April 1, 2025 • 41 mins
Spiritual education forms an essential foundation for children's development, providing them with tools to understand themselves beyond grades, roles, and achievements.
• Children need identity beyond ego – teaching them they are more than their name, gender, or achievements
• Immunity to comparison and pressure helps children recognize their innate worth regardless of external validation
• Emotional resilience through disidentification teaches children to witness thoughts/emotions rather than being consumed by them
• Moral grounding without fear-based religion develops ethics based on seeing everyone as one
• Connection to culture through rational spiritual understanding adds meaning to traditions
• Clarity amidst spiritual confusion provides a time-tested framework instead of half-baked concepts
• Practical approaches differ by age group – stories and guided practice for younger children, deeper discussions for teens
• Parents must model spiritual awareness – children observe how we respond to life's challenges
Take time daily or weekly to incorporate spiritual education alongside academic learning. A balanced approach helps children develop into well-rounded individuals who can face life's challenges with awareness, compassion and inner strength.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Bearded
Mystic podcast, and I'm yourhost, rahul N Singh.
Thank you for taking out thetime today to either watch or
listen to this podcast episode.
So today I wanted to discussbecause it's kind of elaborating
from yesterday's discussionabout why it's important for
(00:25):
children to have a strongspiritual education.
Now, specifically I'm talkingabout those kids that are
brought up in Hindu householdsor with Indian spirituality, but
I obviously will be focusingmore on Advaita Vedanta.
Now I'm going to go through sixreasons why it's important for
(00:47):
children to have this spiritualeducation and the issues we face
in the West.
You know we want our childrento be spiritual, we want them to
be well behaved, we want themto have good morals, and yet
there's very little done when Iask parents of different faiths
about how they can keep childrenkind of grounded in good ethics
(01:11):
and good morals.
Without this good ethics andgood morals, there will never be
a true inquiry into what theyreally are, and so the education
of that only occurs when we atleast open ourselves up to
(01:33):
understanding spiritual ideals.
Now this also means thatparents need to you kind of wake
up and also do more, because Idon't think it's entirely the
children's fault, becauseparents, you know, they focus on
education far too much, takingkids to these clubs that center
around kind of their education,and that's all good.
(01:57):
But in the end, what are youdoing for them in terms of how
to deal with life, how to dealwith the issues in life, what,
what?
What are you doing for them interms of how to deal with life,
how to deal with the issues inlife?
What are you setting them upwith?
When it comes to failure, willthey know how to respond?
Or when they have to deal withracism in the workplace, have
you kind of helped them withthat?
(02:19):
Or sexism or anything like that?
Have you helped them tounderstand what to do?
So that's been one of my mainconcerns I'm going to talk about
today in terms of you know,what can we do to make sure that
children get a good spiritualeducation, as well as education
(02:41):
that the state or governmentprovides that we all know about.
The other thing is that this ispersonal to me because obviously
I have a, you know, a one and ahalf year old, and this matters
to me because how my child well, first of my child is going to
(03:03):
look at me and his parents andhe's going to see how we react,
how we respond to life, how weare.
Are we truly practitioners orare we just going there as a
ritual?
Little things like that.
And we think our children don'tknow anything.
They know far too much.
They know far more than weanticipate, and it's best to
(03:30):
kind of over estimate thanunderestimate, because in the
end it could shape their life.
And what I find more and morecommon in as South Asian
households is that they do notknow what to do with their kids
(03:50):
in terms of giving them aspiritual education.
They want their kids to bewell-rounded.
You know good characters, goodpersonalities, but how are you
going to make that happen whenyou don't give them the kind of
tools to move forward?
So let's go into, um, the firstthing now, why children need
(04:14):
spiritual education in AdvaitaVedanta.
So this is this is a specificone that I'm looking at.
So, um, if you follow adifferent religion, I think this
is more or less universal thatyou could follow and, most of
all, it's just about giving thema spiritual education.
So, first of all, is theidentity beyond the ego, and
(04:36):
this is really important because, as children grow up, we are
literally just hounding themwith the ego, like you know,
this is your name, which is notwrong.
They need to identifythemselves.
That's good, this is yourgender, this is this, this is
that, and we kind of we forcethem to kind of identify with
the body.
So you know, from a young agewe're told, you know this is
(05:00):
what your grade is when you goto school.
You know you are, you know ifyou're going to school, then
whatever your kind of successesare, that defines you.
This is your name, this is yourgender and you know it.
Just you know.
They get told what they are,they get told you know what this
(05:20):
body is, but they rarely aretold who are you actually?
You know, and the thing is,children have this beautiful
sense of wonder, so it's notactually hard for them to grasp
that they are the witnessconsciousness.
One thing I do with my 18 monthyear old is we take some time to
(05:42):
just do breathing.
You know, it's not even thatcomplicated, just breathing and
uh and it, and it's one waywhere we connect and that's all
you need is connection.
So you know, but in the end,when he starts to understand and
when he starts with me,obviously give him those
identifications about his name,his age and all this stuff.
(06:05):
We also tell him about what hereally is, that, okay, you know
you are the body, you are themind.
That's fine, that's what,that's what you have.
But you know who are you reallyand that education is important
from the get-go.
So Advaita grounds them in Advgo.
So Advaita grounds them inAdvaita.
(06:26):
So Advaita grounds them in theidea that they're not their role
.
So you know, for example, ifthey're a son or a daughter or a
brother or a sister or agrandson or granddaughter,
whatever the roles may be, wetell them that that is not what
their identity is.
They're given a role and youknow it's important for them to
(06:49):
fulfill the responsibilities ofthat role.
But you know that's not their,that's not who they are, and we
have to be clear on that, youknow.
And that means that even asparents, we need to disidentify
ourselves, because when we getinto well, I'm the father,
that's my son, that's mydaughter they would do what I
(07:10):
say.
That's coming from ego, notcoming from awareness, that's
not coming from a spiritualplace of presence.
And this is important because ifyou want a healthy relationship
, we need to be able to do that,where we disidentify from the
role and actually just speak tothem one-on-one, knowing that
they are the same as us.
You see, when we come from thatangle, things are different.
(07:31):
It's a different playing field,uh, and you know one other
thing is that they're not theirthoughts.
You know it's very easy todayfor, uh, and thankfully, you
know, there's more discussion onmental health, so we can tell
them that you're not yourthoughts, you're not your
emotions.
They are things that you have,but they're not who you are.
(07:58):
And it's really important thatwe guide them to be more mindful
of that limitless awareness andthat they are the Atma, that
they are Brahman.
They may not be able to.
You don't have to say you'reGod to them, that would be wild.
But you can tell them that youknow you are awareness, and you
don't have to mention God, don'tneed to bring God into the
picture yet.
Just make sure they understandthat they are the awareness of
their thoughts and theiremotions.
(08:20):
When they express to you, whenthey express the ideas that you
know that the mind is taking intoo much or they feel upset, you
know.
It's that time when you canjust be present with them and
instead of condemning them forbeing upset or saying you know,
why are you upset?
There's no need for you to beupset.
It's much better for us to justsay you know what?
(08:42):
Let me just be aware with you.
Let's go into awareness rightnow, and this can just help us
be more conscious as parents andconscious of what we want from
them and, trust me, this willprevent identity crisis that
will happen much later on.
Things that we can avoid willhappen much later on.
