Compiled
by Kaushik Narayan
---
HOME -
SWEET HOME
The home
is a temple where each member of the
family is a moving temple and is
nurtured and nourished. The mother is
the high priestess of the House of God.
Humility is the incence with which the
house is filled. Reverence is the lamp
that is lit with love as Oil and Faith
as wick.
Home is heaven when there is Love and
understanding and the same becomes hell
when there is distrust and hostility.
The home and the family is the basic
social institution everywhere in the
world. When the home improves, the whole
world will be better. The home where the
name of the Lord is not heard is a cave
and nothing more.If the home is filled
with clean fragrance of contentment and
peace, all its occupents will be happy
and healthy. The elders have, therefore,
a great responsibility towards the
generations that is coming up.
That home, where the husband and wife
are bound together by holy love, where
everyday both are engaged in the reading
of books that feed the sould where the
name of the Lord is sung and His glory
is remembered, that home is really the
Home f the Lord. The homes in which the
Bal Vikas children grow, as indeed all
homes, have to be clean, with vibrations
free from hatred, envy, greed, spite and
hypocricy.
The food that the child eats must be
wholesome and pure. Between the ages of
two and five, the child's mind is
profoundly affected by the behaviour of
those nearest to him, so the parents
must take care to set a good example.
The family is essential for the
blossoming of human personality; how can
a helpless baby grow and learn, talk and
move forwards without a home?
Home is the dwelling place of Right
Conduct. A home is a home if the woman
is honoured and respected within it.
Such a home is the heaven of prosperity
and peace.
---
PARENTING
STARTS EVEN BEFORE THE BIRTH OF THE
CHILD?
In former
times, the tradition and custom in our
homes was, when women were pregnant they
used to listen to sacred stories, to
fill their minds and hearts with pure
and holy thoughts, thereby creating in
the foetus "the purest vibrations". In
contrast, women of today when they are
pregnant prefer to see three films a day
and hence, the babies born are inclined
to "cinema children" posessing all low
and vulgar propensities. The ancient
sages knew this truth. No wonder that
the children born under such conditions
had noble nature and heroic virtues.
---
PARENTS -
OWNERS OR TRUSTEES?
Children
do not come to you, but through you.
Parents must feel that they are servants
appointed by the Lord to tend little
souls that are born in their house
holds, as the gardener tends the trees
in the garden of the Master.
---
PARENTS
ARE LIVING GODS
First and
foremost, you should show gratitude to
your parents. Your blood, your food,
your head and your money are all the
gifts of your parents. You do not
receive these gifts directly from God.
All that is related to God is indirect
experience. It is only the parents whom
you can see directly and experience
their love. So consider your parents as
God. God will be pleased and will
manifest before you only when you love
and respect your parents.
Once when Sita was teaching how to
worship God, Rama intervened and said,
"Oh simple minded one, who is greater in
the world than the mother and the
father? They know our difficulties and
needs. They are able to understand our
feelings. They are able to fulfil our
wants. Having such known entities who
take interest in your welfare, why
should you go after unknown entities?"
At all times, the parents are looking
after you. You have to worship them. The
mother can be compared to the earth and
the father to the seed. Unless the seed
is sown in the earth the plant will not
sprout. You cannot ignore the father and
mother who are responsible for your
birth and growth.
---
MOTHER'S
GLORY
A mother
is God's nursemaid and the duty of a
mother to her children is God's Grace
and this Grace is God's monthly salary
to her.
For lakhs of students and children who
go to school, the mother is the first
teacher. The first Guru is the mother;
her example, her advice, her admonition
affects man the deepest and the longest.
Women should realize that, irrespective
of their education or position, their
foremost obligation is to protect the
home.
Women are the mothers of the coming
generation; they are the teachers of
that generation, during the first five
years of life,....The Dehamatha must
reveal to the children the glories of
all the other four; so her
responsibility is the greatest and the
most crucial.
Establish the status of the mother in
the home, as the upholder of spiritual
ideals and, therefore, the Guru of the
children. Every mother must share in the
effort-the expansion and steady
manifestation of the God-Consciousness
latent in every child.
The mother's lap is the school for every
man. Only, dedicated mothers can offer
to the nation who will strive for a
great future for the country. A good
mother is a national asset. The mother
is the most decisive factor in life. A
child's future is moulded by the mother.
