May 15th

Sanskrit Pearl of the day:
यन्मातापितरौ वृत्तं तनये कुरुतः सदा ।
न सुप्रतिकारं तत्तु मात्रा पित्रा च यत्कृतम् ॥
- रामायण, अयोध्याकाण्ड

Transliteration:
yanmātāpitarau vṛttaṃ tanaye kurutaḥ sadā ।
na supratikāraṃ tattu mātrā pitrā ca yatkṛtam ॥
- rāmāyaṇa, ayodhyākāṇḍa

Meaning of the subhAShita:

The deeds (that are) constantly done by mother and father for their children... there is no requital to these actions performed by the parents.

Commentary:

Parents work tirelessly for the welfare of their children. From the moment they become aware of their status as parents, they constantly think of nothing else but the well being of their child/children and work tirelessly in their own arenas to make the child as good an individual as possible. Every parent wants their children to be better than them. In fact, they rejoice when their offspring surpasses them in their achievements.

There is nothing in this world that one can give to his parents to make up for their efforts. No amount of wealth or money can outweigh their dedication towards their children. The one meagre effort one can do is: he can try and emulate all the values his parents tried to imbibe in him. Parents are happiest when their children live worthy lives.

Like they say, to understand a parents' love one must raise children himself. Then it becomes evident to him that there is no retribution to it!

pada vigrahaH:
यत् मातापितरौ वृत्तं तनये कुरुतः सदा ।
yat mātāpitarau vṛttaṃ tanaye kurutaḥ sadā ।

न सुप्रतिकारं तत्तु मात्रा पित्रा च यत्कृतम् ॥
na supratikāraṃ tattu mātrā pitrā ca yatkṛtam ॥

Alternate Transliteration:
yanmaataapitarau vRuttaM tanaye kurutaH sadaa ।
na supratikaaraM tattu maatraa pitraa cha yatkRutam ॥
- raamaayaNa, ayodhyaakaaNDa

yat maataapitarau vRuttaM tanaye kurutaH sadaa ।

na supratikaaraM tattu maatraa pitraa cha yatkRutam ॥