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Children are the most spiritual
July 26th, 2009
By Shyleswari M. Rao
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You might find this hard to believe, but saints, soothsayers or faith healers are not the most spiritual beings on Earth. That singular distinction goes to children and them alone. You might ask why and I could give you a thousand reasons. But above all, it’s the incorruptible nature of their innocent minds that makes them one of God’s finest creations.Let’s take a simple analogy to illustrate this. As a child you might remember attending family functions, ala a wedding, a housewarming ceremony, the baptism of a cousin and so on. And as is common during such occasions, your parents would’ve prodded you into saying ‘hello’ to that distant uncle or a maternal aunt whom you haven’t met since God knows how long.At that age, your response would be pretty natural i.e. if you wanted to greet them, you would instantly do so. And if you didn’t feel like it, you wouldn’t. But that’s not the case when you grow up. The same request would be treated in an altogether different context.A thousand queries begin flooding your mind; like would greeting the person in question open a new avenue for you — personally, professionally or otherwise? Would it raise your bar in the eyes of those around you? With so much of premeditation going on in your mind, a simple act of just greeting a person turns complicated.But children are devoid of this complexity. They don’t come with any baggage — mental, psychological, familial, whatsoever. The tendency and ability to scheme and manipulate things according to one’s requirement is exclusive to adults, not children. For them, every transaction doesn’t begin with the notion ‘what’s in it for me?’This selfless nature is in itself Godliness, a state where the concern for self is not the highest priority. It’s just one among the several things adults can learn from children — in this case not attaching a value proposition to every interaction in life.In many ways, spirituality is about getting in touch with your inner child. There are some very valid arguments to support this. For starters, look at the harried lives that millions around the world are living these days. You can see a pattern of dysfunction emerge right from the time adults begin supervising the lives of their children in a success-driven manner.At school, one is expected to be nothing less than perfect. In college, every ounce of imperfection has to be offset by an exceptional achievement in another sphere; otherwise it becomes impossible to be a part of the pack. At least, this is how children are being groomed these days. And the same values get translated to their adulthood as well.For those overtly concerned about their physical appearance or the fact that they are aging too soon, take some pointers from children. There’s nothing more important to a child than living in the now or the present. Sometimes, their need to stay in the present might come across as stubbornness. But have you ever seen children forsaking a game of cricket with their friends, out of fear of dirtying their clothes or of getting injured during play?For them, it’s the pleasure of living in the present that’s more important; shabby clothes and bruises are just incidental. It is said that spirituality has an answer to almost every question in life. When you’re faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, you look for salvation in God. But then, one doesn’t really need to go looking for peace of mind or happiness to reach places. You can find it within yourself, within your inner child.
The writer is a human growth trainer at theVed Vyas Inner Space
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Submitted by sabari bala (not verified) on Mon, 27/07/2009 - 6:33pm.
great article.
Home > Sunday Chronicle
Children are the most spiritual
July 26th, 2009
By Shyleswari M. Rao
var addthis_pub="deccanchronicle";var addthis_options = 'favorites, digg, delicious, myspace, google, facebook, reddit, live, yahoobkm, more';
You might find this hard to believe, but saints, soothsayers or faith healers are not the most spiritual beings on Earth. That singular distinction goes to children and them alone. You might ask why and I could give you a thousand reasons. But above all, it’s the incorruptible nature of their innocent minds that makes them one of God’s finest creations.Let’s take a simple analogy to illustrate this. As a child you might remember attending family functions, ala a wedding, a housewarming ceremony, the baptism of a cousin and so on. And as is common during such occasions, your parents would’ve prodded you into saying ‘hello’ to that distant uncle or a maternal aunt whom you haven’t met since God knows how long.At that age, your response would be pretty natural i.e. if you wanted to greet them, you would instantly do so. And if you didn’t feel like it, you wouldn’t. But that’s not the case when you grow up. The same request would be treated in an altogether different context.A thousand queries begin flooding your mind; like would greeting the person in question open a new avenue for you — personally, professionally or otherwise? Would it raise your bar in the eyes of those around you? With so much of premeditation going on in your mind, a simple act of just greeting a person turns complicated.But children are devoid of this complexity. They don’t come with any baggage — mental, psychological, familial, whatsoever. The tendency and ability to scheme and manipulate things according to one’s requirement is exclusive to adults, not children. For them, every transaction doesn’t begin with the notion ‘what’s in it for me?’This selfless nature is in itself Godliness, a state where the concern for self is not the highest priority. It’s just one among the several things adults can learn from children — in this case not attaching a value proposition to every interaction in life.In many ways, spirituality is about getting in touch with your inner child. There are some very valid arguments to support this. For starters, look at the harried lives that millions around the world are living these days. You can see a pattern of dysfunction emerge right from the time adults begin supervising the lives of their children in a success-driven manner.At school, one is expected to be nothing less than perfect. In college, every ounce of imperfection has to be offset by an exceptional achievement in another sphere; otherwise it becomes impossible to be a part of the pack. At least, this is how children are being groomed these days. And the same values get translated to their adulthood as well.For those overtly concerned about their physical appearance or the fact that they are aging too soon, take some pointers from children. There’s nothing more important to a child than living in the now or the present. Sometimes, their need to stay in the present might come across as stubbornness. But have you ever seen children forsaking a game of cricket with their friends, out of fear of dirtying their clothes or of getting injured during play?For them, it’s the pleasure of living in the present that’s more important; shabby clothes and bruises are just incidental. It is said that spirituality has an answer to almost every question in life. When you’re faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, you look for salvation in God. But then, one doesn’t really need to go looking for peace of mind or happiness to reach places. You can find it within yourself, within your inner child.
The writer is a human growth trainer at theVed Vyas Inner Space
1 Comment
Post your comment
Latest Comments
Submitted by sabari bala (not verified) on Mon, 27/07/2009 - 6:33pm.
great article.