(09:08):
Things that we can avoid, andit is.
It's really important that wetell them how to deal with their
emotions.
So, if they're feeling thatthey are sad, that we are with
them in their sadness, that wedon't say you know what?
You shouldn't be sad.
You've got it so easy in yourlife.
Do you think that's the rightresponse to give to a kid?
I don't think so.
Just empathize with them.
If we want them to empathizewith others, we have to learn
(09:29):
empathy ourselves, and that'swhy it's really important that
children are what you truly are.
If your children are showing alack of empathy, that says a lot
about you.
Where they learn, that is fromtheir role models, and that's
why it's important that theylearn from their role models,
and that may not be necessarilytheir parents.
(09:52):
I'm sure my son will learn a lotfrom his grandma, from his
grandparents in general, fromhis aunts and uncles.
I expect that, but at the sametime, that doesn't mean that if
he's going to learn from them, Ican just step back and just be
a prat or be an idiot.
No, I need to be thatrepresentative of the so-called
spirituality that I follow.
(10:13):
So you know, imagine he comesacross my podcast and he's like
you know, papa, you're so greaton your podcast, you say so many
great things, but at homeyou're like this.
Imagine when he's 15, 20 yearsold and he's like but you're
like this with me.
Imagine how that would make mefeel and how that would make him
(10:34):
feel that his dad is one thingon camera and one thing behind
the camera, and that's whyAdvaita Vedanta says you're one.
So you know, the whole thingabout being one thing, like
pretending to be spiritual atthe temple and then being an
absolute fool at home is openingthe door to schizophrenia and
(10:55):
there's no need to have thisdual personality.
Then the other thing is andthis is an important one,
especially in the Indiancommunity, in my opinion, the
South Asian community.
Here there's immunity tocomparison and pressure and,
(11:16):
trust me, this is a big one.
And you know, yes, this worldis really competitive, it's
hyper competitive.
It's all about about, you know,who can be number one, and
unfortunately, the educationsystem kind of houses that view
as well.
Like you're measured by yourgrades, you're also measured by
(11:37):
your looks, by what your hobbiesare, by what you like to do,
and people judge you on that.
You know, I remember that, andthis is I'm expressing something
that I wish I never listened to.
But, like, I remember I wantedto be a teacher when I was
younger and now I wish I was ateacher.
Yeah, so, but I was told thatyou know, being a teacher does
(12:01):
not make enough money.
Just imagine, you know, we'retelling someone and now I think
I would never do that to my kid,because if he says he wants to
be a teacher, a doctor, anengineer, whatever, he wants to
be A businessman.
A businessman, maybe he wantsto explore the world for a bit.
I've got to be there to supportthat and let him charter his
(12:26):
life and that's important.
And therefore that doesn't meanthat you have to measure your
kid by their grades or their GPAor anything like that.
That shouldn't define your lovefor your kid or the attention
you give your kid.
You know if your kid wants toimprove, they will improve.
(12:46):
If your kid doesn't want toimprove, you need to see why
they don't want to improveinstead of condemning them for
not improving and things likethat.
So Advaita, you know it, offersus that insight that you know
their, their worth is innate,it's within them and it's
unchanging.
The value you have of them willnever change, regardless of
(13:09):
their grades, regardless of whatthey look like, regardless of
their likes and dislikes.
You will be there for them.
If tomorrow, even this, if mychild says he has no interest in
spirituality, I have to supportthat and you know what.
That may be the most difficultthing in my life to do, but you
(13:31):
know what I have to because, atthe end of the day, if I'm going
to teach him that it doesn't,you're beyond what you like and
dislike.
I have to practice that too.
So, um, so, most importantly,you know the other thing that
this will do is that it's notgoing to tie the kid to any
(13:52):
outer success or outervalidation.
It doesn't need that externalvalidation or that external
success, the inner success ofjust being calm, being collected
, facing the trials andtribulations of life with
strength and courage and withoutfear.
That's more important.
And they don't need validationfrom the world, they don't need
(14:17):
validation from their parents.
They are complete in themselvesand that's what we have to keep
guiding them towards and andhelping them understand this
that they are that awarenessthat will not break, that will
always remain with them.
And then there's the third one,which is emotional resilience
through disidentification.
(14:37):
This sounds rather weird, but,trust me, instead of telling
them to suppress their emotionsor telling them not to feel this
or to feel that, or, you know,if they end up being consumed by
their emotions like, we have toguide them to not get consumed
by them too.
We can guide them to witnesstheir thoughts, witness their
(14:59):
feelings as passing waves, or,and they don't have to cling to
them.
I often give the example thatand I practice this too when
things overwhelm me, then, youknow, I just look at the mind
and I look at the screen ofawareness and I look at the mind
(15:20):
, which is clouds of emotionsand feelings and thoughts, and I
just watch them pass by.
You know, just like you know,the sky doesn't get affected by
the clouds as they pass by.
And these thoughts, theseemotions, these feelings are all
clouds that pass by and I don'thave to give them attention, I
can just let them be, let themflow.
And you know I can just letthem be, let them flow, and you
(15:41):
know what I can remain as thatawareness that's there, that's
always present, that's alwayshere.
And you know, and I don't haveto cling to those clouds, I
don't have to cling to thosewaves of emotion or feelings or
thoughts, and this will buildinner strength.
We feel it in ourselves.
(16:01):
I feel it in myself that I ammore resilient, as now I don't
think I get affected as much bythings as I used to.
I've seen my growth, but at thesame time I have to understand
that everyone has to grow.
So my child is going to gothrough those turbulent times.
Everyone has to grow.
So my child is going to gothrough those turbulent times
(16:23):
and I have to be there with themto be present and guide them to
be into awareness.
And it's all about guiding them.
The right way and that's oneway is not telling them.
See, we're not saying to themthat their emotions are wrong.
We're saying just witness them.
We're not telling them theiremotions are right, we're saying
just witness them.
We're not telling them theiremotions are right, we're just
(16:43):
saying witness them.
And this can be incrediblyhelpful.
Now, an important part ofAdvaita Vedanta and this fourth
point is really importantthere's moral grounding, but
without any fear-based religion,and you know, religion has
(17:04):
always been about fear.
You know there's a God.
You need to fear this God.
Or there's the Guru.
You need to fear the Guru oryou need to.
You better fear because youcould go.
If you want to go to heaven,you better be good, otherwise
you're going to go to hell andthat's going to be for eternity
and you're going to be, you know, burnt and all this kind of,
(17:25):
you know, crooked thinking.
And you know dharma doesn'tallow this to happen.
Dharma will say you knowthere's no fear of punishment
here.
You're not going to getpunished and you know everything
that happens.
You have to understand thateveryone is one with you.
So your morality, your ethicsis based on oneness.
(17:47):
You see everyone as the same.
They are one and the same withyou.
They're not separate to you andit's really important for us to
understand that.
So when we operate ourselvesfrom oneness, our children will
also operate from oneness, andthat's really important, that's
a solid thing to do.
If we don't do this, then youknow we have to kind of
(18:14):
understand that when we operatefrom oneness, then that also
means our voting record.
I mentioned this before.
What you vote for is for whatyou represent, and you know,
frankly, if we vote for or wevote for people that hate others
without any reason why, thatmeans that we're okay with
(18:39):
hating others, that we're okaywith harming others.
