A family was coming back from a holiday.
Waiting at the railway station for their train back home.
Their little kid was passing time running around.
He saw something that bothered him.
“Papa, come here. I think the train won’t come.
Look at the tracks. They are not proper.”
His father ran to see what the kid had spotted.
“What’s wrong, beta?
“The tracks are separate at the station, Papa.
But look in the distance – they get joined. How can the train run properly on joined tracks?” He asked innocently.
His father smiled at the child’s innocence.
“Beta, the tracks may appear to merge, but they will always remain parallel.
They will never join.”
“Deep, will the tracks ever join?” my guru asked me.
“No saheb, how can they!”
“While that’s good for the train, it’s not good for relationships.
One track is love. The other is duty.
You can either do things from love, because you want to.
Or because you have to (duty).
While the outside world may not be able to realise where your behaviour is coming from, you will always know this.
Duty is honourable, no doubt. You will do tough things even when you don’t like it.
But that wouldn’t be for others. Or yourself. It is just to maintain a principle.
Love, on the other hand, compels you to take action not because it should be done, but because you believe the opposite person deserves it.
Do you really feel they deserve it?
If yes, you shall try to do everything right by them.
If not, you can still do right – but only from duty.
But mind well – the tracks will never intersect.
There’s a silver lining though: you have the option to jump from one track to the next.