Mother is given utmost importance in
human life. There may be a wicked son,
but not a wicked mother. It is because
of the noble feelings of the mothers
that sons become virtuous, intelligent,
attain exalted positions and earn name
and fame.
It is the mother that holds the child
with her hands and it is the mother that
feeds the child and teaches, it how to
eat. It is again the mother that teaches
the child to utter meaningful sounds and
to speak.
Therefore the mother is the foremost
teacher.
The feminine is the foundation on which
a peaceful world is to be raised. When
women are true and brave, kind and
compassionate, virtuous and pious, the
world can have an era of peace.
There is nothing in the world sweeter
than the love of a mother for the child.
It is said that love has no form. But
love has a form. The mother who loves
her child, expresses the form of love.
---
BEHIND THE
LEADERS...
Rama's
divinity blossomed under Kausalya's
loving care;
Lava and Kusa could become powerful and
famous,
due to their noble and virtuous mother
Sita
the love and care of Jija bai made
Shivaji a great warrior,
Fostered with the love of his mother
Putlibai,
Gandhi became a Mahatma.
Is there
anyone in this world who can take care
of you the way your mother does?
Amma (mother) is the first word that man
picks up in life. The first letter of
the world 'Amma' also happens to be the
first letter of the alphabet.
---
THREE
WISHES OF TWO NOBLE MOTHERS
Ishwar
Chandra Vidyasagar was a noble soul. He
was born in a poor family. He was living
with his aged mother. He used to feel
very sad seeing his mother wearing old
and torn Saris. After he completed his
studies, he took up a job and started
earning some money. One day he sat by
the side of his mother and said,
"Mother, please tell me if you have any
desires. Now that I have started earning
money, I am in a position to fulfill
them." She said, "Son, I don't have any
desires. It is enough for me if you lead
a noble life." After some time, he got a
better job and
started earning thousands of rupees.
Then again he asked his mother to tell
him if she had any desires.
She said she had three desires and could
not live in peace unless and until they
were fulfilled. "Ours is a small village
and there are many children who are
wasting their time without going to
school. So, please construct a small
school out of the money you have
earned". As per the wish of his mother,
Vidyasagar got a school constructed in
his village. Then he asked his mother to
express her second desire. "Our
villagers are suffering for lack of
medical facilities. Ther is nobody to
take care of them when they are affected
with fever, cough or cold. So, I want
you to construct a small hospital."
Vidyasagar built a hospitall too. Then
after some time, he asked his mother,
what her third wish was. She said, "The
villagers are suffering due to lack of
drinking water. They are beign affected
with various diseases as they are
drinking polluted water." Immediately,
he got a few wells dug and provided
drinking water to the villagers.
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar spent all his
earnings to fulfull the desires of his
mother. Easwaramma also had similar
desires. Once she told Me, "Swami, our
Puttaparthi is a small village. As there
is no school in the village, the
children are forced to walk long
distances to attend schools in the
neighbouring villages. I know that You
are the ocean of compassion. Please
construct a small school in the
village." I asked, where she wanted the
school to be built. She said she had a
piece of land behind her house. She want
the school to be constructed there. As
desired by
her, I got the school constructed.
Though it was a small school, the
inaugural function was a grand affair,
attended by many devotees. The next day
Easwaramma expressed the happiness over
the inaugural function and said that she
had one more desire. She wanted a
hospital also to be built in the
village. She said, "Swami, I don't want
to put You to trouble. If You are
troubled, the whole world will be in
trouble and if You are happy, the whole
world will be happy.
So if it gives You happiness, please
construct a small hospital." As per her
wish, I got the hospital constructed.
Bejawada Gopal Reddy, a highly reputed
person in those days, was invited to
inaugurate the hospital.
The inaugural fuction was a grand one,
attended by thousands of people from the
neighbouring villages. Easwaramma did
not imagine tha tthis would be such a
grand affair. Next day, she came up to
Me and said, "Swami, it does not matter
even if I die now. I have no more
worries, you have fulfilled my desires
and mitiaged the suffering of the
villagers to a great extent." I said, if
you have any more desires, ask Me now.