So harming another is harmingoneself.
And when we have that empathythat I want to do good for
others because that's doing goodto me, not because I'm going to
benefit personally from it, no,because they are me, the other
is me, it's all one, it'snon-dual.
(19:00):
And when we operate from thatoneness, there's only love,
compassion and space for others,and this is important.
And if we are divided people,we vote for things that are
going to divide others, and wesee this today.
We believe in thisindividualistic, divisive
(19:26):
rhetoric, whilst those thatbelieve in unity, in love,
compassion, cannot vote forthese type of things, cannot
even.
Uh, you know the things thatpeople call woke these days, but
being woke actually is not abad thing, you know, I think we
fail to understand that woke isseeing everyone as the same as
(19:48):
you.
And you know, if you're notcomfortable with who you are,
you're not going to becomfortable with others and
their diversity, but if you'recomfortable with yourself,
you're comfortable with otherpeople too.
So whatever you view the worldis more or less how you view
yourself.
Uh, so, and that means yourworldview.
(20:08):
Now that, let's be honest, I maynot like the current president
at all, but I recognize thatthere is oneness.
I cannot deny that fact, andyou know I have huge compassion
for him because imagine living alife that he's living I.
You know, I feel bad for himthat he lives in that way.
(20:30):
So I have empathy.
Okay, that's his mindset,that's the way he's living his
life.
Imagine, I don't know how to.
You know, when I grew up, myrole model, my hero, was my guru
, who only taught love,unconditional love.
So I didn't know anything else.
I cannot know anything else,because that's what my hero is.
(20:52):
So we have we understand thatharming another is harming
ourselves.
This will lead to naturalcompassion and natural integrity
.
It's not something you have tolike, forcefully build upon
(21:16):
yourself like you don't have tobe told do not kill anyone,
because you know that harminganother person is harming myself
.
Therefore, the idea of killingsomeone doesn't even have to be
mentioned, it doesn't have to besaid, you know so.
So this is important tounderstand.
(21:36):
Then the fifth one, which isconnection to culture and
sanatan wisdom.
So you know, vedanta is prettygood when it comes to connecting
to our, you know, kind ofancestral roots and our Vedic
roots.
It's really important for us toknow this.
(21:56):
And you know it's not a blindtradition.
It's not about, you know, youjust go to the mandir and you
just beg God and come back.
That is not what dharma isabout.
That's not what Vedanta is.
Vedanta is about knowing who youare, knowing your true nature.
It's about logicallyunderstanding what you are.
It's not about believing insomething.
(22:17):
It's not about having faith insomething either.
Once you know something forfact, you don't need faith in it
.
That faith then is natural.
You don't have to build a faithand you do not have to think
that your faith is weak.
You do not have to beg God tomake things better for you.
You know, because you are thatGod itself.
(22:42):
You are that awareness itself.
You are brahman itself.
You are ishwara itself.
You're not, they are notseparate to you.
All the powers of this universeis within you and at the same
time, you are that awarenesswhich has unconditional power,
unconditional strength,unconditional love,
unconditional compassion.
(23:03):
So Vedanta is purely rational,it's experiential.
You can experience it, you cantaste being awareness yourself.
You don't have to believe inthis.
And it's really important to berational and this helps us when
(23:23):
we look at things from arational perspective.
When there's festivals likeDiwali or Holi, we, you know it
gives a proper meaning to it.
Or if we do rituals at home,the rational mind will be able
to see the logic behind them,them, and even with the stories,
(23:44):
we know that there's, you know,not every story is going to be,
you know, kind of true, butthey like the puranas, the
stories from the puranas.
They're not true, they are, um,they obviously are made up.
But we can get rational lessonsfrom those stories, we can get
the morals from those stories.
But we don't have to be like,oh yeah, hanumanji actually ate
the sun, like we don't have tobe silly to you know, to kind of
(24:11):
reduce our logic andrationality.
No, you know we, what we'retrying to present here when we
represent that hanumanji triedto eat the sun was to show how
powerful he was, that he couldtake in the energy of the sun.
We can say things like that,and that's us too, that the
(24:31):
energy that's in the sun is alsowithin us, because we're made
up of the same universe, thesame elements of the universe,
that's all, and it can be basedin rational and logical thought.
So that's really important.
So connecting with theirculture is very, very important,
and then there's obviouslyclarity amongst amidst spiritual
(24:56):
confusion, and this can happen.
You know we, you know we'vebeen discussing the law of
attraction and we're going to doa deep dive tomorrow into um
that and go a bit deeper intothe law of attraction and
advaita vidanta.
But, yes, these half-bakedspiritual ideals that, uh, and
ideas and concepts that we'retold, you know that's flooded
(25:21):
the social media YouTube, tiktok, instagram.
So many people are now scaredof the evil eye, and they're
scared of they're sosuperstitious they follow
everything of the eclipse, justin case something bad may happen
.
All this superstitious thinking, the eclipse, just in case
(25:45):
something bad may happen, allthis superstitious thinking.
Advaita provides a clear,time-tested map to the ultimate
truth.
It just says you know what,this is your true nature.
This is the ultimate truth.
This is backed by logic,scripture and deep inquiry.
We've, it's been tested formany years, for millennia.
People have gone through this.
They've achieved it even today,and this can be experienced,
(26:07):
you can go through this.
So Advaita is not, uh, you know, half-baked spiritual ideals or
ideas or concepts, so this isimportant to know as well.
So, um it, where it's easy to godown the path of spiritual
confusion, advaita Vedanta isthe antidote to that, in my
(26:31):
opinion.
So what would it look like?
Uh, you know, for parents, ifyou have a kid right now, what
can you do with your kid to kindof give them a solid spiritual
education?
And this does mean, you know,you do have to spend time with
them if you, if they spend, say,you know, six, seven, eight
(26:56):
hours of the day, ten hours aday, in, um, in kind of worldly
education, make sure one or twohours in the day is spent in
spiritual education.
It's really important to dothat as well.
So, or, you know, you look atsaturday being that type of day
where you go through thespiritual education, something
(27:19):
like that.
So what does that look like?
So, if you know, from the agesof five to ten.
It's okay for us to give storieswith Vedantic values.
There are books like the Vedasfor children, upanishads for
children, the Bhagavad Gita forchildren, and they have tales of
(27:39):
you know Nachiketa and Prahladand you know simplified portions
of the Upanishads and they'retold with visuals and metaphors.
Get those for your kids, gothrough them, read them and, you
know, just be with them andenjoy those stories.
And you know, whenever they aregoing through any tough
(28:03):
situation at school, maybethey're getting bullied, maybe
they're getting, maybe they'rebullying other kids.
So make sure you tell them thatyou know this is not what you
are.
You're not this body, you'renot this mind.
You know, guide them.
I'm not my thoughts, I am thislight of awareness, I am peace,
(28:26):
I am this presence and that'sall.
And it's very important to dosome guided meditation with the
kids too, some guidedmindfulness, mindful remembrance
.
You know things like you know,watch your breath.
(28:46):
That's what I do with my oneand a half year old right now.
You know, watch your breath.
You know and tell them, youknow, watch your breath like
watching a river, take them tothe river, take them into nature
, so they can, you know, justrelax into nature.
You know, say, imagine the sunin your heart so they can feel
(29:07):
that light.
You know, with kids you can dothat.
