What would I want my child to learn?

मै बेहतर से बेहतरीन बनने की राह में हूँ,

आज परेशान सा हूँ कल सुकून से रहूंगा। 

 - गुलज़ार साहब

 

PART 1 - Spiritual Wellbeing

Teach them Japa, bhajan and Seva (lalitasahasranamam and Dhyan)

Teach them Yoga and Bhagvad Gita.

Read out to them stories from Mahabharatam ,bhagvatham or Narayaneeyam if they are  young.

Teach them importance of Sants, Mahatmas, Gurus and God.

Encourage them to read books of Saints, biography, literature in their teenage & youth.

PART II - Viveka Buddhi & Compassion

Tell them the importance of choosing friends, one cannot choose siblings, parents or neighbor’s, but one can choose friends.

Friends who will stick when you are down, when nobody is around.

Our parents used to say to don't make friends with people who smoke, drink or steal.

Amritanandamayi Devi says these are just bad habits, but risker still are people who are bereft of compassion.

Choose somebody who has compassion than somebody who doesn't drink or smoke or for that matter even who goes to temples.

Choose who have love for you instead. Maybe who may serve you unconditionally without expecting anything in return

Beware of selfish people and there are plenty, do not become one.

I always aligned with friends with intelligence. Choose friends who have a heart along.

Teach them to be compassionate towards all living beings poor or rich ,animals ,birds etc.

PART III - Seva 

I felt that worship and kitchen is women's (My Mother’s) department. Teach them it is not.

Teach them to make their bed, teach them clean the room and washroom, teach them to cook. Teach them to wash their plates and wash their clothes.

Tell them drinking and sleeping with multiple women does not make them big, instead serving a needy, poor or old makes them great. Tell them helping an old man/woman/disabled is much more valuable than being a topper in school or college.

PART IV : The Gateway to God's Grace

"हर रात के बाद एक सुबह है, 

हर दर्द के बाद एक सुकून है। 

जीवन की राह में चुनौतियाँ हैं, 

पर मैं हूँ मजबूत, मैं हूँ तैयार, 

मैं हूँ यहीं।" - जेतवन

Mata Amritanandamayi Devi says there are three ingredients essential for success

•      Hard Work
•      Kripa (God’s Grace)
•      Kalam (Time)

Teach them the value of money and the importance of blessings received from older people helps them accumalate God’s grace that will act at a time when they really need it and least expect it. Remember hard work does have limitations beyond a point. God’s grace doesn’t, is infinite.

Celebrate their failure, ask them to pray, sharpen their axe  and then roar back again.

Teach them it is okay to fail, fall but not okay to quit or stop trying.

Tell them if they succeed, they get a medal, but if they fail, what they gain is experience.

Teach them there are no shortcuts to success, the shortest cut is hard work and honesty.

PART V- Fitness of both physical and mental health.

Teach them importance of  both physical and mental fitness.

Ask them they go to the gym,swim, use the fitbit app for counting the steps,for physical health, what do they do for mental health?

Teach them to respect both their elders and younger ones.

Teach them being a human being with good character is more important than getting into IITs or building a unicorn.