She replied hesitantly that she had yet
another small desire. "You know that the
river Chithravathi is in spate during
the rainy season. But, in summer it
dries to a trickle and people do not
have drinking water. So, please see that
some wells are dug in this village." I
told her that I would not stop with
these small wells and that I would
provide drinking water to the entire
Rayalseema region. Easwaramma said, "I
don't know what Rayalseema is. I am
satisfied if our village is provided
with drinking water."
---
FATHER'S
SUPREME ROLE
Fathers
who allow their sons to go astray are
not real fathers at all. Prahlada
declared:"He alone is a father who tells
his son: Child, realise God. He is a
true Guru who leads the disciple to
God."
The heart
of the father who fosters the child and
develops his personality is also sweet.
While there is a lack of fathers who can
guide their children on the right path
and set before them some lofty ideals.
Some parents preach high ideals, but
they cannot correct their own children
at home. Who will listen to their
sermons? It is easy to speak, but
difficult to practise. The father
symbolizes Vishnu as the protector.
---
MOTHER,
FATHER AND THEN THE PRECEPTOR
It is the
mother who teaches you the sacred
principles like love, compassion,
forbearance, tolerance and sacrifice.
Mother shows the father, father takes
you to the preceptor and preceptor
directs you to God.
That is why among mother, father,
preceptor and God, Mother comes first.
The earlier years of life are the most
crucial, and so mother and father have
to share the responsibility of proper
unbringing. The parents must lay the
foundation strong and straight. The
child must grow with the mother for the
first five years of life. When a boy is
five years old, the father has to take
up the task of brining him up. The
father must encourage the son by
example more than precept.
---
PARENTS
AND TEACHERS WORK HAND IN HAND
The father
and mother must supplement at home the
training given by the teacher at school.
They must acquaint themselves with the
lesson the child receives at school and
see that their conduct and advice do not
conflict with what the child learns from
the teacher whom he adores.
Children must be led into good ways of
living, into simplicity, humility and
discipline. All parents must be
persuaded lovingly, through the example
of bright, cheerful and co-operating
children in Bal Vikas classes, to send
their children also to these classes.
Teachers should not be content with
merely teaching the children. They
should contact the parents and ascertain
how they are behaving at home. Knowledge
can be given by the teacher; however,
the discipline, the rigorous control of
the senses and behaviour must be
administered by parents. Then the
children become sacred souls, holy,
sanctified individuals.
---
CHILDREN
COPY THE PARENTS
Children
have unselfish love; they are innocent
onlookers; they observe the actions of
the elders and learn their lessons from
the home much earlier than from school.
So parents have to be very careful in
their behaviour with the children and
between themselves.
Mother and father are the first examples
of social behaviour that the child sees
before it learns to imitate.
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DEVELOP
PURITY AND GOOD QUALITIES
Unfortunately, today because the parents
themselves have no purity of character
and lack refined
qualities, and do not lead regulated
lives, evil practices and wickedness are
growing all over the world. When the
parents get up from their beds abusing
each other, their children get up
assailing each other. Because of the
malefic effects of the Kali age, parents
tend to be quarrelsome. Fathers are
behaving like Hiranya Kasyapu. Beacuse
of such parents, Bharat is witnessing
the spread of unrighteousness and evil
practices.
---
PARENTS!
REFORM YOURSELVES
The parents themselves are not competent
to guide children; they dote on them and
do not know how to correct them, they
have reprehensible habits and ways of
life. They smoke, play cards, gamble,
drink and fight in the home. They utter
falsehoods, talk, scandal, boast and
slander, in the presence of the
children. How then can they lead their
children on right lines? You will have
to persuade such parents to mend their
ways and be inspiring examples, rather
than enemies and obstacles. See that the
atmosphere of the home is free from
hatred, pride, slander and greed; see
that Love is the flywheel of the home,
that faith in God is the bedrock on
which relations between members are
built.
---
PARENTS
BEWARE!
I must
give the elders-the parents who are in
large numbes some advice. Do not set bad
examples for these children to follow.
If you are truthful, calm under
provocation and full of love in all your
dealings with others, these children too
will grow up in Truth and Righteousness,
Peace and Love. If you tell your son
when you are actually at home, and
someone is calling on the telephone to
reply you are not at home, you are
sowing a poisonous seed which will
become a huge tree. Let me tell you a
story to illustrate the danger of such
small beginings. A mother carried her
son on her shoulder when she went to the
market. A woman with a basket of fruits
passed by her; the child lifted a banana
from the basket and started eating it.