Yes, when you're older youdon't want to be hearing that,
but even as an adult, that'sfine, you know.
And?
But this is important that wego through these practices with
the kids.
And it's important to alsointroduce them to Sanskrit terms
.
So, whether that's the Atma,maya, you know Satt, asatt,
(29:31):
dhyan, and explain them insimple terms, and this then will
help them build knowledge withthe source language.
So whenever they come acrossthese words, they can recognize
it.
So that's important.
And then, you know, whenthey're 11 to 15, they're more
(29:52):
introspective.
So now you want to haveinteractive discussions with
them.
So you know you can ask themwell, what is real, who am I, I,
where do these thoughts comefrom?
And encourage inquiry, not justanswers.
Like, get them to reallyinquire into it.
There's no need for them togive you an answer.
Just tell them to go into theinquiry and give them conceptual
(30:15):
foundations.
Now they're no longer likelittle kids where they need
stories, so now they need deeperconcepts.
So it's really important for usto go through that as well.
Like, don't keep telling thempranic stories at this age?
Uh, it's, it's not going tointerest them.
You know as much.
So explain what creation is.
(30:36):
You know, how did creationappear.
Tell them about the threestates, the avastatraya that
we've talked about, the, youknow, waking, dreaming and deep
sleep.
And tell them about maya byusing real life analogies like
the dream world versus waking.
Tell them about the rope andsnake analogy, the clay and clay
pot analogy.
(30:57):
These things would just helpthem when it comes to
understanding the deeperspiritual truths.
And then the practice of vijaraself-inquiry really important,
you know.
You know, introduce them tojournaling or give them thought
watching exercises.
That's really good, justgetting them to observe their
thoughts for a bit.
You know, five minutes, let'sjust observe our thoughts For
(31:20):
five minutes.
Why don't you just journal whatyou're going through?
Maybe nowadays, with technology, you can incorporate Google
Docs and you can ask them towrite a journal and you can
journal too and you can sharewhat you're going through and
that can be a collaborative kindof process in the family.
(31:40):
And then, you know, tell themabout stories, about role models
, and it's really important totell them about real people like
Adi Shankaraji, swamiVivekananda Kabirji, guru Nanak
Devji, sri Narayana Guruji youknow anyone from your own
tradition.
You know I will tell them aboutmy guru and stuff like that,
(32:03):
tell them about those stories,and that's fine.
Those stories are good nowbecause you know it helps them
to kind of understand that thiscan be possible, you know, in
today's day and age and so, andit also inspires them to go
through by example.
So it's not like you just givethem fantasy stories, but you
(32:26):
also give them real lifeexamples where they can be like,
you know, oh, it's possible,spiritual enlightenment is
possible and, trust me, if theycan be enlightened a lot younger
, imagine what the world wouldbe like in the future.
And this is what I mean.
Our priorities are all wrong intoday's day and age, where we
(32:49):
should be kind of guiding themthrough, you know,
self-restraint.
And instead we're saying, youknow, here's a phone, here's
this, here's what you desire,here's a phone, here's this,
here's what you desire.
And so they, they're not ableto fully develop, you know, and,
and that's why it's reallyimportant that we can help them
(33:09):
with technology, but help themproperly.
So that's an important one.
And then when they're 16 plus,you know they're obviously teen
and young adults now they'regetting ready to go to college.
They probably will have a lotmore mental stress now.
So really it's good to kind ofintroduce them now to lightly,
(33:34):
not too deep, but withsimplified commentaries.
Maybe you can create thosecommentaries yourself, so that's
a practice for you.
Um, but do some upanishadictext study.
So really important to startwith the upanishads.
Then maybe you can look at thebrahma sutras or you can go
through to the bhagavad-gita.
If you want to skip the brahmasutras, that's fine.
(33:56):
Um, but do simplifycommentaries, you know, do
simplify commentaries on likethe mundaka upanishad or the
katha upanishad, and or selectspecific uh bhagavad gita verses
and and just go through themwith the kids.
Uh, do discussion, uh circleswith them, like, uh, maybe say
(34:20):
you know, why don't you invitesome friends?
Let's do this little dialogueon topics like ego, suffering,
happiness, fear, some very basicthings, and that way, you know,
you can go through these topicsand explore them together and
that will help us, that willhelp them become well-rounded
(34:41):
personalities that can deal withthese things, deal with these
emotions, and then now you canintroduce them to like more
meditation and stillnesspractice.
And this is really importantbecause in the world which is
grabbing our attention, we wantto turn inward for a bit at
least.
The world will always demandour attention.
That's its job, that's itsnature.
(35:02):
But we have to bring our natureback to our true self, back to
awareness, and for that, youknow, we should do some silent
sitting.
Maybe we do some mantra japafor a bit, then we go into
silent sitting.
Maybe we chant om for a bit andthen we go into silent sitting.
Maybe we chant Aum for a bitand then we go into silence
watching our thoughts, breath,awareness, anything like that
(35:26):
which can help us.
Just, you know, calm the minddown for a bit and having an
everyday practice of that, evenif it's like 10 minutes, that's
helpful, trust me.
And you know link Vedanta tomodern life.
You know, if you think about it, vedanta is helping me when it
(35:51):
comes to stress, when it comesto identity issues, with social
anxiety, with existential doubt.
Anything that I've gone throughin life has helped me and
likewise it will help them too.
So I just give some.
I'm going to give a reallyradical example, and there's a
(36:12):
reason why I'm using this as anexample.
You have a kid that, no, thatdoesn't identify with the gender
they were born with.
Okay, with the physical genderthey were born with.
So how can you help them tounderstand what they're going
through?
Vedanta will have the answer.
(36:33):
Vedanta will guide them intoacknowledging how they feel and
accepting how they feel and,most of all, saying, okay, this
is how the body feels, but asawareness, what do you feel?
And this way you're bringingthem to peace with how they feel
.
You're not telling them tochange how they feel.
(36:54):
You're not telling them, you'renot even affirming that what
they're feeling is correct orincorrect.
You're just telling them tofeel it and be aware of it.
And what does that feel like?
And that's all you have to do.
And I believe that this is notonly conscious parenting, but
this is also helpful for parentsto grow spiritually and be the
(37:19):
best examples of spiritualityfor their children.
And you know, I would love formy kid to be 21 years old and be
like you know what, papa.
This is what I feel like.
Can you, can you guide me?
What can I do in a situation,or even even something as simple
as this?
(37:39):
Papa, can you just sit with mefor like 10 minutes and just sit
with me?
You know even that.
But again, one has to representit ourselves.
And and I feel today, withmodern life, with the way things
are going, it's important thatwe get our kids focused on
(38:03):
spirituality, and that means, ifyour spirituality is condensed
to just a Sunday for a few hours, you need to wake up and you
need to start thinking about howto bring spiritual education
into their life, wherespirituality becomes just as
important as worldly education.
If you want your kid to get adegree and go to college, get a
(38:24):
degree, or get a business and bea millionaire, billionaire,
whatever you want your kid to be, just as much as that, you need
to make sure you want them tobe enlightened beings.
That's the way we should befeeling.
This is the way we should beapproaching things in life.
We shouldn't be saying you knowwhat you know.
