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When We Were Children
"A child is an especially significant special part of God's creation, since God is dreaming in and through every child and manifesting Himself in an unprecedented way. Each child is bringing down a new message from God which was not known before." - Sri Chinmoy.
At the heart of all the world's spiritual teachings and religions is the common belief that each human being is here to realise God and to serve God in the world – or put differently, we are here to become enlightened, liberated, perfected and then to help others in their own journey along this same road.
It is likewise accepted that children's lives are primarily shaped during their first seven to ten years on earth – it is here that the ideas, attitudes, experiences and knowledge they assimilate will form the enduring foundations of their entire later lives. Given these two truths it becomes self-evident that parents have an overriding responsibility to nurture their children's spirituality from the very beginning, thus offering the best possible opportunity for the child to live a fulfilling, progressive and conscious life.
Neglecting this essential aspect of any child's upbringing is a failure to nourish the child's greatest need and the single most important aspect of it's nature, it's very highest purpose in being. Essential reading for any parent is Sri Chinmoy's beautiful guide book on parenting, A Child's Heart and a Child's Dreams. This book is filled with exquisite gold nuggets of wisdom:
"If the parents feel that their children are flowers of God, then the parents will make the children not only feel this, but also grow into this. That is the parents' supreme role. It is not enough for the parents to feed and clothe the children and send them to school. No, the parents must take responsibility for bringing out their children's divine qualities."
"The sacred and divine purpose of the family is to help each individual member to discover his own real reality. If an individual does not discover the real reality in himself, then he is denying the promise he made to God. When you are blessed with a child, you bring into your life a solid portion of divinity from above. At that time, your soul makes another solemn promise to God: that you will make your child a perfect instrument of God."
Sri Chinmoy makes a critical distinction between the Western concept of freedom – the freedom to do as you wish with your life, which is usually tantamount to self-indulgence and driven by a desire for self-gratification – 
and a spiritual notion of freedom – freedom from ignorance, suffering, limitations, and all in our nature that prevents our enlightenment/liberation/perfection. This latter concept of freedom requires discipline and a belief that life has a higher purpose – parents aware of these truths will clearly want to start their child's life journey with the best possible spiritual education.
"Children will die spiritually if you don't give them inner nourishment. They may not like a particular food but they have to eat or they will die. Later, when they grow up they will have the freedom to eat whatever they choose. Here I see thousands of children who have been misguided by their parents in the name of freedom. Only he who listens to the dictates of his inner being and obeys the inner law can be free. When you do not listen to your higher self, at that time you are totally limited and bound."
And some wonderful advice from Sri Chinmoy to a mother worrying about her wayward 14 year old daughter:
"You will be happy only on the day you feel that you are not indispensable to your daughter. The Supreme alone is indispensable. The moment you have that feeling you will have happiness. You should convince yourself that 14 years ago your daughter didn't exist for you and you also didn't exist for her. And you will go to the other world before her. Your daughter is just like a mango that you have plucked from a mango tree. You will not keep it forever. After 60 or 70 years when she goes back to the Source, you will not be able to claim her. We can claim only those things that are with us permanently."
"If we remain in the outer world, we see children as ordinary human beings. But if we go within, then we immediately see that children embody all the divine qualities of God. At that time we see children as true miracles – as divine instruments, as flowers of God... For children are nothing but fresh and beautiful flowers ready to be placed on the altar of God the Truth, God the Light and God the Delight."
A few years ago, some of our members decided to hold a baby competition. As very few of us actually had babies, we used our own glorious photographs from yesteryear. In The Most Beautiful Baby Competition, Jogyata Dallas recalls the fun. |