The mother noticed and when she was told
tchat he had cleverly lifted it from the
basket of a passing fruit seller, she
complemented the son on his smartness.
This made the child indulge in petty
thieving and picking pockets as he grew
into a boy and in actual house breaking
and dacoity. Once during a dacoity, he
even committed murder and when he was
caught and failed, he expressed a wish
to see his mother before being hanged.
The wailing, weeping, desperate mother
was brought before him. She was sobbing
at her son's fate. The son asked to come
closer to him; suddenly he tried to
strangle her and the guards seperated
them. The son said, "She deserves the
punishment; for it was she who brought
me to this doom. Had she reprimanded me
when I stole a banana when I was a child
of two years instead of complimenting
me, I would not have fallen into this
evil way."
---
RECOGNISE
THE GREAT POTENTIALS OF THE CHILD
In the
tender hearts of the children, there is
much potentiality of devotion and
attachment to higher ideals and
objectives; this can be developed and
cultivated, by you. Do not think that
they do not know anything; that you can
direct them any way you wish. This is a
mistake.
Recognize the great potentials of the
child; adopt such methods as the child
himself must suggest or indicate. Help
the child to reach Godliness and become
aware of its high destiny. Do not
presume that the child is some inferior
personality or that is incapapble of
attaining the heights.
---
FOCUS ON
THE CHILD'S CHARACTER
Parents
are concerned solely about the material
welfare of their children and have no
concern for
their moral and spiritual well-being.
When a child is born, the parents desire
that he should be educated, sent abroad,
encouraged to make as much money as
possible there by whatever means. This
is all that they teach their children.
This is all that they teach their
children.
People today earn money in so many
different ways, from begging to dacoity.
It is not wealth that is important.
Character is primary. Parents do not
teach the children to cultivate good
qualities. They do not control the
children who go astray. They condone the
lapses of the children and often
encourage them in their bad habits.
---
CORRECT
THE CHILDREN, ENCOURAGE THEM
It is the
duty of the parents to set children on
the right path from their early years.
They should not hesitate to correct them
and even punish them when the children
take to wrong ways. The best way they
can show their love for their children
is to do everything necessary to make
them follow the right path. It is only
when parents show firmness in dealing
with their children that they will
develop along right lines. It is because
parents and teachers fail to enforce
discipline that students behave in most
irresponsible ways and indulge in
disorder and violence.
The
father, to teach the child the truth
May chide, reporve or beat.
The mother may pinch the cheek
To make the child drink the milk
Forget not at any time
These marks of paternal Love.
Doing good deeds, One will never reap
bad results;
Wickedness will never yield good fruits;
Will the neem seed produce mango fruits
Or the mango seed yield neem fruits?
When you
have to reprimand a child for some
misdemenour or delinquency, do not
pounce all of a sudden or terrorize by
shouting. Instead speak to them: "If
another child did the same to you, or
took something belonging to you, or hurt
you, wouldn't you feel hurt? When you do
not like someone else to do harm to you,
in turn you should refrain from doing
harm to other." Children will quickly
understand and will feel sorry. They
will resolve not to repeat such an act
or word again. They yield to
affectionate advice.
---
THE BEST
GIFT FOR THE CHILD
Parents
toil to leave their children a pile of
riches; but they do not teach them the
propers sense of values by which they
can know how little the riches are
worth, and how best to utilize the
riches for their genuine advancement.
Take the example of Dhruva. His step
mother told him that he can win the
favour of the king, his father, only
through God's Grace which he had to win
through penance! So the five year old
boy went into the forest and practised
austerities that were unparalleled in
the history! As a result of the penance,
his desire was so sublimated that, in
the end, he declared, "I do not care for
royal favour, or even the worldly
throne! I shall attain the Kingdom of
God; I shall sit in the lap of God."
Thus, he rejected the lordship over
humans and preferred the joys of being a
child of God, with God.