(38:45):
I believe that you shouldcontribute to society, but if
you're contributing to societyand you're living in society,
but you're an absolute horribleperson, you're horrible to your
children, to your family, butyou're person, you're horrible
to your children, to your family, but your and your spirituality
is just there for the namesakethat you're spiritual, it's
(39:09):
gonna do nothing, and so toavoid this, we need to be
properly invested inspirituality.
So it starts when they're young, and I believe that, like I'm
so glad my parents took me tosatsang every week.
It helped me.
I wish we had more satsangthroughout the week.
(39:29):
I wish spirituality was morefocused upon as I was growing up
in worldly education.
I wish my parents didn't focusso much on getting a job and all
that and they were like I wishthey balanced it with
spirituality.
I wish that was the case, butthey only knew what they knew.
But today I can make adifferent choice.
(39:52):
I can make a different set ofvalues and you know, when it
comes to my son and and anyfuture children I have, or
anyone that any of my nieces ornephews that may look up to me,
if they do that, I can guidethem in the right way, guide
(40:13):
them in the right manner.
So, uh, that's really how Iwant to.
That's the episode today.
Let me know your thoughts.
You know, maybe you havechildren and you've gone through
this difficulty.
Maybe you wish your childrenwere more spiritual.
Maybe you have some counterarguments about why.
(40:34):
What I'm saying is totallyridiculous in today's day and
age, anything.
But I just wanted to share that.
You know the six reasons why Ibelieve children need spiritual
education too.
But let me know your thoughts.
If you like this episode,please like it.
Do comment on it, share it,subscribe to my channel and I
(40:57):
shall see you in tomorrow'sepisode, where we'll do a deeper
dive into why Advaita Vedantais very different to Law of
Attraction.
So the second part, which is adeeper dive.
Thank you very much forlistening.
Take care, namaste.
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Bearded
Mystic podcast, and I'm yourhost, rahul N Singh.
Thank you for taking out thetime today to either watch or
listen to this podcast episode.
So today I wanted to discussbecause it's kind of elaborating
from yesterday's discussionabout why it's important for
(00:25):
children to have a strongspiritual education.
Now, specifically I'm talkingabout those kids that are
brought up in Hindu householdsor with Indian spirituality, but
I obviously will be focusingmore on Advaita Vedanta.
Now I'm going to go through sixreasons why it's important for
(00:47):
children to have this spiritualeducation and the issues we face
in the West.
You know we want our childrento be spiritual, we want them to
be well behaved, we want themto have good morals, and yet
there's very little done when Iask parents of different faiths
about how they can keep childrenkind of grounded in good ethics
(01:11):
and good morals.
Without this good ethics andgood morals, there will never be
a true inquiry into what theyreally are, and so the education
of that only occurs when we atleast open ourselves up to
(01:33):
understanding spiritual ideals.
Now this also means thatparents need to you kind of wake
up and also do more, because Idon't think it's entirely the
children's fault, becauseparents, you know, they focus on
education far too much, takingkids to these clubs that center
around kind of their education,and that's all good.
(01:57):
But in the end, what are youdoing for them in terms of how
to deal with life, how to dealwith the issues in life, what,
what?
What are you doing for them interms of how to deal with life,
how to deal with the issues inlife?
What are you setting them upwith?
When it comes to failure, willthey know how to respond?
Or when they have to deal withracism in the workplace, have
you kind of helped them withthat?
(02:19):
Or sexism or anything like that?
Have you helped them tounderstand what to do?
So that's been one of my mainconcerns I'm going to talk about
today in terms of you know,what can we do to make sure that
children get a good spiritualeducation, as well as education
(02:41):
that the state or governmentprovides that we all know about.
The other thing is that this ispersonal to me because obviously
I have a, you know, a one and ahalf year old, and this matters
to me because how my child well, first of my child is going to
(03:03):
look at me and his parents andhe's going to see how we react,
how we respond to life, how weare.
Are we truly practitioners orare we just going there as a
ritual?
Little things like that.
And we think our children don'tknow anything.
They know far too much.
They know far more than weanticipate, and it's best to
(03:30):
kind of over estimate thanunderestimate, because in the
end it could shape their life.
And what I find more and morecommon in as South Asian
households is that they do notknow what to do with their kids
(03:50):
in terms of giving them aspiritual education.
They want their kids to bewell-rounded.
You know good characters, goodpersonalities, but how are you
going to make that happen whenyou don't give them the kind of
tools to move forward?
So let's go into, um, the firstthing now, why children need
(04:14):
spiritual education in AdvaitaVedanta.
So this is this is a specificone that I'm looking at.
So, um, if you follow adifferent religion, I think this
is more or less universal thatyou could follow and, most of
all, it's just about giving thema spiritual education.
So, first of all, is theidentity beyond the ego, and
(04:36):
this is really important because, as children grow up, we are
literally just hounding themwith the ego, like you know,
this is your name, which is notwrong.
They need to identifythemselves.
That's good, this is yourgender, this is this, this is
that, and we kind of we forcethem to kind of identify with
the body.
So you know, from a young agewe're told, you know this is
(05:00):
what your grade is when you goto school.
You know you are, you know ifyou're going to school, then
whatever your kind of successesare, that defines you.
This is your name, this is yourgender and you know it.
Just you know.
They get told what they are,they get told you know what this
(05:20):
body is, but they rarely aretold who are you actually?
You know, and the thing is,children have this beautiful
sense of wonder, so it's notactually hard for them to grasp
that they are the witnessconsciousness.
One thing I do with my 18 monthyear old is we take some time to
(05:42):
just do breathing.
You know, it's not even thatcomplicated, just breathing and
uh and it, and it's one waywhere we connect and that's all
you need is connection.
So you know, but in the end,when he starts to understand and
when he starts with me,obviously give him those
identifications about his name,his age and all this stuff.
(06:05):
We also tell him about what hereally is, that, okay, you know
you are the body, you are themind.
That's fine, that's what,that's what you have.
But you know who are you reallyand that education is important
from the get-go.
So Advaita grounds them in Advgo.
So Advaita grounds them inAdvaita.
(06:26):
So Advaita grounds them in theidea that they're not their role
.
So you know, for example, ifthey're a son or a daughter or a
brother or a sister or agrandson or granddaughter,
whatever the roles may be, wetell them that that is not what
their identity is.
They're given a role and youknow it's important for them to
(06:49):
fulfill the responsibilities ofthat role.
But you know that's not their,that's not who they are, and we
have to be clear on that, youknow.
And that means that even asparents, we need to disidentify
ourselves, because when we getinto well, I'm the father,
that's my son, that's mydaughter they would do what I
(07:10):
say.
That's coming from ego, notcoming from awareness, that's
not coming from a spiritualplace of presence.
And this is important because ifyou want a healthy relationship
, we need to be able to do that,where we disidentify from the
role and actually just speak tothem one-on-one, knowing that
they are the same as us.
You see, when we come from thatangle, things are different.
(07:31):
It's a different playing field,uh, and you know one other
thing is that they're not theirthoughts.
You know it's very easy todayfor, uh, and thankfully, you
know, there's more discussion onmental health, so we can tell
them that you're not yourthoughts, you're not your
emotions.
They are things that you have,but they're not who you are.
(07:58):
And it's really important thatwe guide them to be more mindful
of that limitless awareness andthat they are the Atma, that
they are Brahman.
They may not be able to.
You don't have to say you'reGod to them, that would be wild.
