It took me many, many years before I had the courage to tell my
parents that I was in a live-in relationship with a man. My statement was
received, at first, in silence. I believe my parents suspected the fact, but
were in denial. Then my dad quietly asked, why didn’t I just marry my
boyfriend. The pain in his voice regarding my life-choices was undeniable.
I held forth about how I did not believe in marriages. I asserted
that I saw marriage as a social sanction to my relationship, and that I had
denounced the society that I had grown up in. And how I believed that if my
partner and I could not keep the love and the beauty of our relationship alive,
I did not see why society – the network of our extended family and friends –
should try to save the relationship. My dad looked unconvinced. I pulled out a
compilation of the Mother’s words in Auroville and read to him a passage of how
the Mother did not want couples to stay together if they no longer loved each
other. My da...
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