60th wedding anniversary in Chaguanas

They were honoured on Labour Day at a function at their home where Dr Suruj Rambachan, Mayor of Chaguanas, gave the feature address.

He said, “We have all gathered together this afternoon to celebrate with Basdeo and Chandroutee Bhagwat their 60th wedding anniversary, a major achievement by any standards in terms of a human relationship. I should not be the one delivering a discourse here today. Instead, we should be listening to what they have to say to us as to how they have brought togetherness between themselves over these 60 years.

This was the way that Rambachan began discourse to a well-attended gathering. He said that ever so often, on his way to work at 5.30 am, they were seen walking side by side, enjoying the company of each other.

“I see them at the Satsanghs and Yagnas sitting side by side continuing their spiritual development. I believe that it must be this lifelong mutual sharing of activities and goals that would have kept them together as exemplars of a married life in an era where marriages are floundering at a most rapid pace,” he added.

“Today, all of us who are privileged to be here join in wishing you all that is good and great, blissful and satisfying as you both continue with the blessings of God to fulfil your mission on earth,” he stressed.

He explained, “A healthy and a successful marriage does not start after the marriage. It starts from the time the child is born. Given that we know that a child will be married one day, and given the fact that marriage as an institution is upheld in the Hindu tradition, it is a duty of parents to inculcate the values and behaviours that would help a child to have a successful marriage. The stage of the grihasta, the householder, which follows the stage of the bramhachari or student life is more likely to be successful and fulfilling if in the stage of the bramhachari or student life, the parents and gurus (teachers) were to take a more active role in preparing the person for grihasta. Too often, we see the stage of the bramhachari as simply the stage of educational empowerment rather than empowerment for living successfully through fulfilling relationships including marriage.”

Daughters must be well counselled and instructed in the duties of a woman and in family customs, according to the Bhagvad Gita, he said and “this was the basis for a successful married life and no doubt Chandroutee was the beneficiary of such tutouring.”

“In marriage a young bride goes to a strange house. She needs to be made to feel welcome and secure as early as possible. She needs to know that she is loved and accepted. One of the often ascribed reasons for failed marriages is one or the other party expressing the view that he /she did not feel accepted by the other’s family, but in Basdeo and Chandroutee’s case it was not so.

“In their lives there was no room for alienation and loneliness and this helped in their enduring relationship,” he said.

He explained that their relationship had the essence of reciprocity, and this was essential on the road to happiness.

“Mutual love, trust, and respect are essential to a harmonious relationship. Obviously these were present throughout their lives, and as such they have become role models for the wider society,” he said.

Chandroutee performed her duties as a wife and a daughter-in-law in her new home., with a sense of perfection, and Dr. Rambachan said that this contributed to the couple’s eternal sense of fulfilment. They were never bored with each other.