But you can tell them that youknow you are awareness, and you
don't have to mention God, don'tneed to bring God into the
picture yet.
Just make sure they understandthat they are the awareness of
their thoughts and theiremotions.
(08:20):
When they express to you, whenthey express the ideas that you
know that the mind is taking intoo much or they feel upset, you
know.
It's that time when you canjust be present with them and
instead of condemning them forbeing upset or saying you know,
why are you upset?
There's no need for you to beupset.
It's much better for us to justsay you know what?
(08:42):
Let me just be aware with you.
Let's go into awareness rightnow, and this can just help us
be more conscious as parents andconscious of what we want from
them and, trust me, this willprevent identity crisis that
will happen much later on.
Things that we can avoid willhappen much later on.
(09:08):
Things that we can avoid, andit is.
It's really important that wetell them how to deal with their
emotions.
So, if they're feeling thatthey are sad, that we are with
them in their sadness, that wedon't say you know what?
You shouldn't be sad.
You've got it so easy in yourlife.
Do you think that's the rightresponse to give to a kid?
I don't think so.
Just empathize with them.
If we want them to empathizewith others, we have to learn
(09:29):
empathy ourselves, and that'swhy it's really important that
children are what you truly are.
If your children are showing alack of empathy, that says a lot
about you.
Where they learn, that is fromtheir role models, and that's
why it's important that theylearn from their role models,
and that may not be necessarilytheir parents.
(09:52):
I'm sure my son will learn a lotfrom his grandma, from his
grandparents in general, fromhis aunts and uncles.
I expect that, but at the sametime, that doesn't mean that if
he's going to learn from them, Ican just step back and just be
a prat or be an idiot.
No, I need to be thatrepresentative of the so-called
spirituality that I follow.
(10:13):
So you know, imagine he comesacross my podcast and he's like
you know, papa, you're so greaton your podcast, you say so many
great things, but at homeyou're like this.
Imagine when he's 15, 20 yearsold and he's like but you're
like this with me.
Imagine how that would make mefeel and how that would make him
(10:34):
feel that his dad is one thingon camera and one thing behind
the camera, and that's whyAdvaita Vedanta says you're one.
So you know, the whole thingabout being one thing, like
pretending to be spiritual atthe temple and then being an
absolute fool at home is openingthe door to schizophrenia and
(10:55):
there's no need to have thisdual personality.
Then the other thing is andthis is an important one,
especially in the Indiancommunity, in my opinion, the
South Asian community.
Here there's immunity tocomparison and pressure and,
(11:16):
trust me, this is a big one.
And you know, yes, this worldis really competitive, it's
hyper competitive.
It's all about about, you know,who can be number one, and
unfortunately, the educationsystem kind of houses that view
as well.
Like you're measured by yourgrades, you're also measured by
(11:37):
your looks, by what your hobbiesare, by what you like to do,
and people judge you on that.
You know, I remember that, andthis is I'm expressing something
that I wish I never listened to.
But, like, I remember I wantedto be a teacher when I was
younger and now I wish I was ateacher.
Yeah, so, but I was told thatyou know, being a teacher does
(12:01):
not make enough money.
Just imagine, you know, we'retelling someone and now I think
I would never do that to my kid,because if he says he wants to
be a teacher, a doctor, anengineer, whatever, he wants to
be A businessman.
A businessman, maybe he wantsto explore the world for a bit.
I've got to be there to supportthat and let him charter his
(12:26):
life and that's important.
And therefore that doesn't meanthat you have to measure your
kid by their grades or their GPAor anything like that.
That shouldn't define your lovefor your kid or the attention
you give your kid.
You know if your kid wants toimprove, they will improve.
(12:46):
If your kid doesn't want toimprove, you need to see why
they don't want to improveinstead of condemning them for
not improving and things likethat.
So Advaita, you know it, offersus that insight that you know
their, their worth is innate,it's within them and it's
unchanging.
The value you have of them willnever change, regardless of
(13:09):
their grades, regardless of whatthey look like, regardless of
their likes and dislikes.
You will be there for them.
If tomorrow, even this, if mychild says he has no interest in
spirituality, I have to supportthat and you know what.
That may be the most difficultthing in my life to do, but you
(13:31):
know what I have to because, atthe end of the day, if I'm going
to teach him that it doesn't,you're beyond what you like and
dislike.
I have to practice that too.
So, um, so, most importantly,you know the other thing that
this will do is that it's notgoing to tie the kid to any
(13:52):
outer success or outervalidation.
It doesn't need that externalvalidation or that external
success, the inner success ofjust being calm, being collected
, facing the trials andtribulations of life with
strength and courage and withoutfear.
That's more important.
And they don't need validationfrom the world, they don't need
(14:17):
validation from their parents.
They are complete in themselvesand that's what we have to keep
guiding them towards and andhelping them understand this
that they are that awarenessthat will not break, that will
always remain with them.
And then there's the third one,which is emotional resilience
through disidentification.
(14:37):
This sounds rather weird, but,trust me, instead of telling
them to suppress their emotionsor telling them not to feel this
or to feel that, or, you know,if they end up being consumed by
their emotions like, we have toguide them to not get consumed
by them too.
We can guide them to witnesstheir thoughts, witness their
(14:59):
feelings as passing waves, or,and they don't have to cling to
them.
I often give the example thatand I practice this too when
things overwhelm me, then, youknow, I just look at the mind
and I look at the screen ofawareness and I look at the mind
(15:20):
, which is clouds of emotionsand feelings and thoughts, and I
just watch them pass by.
You know, just like you know,the sky doesn't get affected by
the clouds as they pass by.
And these thoughts, theseemotions, these feelings are all
clouds that pass by and I don'thave to give them attention, I
can just let them be, let themflow.
And you know I can just letthem be, let them flow, and you
(15:41):
know what I can remain as thatawareness that's there, that's
always present, that's alwayshere.
And you know, and I don't haveto cling to those clouds, I
don't have to cling to thosewaves of emotion or feelings or
thoughts, and this will buildinner strength.
We feel it in ourselves.
(16:01):
I feel it in myself that I ammore resilient, as now I don't
think I get affected as much bythings as I used to.
I've seen my growth, but at thesame time I have to understand
that everyone has to grow.
So my child is going to gothrough those turbulent times.
Everyone has to grow.
So my child is going to gothrough those turbulent times
(16:23):
and I have to be there with themto be present and guide them to
be into awareness.
And it's all about guiding them.
The right way and that's oneway is not telling them.
See, we're not saying to themthat their emotions are wrong.
We're saying just witness them.
We're not telling them theiremotions are right, we're saying
just witness them.
We're not telling them theiremotions are right, we're just
(16:43):
saying witness them.
And this can be incrediblyhelpful.
Now, an important part ofAdvaita Vedanta and this fourth
point is really importantthere's moral grounding, but
without any fear-based religion,and you know, religion has
(17:04):
always been about fear.
You know there's a God.
You need to fear this God.
Or there's the Guru.
You need to fear the Guru oryou need to.
You better fear because youcould go.
If you want to go to heaven,you better be good, otherwise
you're going to go to hell andthat's going to be for eternity
and you're going to be, you know, burnt and all this kind of,
(17:25):
you know, crooked thinking.
And you know dharma doesn'tallow this to happen.
Dharma will say you knowthere's no fear of punishment
here.
You're not going to getpunished and you know everything
that happens.
