountant and Company Secretary by profession and Mrs Kogata is a post-graduate and a part Company Secretary. They have two sons, Devashish and Kushagra. Devashish is also an artist and has already made more than 700 pencil sketches on Lord Ganesha.

Pitridevobhav! Look upon your father as God. A father is a person who is forced to a endure childbirth without an anesthetic. A b father does everything for the children and family, but never feels entirely worthy of the worship in a child’s eyes. He is never quite the hero his daughter thinks . Never quite the man his son believes him to be. And this worries him sometimes. However, this inspires him to work too hard to try to smoothen the rough places in the road of those of his own who will follow him.

Fathers are men who give daughters away to other men. They hurry away from the breakfast table, off to the arena which is sometimes called an office or a workshop. There, with callused hands, they tackle the dragon with three heads: Weariness, Works and Monotony. And they never quite win the fight, but always busy and they never give up. We can only say that even after death, after a good rest, father won’t just sit on a cloud and wait for the girl he’s loved and the children she bore. He’ll be busy there too repairing the stars, oiling the gates, improving the streets, smoothening the way.

At the same time, father is unexpressed indefinite love, support, power, custody, discipline and source of dreams for children and happiness for family. Father always tries to fulfil the needs of the family by sacrificing his own. Father gives Godly love without compromise and he always stands by our side. Speaking with patience, tenderness and care, his voice is always confident, firm yet fair. It is the father who laid the foundation for keeping us upright. Although he is not royal by stature or birth he is the grandest man on the earth. He’s a man of great dignity. honour and strength with noble merits. The father is our mentor, our friend and our hero.

Subhashita Manjari describes five persons who are to be treated as father: One who gives birth, one who initiate, one who protects from fear. The first is the father himself, who should be respected like God, according to Vedic injunction: Pitridevobhav! For it is from him that one has obtained the most precious human body. The next is one who initiates. Initiation or Upanayanam the sacred thread ceremony, is done for Brahmins, Kshatriyas and vaishyas, in which the Gayatri Mantra is taught. Such a person who enables one to enter a spiritual life, must also be respected. The teacher, who gives us knowledge on which is based on moral, intellectual and professional progress. Must be respected . Acharyadevobhav ! Likewise one who feed at the time of hunger or famine and one who protects a person in a fearless situation must also be respected like a father.

Inspired by these heart – touching facts, we did a small attempt a couple of months back to express our respect and gratitude towards Father and we are grateful to all our well wishers and readers , who have made the first edition a great success and have and have given us an opportunity to come out with this second edition of the quickly in gust two months.

We are grateful to His Highness Shreeji Arvind Singh Mewar and Dr M.L. Swarankar, Chairman, India Education Trust, Jaipur for their worthy guidance from time to time. We prostrate before our parents Shri Bhairav Lal kogata and Smt Kanchan Devi Kogata and Prof K.M. Nuwal and smt Kamla Nuwal and other family members for their beloved blessings for reaching this stage.