The child learns to worship money and
things which money can buy; he admires
cruelty and cunning rather than sympathy
and love. So the home, the school and
the society-all three have to arouse
themselves to take up this challenge to
the future of this great land. Children
should be taught to live like lotuses in
the lake of worldly life, being in
water; yet they will not allow water to
enter! Be in the world, but see that the
world is not in you. That is the secret
of succesful living which they do not
teach to the young.
---
CATCH THEM
YOUNG!
Whenever the children go astray,
wittingly or unwittingly, parents should
hasten to correct their
faults and bring them back to the right
path. Condemn the wrong and extol the
right as soon as you see either in your
children; that will settle on the
straight path.
Today the parents give unlimited freedom
to their children which is highly
disastrous. If children are not
controlled at the tender age, they can
never be controlled.
---
THE MOTHER
OF THE MAHATMA
If Gandhi,
who was an ordinary person, was able to
achieve greatness and world renown, it
is because of the lessons in the good
behaviour which he learned from his
mother. The mother used to observe a vow
she would take her food only after the
cuckoo sang in the morning. Once when
Gandhi was a boy, the mother was waiting
for a long time to hear the call of the
cuckoo. Observing this, Gandhi went out
of the house, imitated the call of the
cuckoo, and came in and told his mother
that the cuckoo had sung and she could
take her food.
The mother, who saw through her son's
trickery, slapped him on the cheek and
said, "You wicked fellow, what sin must
I have committed to bear a son like
you?" She felt sad that such a child
should have born to her. Her grief
touched the hearts of Gandhi. From that
moment Gandhi took a firm resolve never
to utter a lie again.
---
LOVE AND
LAW
Parents
have to combine Love and Law. It is not
wrong to love children. But parents
should learn how to love them. But
parents should learn how to love them.
The obligations of parents do not end
with providing food, schooling, and
knowledge of worldly matters. The
children should also be provided with
right values. They should be made to
think that acquisition of wealth is not
the be-all and end-all of life. While
teaching with love, there must also be
present the aspect of discipline.
Discipline must be given to children
with their physical, mental and
spiritual abilities are developing, so
that they can control and reform the
mind, desires and senses. It is
important for them to develop the
ability to control the senses, mind and
thoughts and direct them towards God.
So, guide the students to learn that the
end of wisdom is freedom.
---
DISCIPLINE-IMPLEMENTATION
The
snake-gourd has to be made to grow
straight by tying a stone to it from its
tender stage. Likewise, the stone of
discipline and devotion should be
attached to a boy from his infancy.
You must have seen gardens were
snake-gourds are grown on raised
pandals. When the gourd starts growing,
the gardener hangs a small stone at its
end, so that the pull may make it grow
straight. When it grows larger, a
heavier stone is used. So too, according
to the age level, the discipline
enforced must become harder and harder
in order that the child may grow
straight forward, steady and strong.
The stone shall not be too heavy. Avoid
extremes, at all times, in all cases.
Disciplinary rules have to be well
thought out and adapted to the age group
they wish to correct.
---
DISCIPLINE
THE CHILD
The
children should be made to develop the
habit of getting up early in the
morning;
by the time the cock crows they should
get up. Then they should say their
prayers, finish showering or taking a
bath, eat breakfast, do their homework
and attend the school. They should be
good at studies. The child should be
trained to cultivate such healthy and
sound habits. But unfortunately, the
situation today is that the parents
themselves do not get up before nine
O'clock. They have late nights by
attending obscene cinemas or wasting
time at clubs. SOme parents take pride
in this because such a life is the
concept of civilization. Parents must
bear in mind that the years of youth are
the most precious years in one's life,
and they should not be wasted or
misspent. To let the children watch
television from 6 PM to 10 PM is to make
them forget all they have learned at
school and college. I insist on
regulated food and play. Regulate the
food habits of the children; food
determines to a large extent health and
intelligence, emotions and impulses.
Set limits to the quantity and quality
of food, as well as the number of times
it is consumed and the timings.
Recreation, has also to be moral and
elevating and in the company of the
righteous and God-Fearing.
Many parents feed and fondle their
children and then, in the name of
freedom, leave them to their own friends
and pleasures. They take them to films
regardless of the impressions they
create on their tender minds. They
entertain the friends of their children,
but do not enquire abot their background
or habits.