You have to understand thateveryone is one with you.
So your morality, your ethicsis based on oneness.
(17:47):
You see everyone as the same.
They are one and the same withyou.
They're not separate to you andit's really important for us to
understand that.
So when we operate ourselvesfrom oneness, our children will
also operate from oneness, andthat's really important, that's
a solid thing to do.
If we don't do this, then youknow we have to kind of
(18:14):
understand that when we operatefrom oneness, then that also
means our voting record.
I mentioned this before.
What you vote for is for whatyou represent, and you know,
frankly, if we vote for or wevote for people that hate others
without any reason why, thatmeans that we're okay with
(18:39):
hating others, that we're okaywith harming others.
So harming another is harmingoneself.
And when we have that empathythat I want to do good for
others because that's doing goodto me, not because I'm going to
benefit personally from it, no,because they are me, the other
is me, it's all one, it'snon-dual.
(19:00):
And when we operate from thatoneness, there's only love,
compassion and space for others,and this is important.
And if we are divided people,we vote for things that are
going to divide others, and wesee this today.
We believe in thisindividualistic, divisive
(19:26):
rhetoric, whilst those thatbelieve in unity, in love,
compassion, cannot vote forthese type of things, cannot
even.
Uh, you know the things thatpeople call woke these days, but
being woke actually is not abad thing, you know, I think we
fail to understand that woke isseeing everyone as the same as
(19:48):
you.
And you know, if you're notcomfortable with who you are,
you're not going to becomfortable with others and
their diversity, but if you'recomfortable with yourself,
you're comfortable with otherpeople too.
So whatever you view the worldis more or less how you view
yourself.
Uh, so, and that means yourworldview.
(20:08):
Now that, let's be honest, I maynot like the current president
at all, but I recognize thatthere is oneness.
I cannot deny that fact, andyou know I have huge compassion
for him because imagine living alife that he's living I.
You know, I feel bad for himthat he lives in that way.
(20:30):
So I have empathy.
Okay, that's his mindset,that's the way he's living his
life.
Imagine, I don't know how to.
You know, when I grew up, myrole model, my hero, was my guru
, who only taught love,unconditional love.
So I didn't know anything else.
I cannot know anything else,because that's what my hero is.
(20:52):
So we have we understand thatharming another is harming
ourselves.
This will lead to naturalcompassion and natural integrity
.
It's not something you have tolike, forcefully build upon
(21:16):
yourself like you don't have tobe told do not kill anyone,
because you know that harminganother person is harming myself
.
Therefore, the idea of killingsomeone doesn't even have to be
mentioned, it doesn't have to besaid, you know so.
So this is important tounderstand.
(21:36):
Then the fifth one, which isconnection to culture and
sanatan wisdom.
So you know, vedanta is prettygood when it comes to connecting
to our, you know, kind ofancestral roots and our Vedic
roots.
It's really important for us toknow this.
(21:56):
And you know it's not a blindtradition.
It's not about, you know, youjust go to the mandir and you
just beg God and come back.
That is not what dharma isabout.
That's not what Vedanta is.
Vedanta is about knowing who youare, knowing your true nature.
It's about logicallyunderstanding what you are.
It's not about believing insomething.
(22:17):
It's not about having faith insomething either.
Once you know something forfact, you don't need faith in it
.
That faith then is natural.
You don't have to build a faithand you do not have to think
that your faith is weak.
You do not have to beg God tomake things better for you.
You know, because you are thatGod itself.
(22:42):
You are that awareness itself.
You are brahman itself.
You are ishwara itself.
You're not, they are notseparate to you.
All the powers of this universeis within you and at the same
time, you are that awarenesswhich has unconditional power,
unconditional strength,unconditional love,
unconditional compassion.
(23:03):
So Vedanta is purely rational,it's experiential.
You can experience it, you cantaste being awareness yourself.
You don't have to believe inthis.
And it's really important to berational and this helps us when
(23:23):
we look at things from arational perspective.
When there's festivals likeDiwali or Holi, we, you know it
gives a proper meaning to it.
Or if we do rituals at home,the rational mind will be able
to see the logic behind them,them, and even with the stories,
(23:44):
we know that there's, you know,not every story is going to be,
you know, kind of true, butthey like the puranas, the
stories from the puranas.
They're not true, they are, um,they obviously are made up.
But we can get rational lessonsfrom those stories, we can get
the morals from those stories.
But we don't have to be like,oh yeah, hanumanji actually ate
the sun, like we don't have tobe silly to you know, to kind of
(24:11):
reduce our logic andrationality.
No, you know we, what we'retrying to present here when we
represent that hanumanji triedto eat the sun was to show how
powerful he was, that he couldtake in the energy of the sun.
We can say things like that,and that's us too, that the
(24:31):
energy that's in the sun is alsowithin us, because we're made
up of the same universe, thesame elements of the universe,
that's all, and it can be basedin rational and logical thought.
So that's really important.
So connecting with theirculture is very, very important,
and then there's obviouslyclarity amongst amidst spiritual
(24:56):
confusion, and this can happen.
You know we, you know we'vebeen discussing the law of
attraction and we're going to doa deep dive tomorrow into um
that and go a bit deeper intothe law of attraction and
advaita vidanta.
But, yes, these half-bakedspiritual ideals that, uh, and
ideas and concepts that we'retold, you know that's flooded
(25:21):
the social media YouTube, tiktok, instagram.
So many people are now scaredof the evil eye, and they're
scared of they're sosuperstitious they follow
everything of the eclipse, justin case something bad may happen
.
All this superstitious thinking, the eclipse, just in case
(25:45):
something bad may happen, allthis superstitious thinking.
Advaita provides a clear,time-tested map to the ultimate
truth.
It just says you know what,this is your true nature.
This is the ultimate truth.
This is backed by logic,scripture and deep inquiry.
We've, it's been tested formany years, for millennia.
People have gone through this.
They've achieved it even today,and this can be experienced,
(26:07):
you can go through this.
So Advaita is not, uh, you know, half-baked spiritual ideals or
ideas or concepts, so this isimportant to know as well.
So, um it, where it's easy to godown the path of spiritual
confusion, advaita Vedanta isthe antidote to that, in my
(26:31):
opinion.
So what would it look like?
Uh, you know, for parents, ifyou have a kid right now, what
can you do with your kid to kindof give them a solid spiritual
education?
And this does mean, you know,you do have to spend time with
them if you, if they spend, say,you know, six, seven, eight
(26:56):
hours of the day, ten hours aday, in, um, in kind of worldly
education, make sure one or twohours in the day is spent in
spiritual education.
It's really important to dothat as well.
So, or, you know, you look atsaturday being that type of day
where you go through thespiritual education, something
(27:19):
like that.
So what does that look like?
So, if you know, from the agesof five to ten.
It's okay for us to give storieswith Vedantic values.
There are books like the Vedasfor children, upanishads for
children, the Bhagavad Gita forchildren, and they have tales of
(27:39):
you know Nachiketa and Prahladand you know simplified portions
of the Upanishads and they'retold with visuals and metaphors.
Get those for your kids, gothrough them, read them and, you
know, just be with them andenjoy those stories.
And you know, whenever they aregoing through any tough
(28:03):
situation at school, maybethey're getting bullied, maybe
they're getting, maybe they'rebullying other kids.
