If you live as the body, you will value only that which is related to the body

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Question: Morally, we are supposed to obey our parents for several reasons, we owe them a lot. Is there any point where it is okay to defy them and take an independent decision going against their will and liking, when does this realization come?

Acharya Prashant (AP): See, it all depends on how one looks at herself.

Parents, spouse, relatives all are representations of the body in the world. Whose parents are we talking of? We are talking about parents of the body because that is what they give birth to — the body!

So, one could say — I am the body;

one could say — I am the mind; or,

one could say — I am silence, “I am That”.

For sure, I am not identified with the body or the mind, and what I am about, that I would not like to venture to comment. But, one thing is certain — I am not ‘terribly’ identified with the body.

If within, you are not deeply body-identified, then outside, you cannot be too identified with your parents. The ‘body-identified’ person will surely be deeply identified with those who are connected to his body.