Obligations For instance, when a person was a babe, he was brought up by his parents. In his helplessness of an infant if he had been neglected by the mother, or by other persons, he would certainly not be alive to grow. This obligation which he has already received is a debt which has to be discharged. In other words, there is no human being who has not been obliged to his neighbours for something or another. Beyond the help received from the neighbours, or human beings, there is the help received from nature itself.
Seasonal rains are responsible for the growth of food grains.
In our scriptures they speak about the Devas, or the gods, that are responsible for the benefits conferred upon man in the form of rains, etc. Therefore, it is said in the Bhagavad Gita that if one does not discharge one s duties to the Devas but lives only for himself, he is like a thief, because he gets something for which he does not pay anything at all. Again there is another kind of difficulty regarding duty. We are often in a condition in which different duties come into conflict. This refers obviously to our duty to the world.