Children should not enjoy the infliction
of pain or be allowed to suffer physical
pain and mental anguish. Teach children
not to receive anything for nothing. Let
them earn by hard work the things they
seek. Indian traditions and Indian modes
of living are now being fast cast away;
crude manners of dress and speech and
personal appearance are replacing them;
children should be taught to look upon
these with disgust, they should know
them for what they are aberrations and
vulgarities! How can you tolerate the
obscene pictures, these posters
publicizing pornographic films, this
most objectionable type of dress, this
brazen behaviour and appearance? Do
everything possible to root out this
evil. Train the children and the young
to remove this blot from the face of
Mother India. Even tenth standard
students are taking to drink and drugs.
The parents are nor restraining them.
---
DO NOT
MISUSE MONEY
Money has
to be given its own place of importance.
It has to be used in the best way
possible. Because you do not make the
best use of any given thing, you cannot
understand what it is there for. You
should, for instance use the power of
intelligence to avoid the misuse of
money.
Parents are leading children to ruin
when they give them all the money they
deman, provide them the clothes they
fancy, gift them cars or motorcycles to
go to places and allow them the licence
to indulge in every desire. Children
should grow up with a sense of amity and
brotherly understanding with each other.
Children of rich parents normally have a
tendency of lavish and over-spending
habits displaying ego and vanity. Their
parents pamper them by giving them more
money than what is really needed. The
children of poor people, will feel an
inferiority complex and may nourish
feelings of jealousy against their rich
class mates.
Children must learn thrift and the
proper use of money. When children learn
how to use money with care and without
waste, the future will be bright.
---
HOUSE
RULES
In every
home, a certain length of time must be
fixed every day in the morning as well
as evening for reading from spiritual
books and recital of the Name. Parents
and Children must join in singing the
glory of God. In fact, all one's time
must be dedicated to God; as a first
step, a few minutes may be devoted to
the adoration of His glory or the
guaging of the depth of that Glory.
Gradually, when the sweetness of the
habit heartens you, you will devote more
and more time and feel more and more
content. In some houses, parents quarrel
in front of their
children, which is an unhealthy
practice. If there is any difference of
opinion among parents, they should
resolve it in the absence of their
children. Children cannot concentrate on
their studies if they are disturbed by
family problems. So parents should never
discuss problems in front of their
children. Consider the life of a
house-holder with his wife and children
as a training ground of spiritual life.
You wear glasses to correct the vision,
to imprve the sight. Use the
opportunities confronting you for
developing detachment and
self-sacrifice. If you do
not, you are the fool who puts on wrong
glasses and spoil the vision.
Failures are no boulders that block your
way, remember they are stepping stones
to victory.
---
SOME
GOLDEN RULES
Parents
ought to advise the children: "Be
convinced that there is God, guiding and
guarding us."
To instill in the minds of the young the
value of prayer, humility, and loving
service to others, the homes have to be
the first schools. The parents have to
imbued with faith in the basic universal
truth of all religions. They must be
seen worshipping at the family altar,
meditating in silence, forgiving faults
in others, and sympathizing with pain
and grief. The children should not see
them worried, helpless, discontented,
and distressed, as if they have no God
to lean upon, no inner resource of
strength and courage to fall back on.
Every mother must share in the
effort-the expansion and steady
manifestation of God consciousness
latent in the child. Every householder
has to uphold the ideals of justice and
truth and promote them by his/her
actions.
Do not get the work done through cooks,
servants, ayahs and others in the home;
women must not depend on these, for the
care of their children or attendance of
their husbands. Earning leisure for
Dhyana through these servants, is not a
spiritual gain. Do all household work as
worship of Him. That is more fruitful
than hours of Dhyana gained by
entrusting this precious work to paid
workers. The children should grow with
the mother for the first five years of
life. Many children do not know what the
love of the mother is like. The mother
should not hand over the responsibility
during these years to someone else and
be simply 'Mummy' as if she is some doll
with which the child likes to play. Now,
the children of the rich and 'educated
persons' are severely handicapped. They
are deprived of the care and love of the
parents. They are handed over to the
care of servants and ayahs and they grow
up in their company and learn their
vocabulary and habits and styles of
thought. This is very undesirable. The
father and mother become casual
strangers. The mother, as teacher,
attends school, leaving of her natural
role as the teacher of her own children!
This is indeed a tragedy!
As far as possible, the mother must
herself should do the cooking, taking
only the minimal help from others
(servants), if required. When the food
they eat is not prepared by loving hands
and served with affectionate smiles, the
savour disappears and the vibrations are
often vile. Mothers must assume this
responsibility and not throw it on
nannies. Of course, nannies are
industrious and sincere. I have nothing
to say against them. But, the child that
is brought up by the nannies
loses and essential fertilizer for
growth Love. The child is denied the
most health-giving vitamin-Love. Parents
should not be quarreling before
children. When parents exchange words,
children exchange blows.
Parents must not find faults with others
in the hearing of the children or show
their hatred or envy of others before
the tender minds.
---
THE DUTIES
OF THE FATHER
A house
holder has to uphold the ideals of
justice and truth and promote them by
his actions. He must feel the innate
majesty of mankind and live in
accordance with that high status.
Heads of family have to adhere to the
schedule of rites and worship prescribed
for them. They have to supervise the
behaviour and conduct of all members of
the household; they have also to equip
their sons and daughters with the
processes by which they can have mental
peace and equanimity under all
conditions.
Hold all your property and wealth in
trust for the Lord who gave them to you.
Even your family, you must treat as a
sacred trust, as persons given to you by
the Lord to love, foster and guide. Thus
you must elevate your attachment into
worship, and make it an instrument to
spiritual progress.
---
EMPLOYED
MOTHERS
It is not
my view that women should not be
educated. They should have education.
You may also take up jobs. But you
should live up to the obligations and
duties of motherhood.
If women are to go out for jobs, who
will take care of the homes? If husband
and wife go to offices who will look
after the children? Earning money may
solve some problems, but how will it
solve domestic problems? Truly speaking,
working women do not enjoy much
happiness.
---
ENCOURAGE
SPIRITUALITY
Many
mothers are worried about the future of
their sons if they adhere to the
righteous path. They fear that such
children may not be succesful in life.
In ancient days, mothers thouht
otherwise. They would be immensely happy
if they found the children devoted to
God. They should feel happy with the
thought:"My son will be a good man. He
will earn a good name." There are
parents who are proud when their
children join them in card games or even
drinking and gambling;
there are parents who get angry when
their children read religious books,
attend temple rites and sit quietly for
a few minutes meditating on the awe and
wonder the creation evolves in them. How
can such parents claim to be
well-wishers of their progeny? They are
the greatest foes of their progress.
They do not equip their children with
the armour which will render them safe
in the turmoil of life. Parents too must
encourage children when they evince any
interest in spiritual advance and study.
---
THE ONRUSH
OF MASS-MEDIA
Apart from
educational programmes, do not look at
television at all, especially while
taking food. Concentrate on the work at
hand, whether it be eating or anything
else.
The younger generation is being ruined
by undesirable films and television
programmes. Their minds are being
poisoned. It is not a sign of parental
love to let children be ruined in this
manner. Even parents should avoid going
to cinemas. All crimes and violence we
witness today are largely the result of
the evil influence of films in young
minds. From the moment television made
its appearance the mind of man has been
polluted. Before the advent of
television, man's minds were not so much
polluted. Acts of violence were not so
rampant previously. There is not what is
called 'Star TV'. It is doing great harm
to human life. The temporary
satisfaction given by it is followed by
lasting damage. It is like a sword
coated with honey. As you lick the
honey, the sword will cut your tongue.
Television or tele poison? Do not see
trash or see foul films.
---
THE
CHARACTER OF THE CHILD REVEALS THE
QUALITY OF PARENTING
It is a matter of shame for any mother
to say: "My son will not heed my words."
If the mother had brought up the son as
right lines from the begining, he would
not behave like this.
Ninety percent of the blame of spoiling
the behaviour and character of children,
go to parents. They show too
unintelligent affection and give to
indiscriminate freedom to them.
There is nothing great about being a
father. No father can rejoice merely
when a son is born. Only when the people
praise the virtues of the son will the
father rejoice over his birth.
---
THE
GUIDING MESSAGE
To earn real respect, you should do what
you say.
First "Be", Second "Do" and Third
"Tell". Without the first "Be" and the
second "Do", you cannot merely "Tell".
IN A
NUTSHELL...
Parenting
is the step to self-fulfillment