So make sure you tell them thatyou know this is not what you
are.
You're not this body, you'renot this mind.
You know, guide them.
I'm not my thoughts, I am thislight of awareness, I am peace,
(28:26):
I am this presence and that'sall.
And it's very important to dosome guided meditation with the
kids too, some guidedmindfulness, mindful remembrance
.
You know things like you know,watch your breath.
(28:46):
That's what I do with my oneand a half year old right now.
You know, watch your breath.
You know and tell them, youknow, watch your breath like
watching a river, take them tothe river, take them into nature
, so they can, you know, justrelax into nature.
You know, say, imagine the sunin your heart so they can feel
(29:07):
that light.
You know, with kids you can dothat.
Yes, when you're older youdon't want to be hearing that,
but even as an adult, that'sfine, you know.
And?
But this is important that wego through these practices with
the kids.
And it's important to alsointroduce them to Sanskrit terms
.
So, whether that's the Atma,maya, you know Satt, asatt,
(29:31):
dhyan, and explain them insimple terms, and this then will
help them build knowledge withthe source language.
So whenever they come acrossthese words, they can recognize
it.
So that's important.
And then, you know, whenthey're 11 to 15, they're more
(29:52):
introspective.
So now you want to haveinteractive discussions with
them.
So you know you can ask themwell, what is real, who am I, I,
where do these thoughts comefrom?
And encourage inquiry, not justanswers.
Like, get them to reallyinquire into it.
There's no need for them togive you an answer.
Just tell them to go into theinquiry and give them conceptual
(30:15):
foundations.
Now they're no longer likelittle kids where they need
stories, so now they need deeperconcepts.
So it's really important for usto go through that as well.
Like, don't keep telling thempranic stories at this age?
Uh, it's, it's not going tointerest them.
You know as much.
So explain what creation is.
(30:36):
You know, how did creationappear.
Tell them about the threestates, the avastatraya that
we've talked about, the, youknow, waking, dreaming and deep
sleep.
And tell them about maya byusing real life analogies like
the dream world versus waking.
Tell them about the rope andsnake analogy, the clay and clay
pot analogy.
(30:57):
These things would just helpthem when it comes to
understanding the deeperspiritual truths.
And then the practice of vijaraself-inquiry really important,
you know.
You know, introduce them tojournaling or give them thought
watching exercises.
That's really good, justgetting them to observe their
thoughts for a bit.
You know, five minutes, let'sjust observe our thoughts For
(31:20):
five minutes.
Why don't you just journal whatyou're going through?
Maybe nowadays, with technology, you can incorporate Google
Docs and you can ask them towrite a journal and you can
journal too and you can sharewhat you're going through and
that can be a collaborative kindof process in the family.
(31:40):
And then, you know, tell themabout stories, about role models
, and it's really important totell them about real people like
Adi Shankaraji, swamiVivekananda Kabirji, guru Nanak
Devji, sri Narayana Guruji youknow anyone from your own
tradition.
You know I will tell them aboutmy guru and stuff like that,
(32:03):
tell them about those stories,and that's fine.
Those stories are good nowbecause you know it helps them
to kind of understand that thiscan be possible, you know, in
today's day and age and so, andit also inspires them to go
through by example.
So it's not like you just givethem fantasy stories, but you
(32:26):
also give them real lifeexamples where they can be like,
you know, oh, it's possible,spiritual enlightenment is
possible and, trust me, if theycan be enlightened a lot younger
, imagine what the world wouldbe like in the future.
And this is what I mean.
Our priorities are all wrong intoday's day and age, where we
(32:49):
should be kind of guiding themthrough, you know,
self-restraint.
And instead we're saying, youknow, here's a phone, here's
this, here's what you desire,here's a phone, here's this,
here's what you desire.
And so they, they're not ableto fully develop, you know, and,
and that's why it's reallyimportant that we can help them
(33:09):
with technology, but help themproperly.
So that's an important one.
And then when they're 16 plus,you know they're obviously teen
and young adults now they'regetting ready to go to college.
They probably will have a lotmore mental stress now.
So really it's good to kind ofintroduce them now to lightly,
(33:34):
not too deep, but withsimplified commentaries.
Maybe you can create thosecommentaries yourself, so that's
a practice for you.
Um, but do some upanishadictext study.
So really important to startwith the upanishads.
Then maybe you can look at thebrahma sutras or you can go
through to the bhagavad-gita.
If you want to skip the brahmasutras, that's fine.
(33:56):
Um, but do simplifycommentaries, you know, do
simplify commentaries on likethe mundaka upanishad or the
katha upanishad, and or selectspecific uh bhagavad gita verses
and and just go through themwith the kids.
Uh, do discussion, uh circleswith them, like, uh, maybe say
(34:20):
you know, why don't you invitesome friends?
Let's do this little dialogueon topics like ego, suffering,
happiness, fear, some very basicthings, and that way, you know,
you can go through these topicsand explore them together and
that will help us, that willhelp them become well-rounded
(34:41):
personalities that can deal withthese things, deal with these
emotions, and then now you canintroduce them to like more
meditation and stillnesspractice.
And this is really importantbecause in the world which is
grabbing our attention, we wantto turn inward for a bit at
least.
The world will always demandour attention.
That's its job, that's itsnature.
(35:02):
But we have to bring our natureback to our true self, back to
awareness, and for that, youknow, we should do some silent
sitting.
Maybe we do some mantra japafor a bit, then we go into
silent sitting.
Maybe we chant om for a bit andthen we go into silent sitting.
Maybe we chant Aum for a bitand then we go into silence
watching our thoughts, breath,awareness, anything like that
(35:26):
which can help us.
Just, you know, calm the minddown for a bit and having an
everyday practice of that, evenif it's like 10 minutes, that's
helpful, trust me.
And you know link Vedanta tomodern life.
You know, if you think about it, vedanta is helping me when it
(35:51):
comes to stress, when it comesto identity issues, with social
anxiety, with existential doubt.
Anything that I've gone throughin life has helped me and
likewise it will help them too.
So I just give some.
I'm going to give a reallyradical example, and there's a
(36:12):
reason why I'm using this as anexample.
You have a kid that, no, thatdoesn't identify with the gender
they were born with.
Okay, with the physical genderthey were born with.
So how can you help them tounderstand what they're going
through?
Vedanta will have the answer.
(36:33):
Vedanta will guide them intoacknowledging how they feel and
accepting how they feel and,most of all, saying, okay, this
is how the body feels, but asawareness, what do you feel?
And this way you're bringingthem to peace with how they feel
.
You're not telling them tochange how they feel.
(36:54):
You're not telling them, you'renot even affirming that what
they're feeling is correct orincorrect.
You're just telling them tofeel it and be aware of it.
And what does that feel like?
And that's all you have to do.
And I believe that this is notonly conscious parenting, but
this is also helpful for parentsto grow spiritually and be the
(37:19):
best examples of spiritualityfor their children.
And you know, I would love formy kid to be 21 years old and be
like you know what, papa.
This is what I feel like.
Can you, can you guide me?
What can I do in a situation,or even even something as simple
as this?
(37:39):
Papa, can you just sit with mefor like 10 minutes and just sit
with me?
You know even that.
But again, one has to representit ourselves.
And and I feel today, withmodern life, with the way things
are going, it's important thatwe get our kids focused on
(38:03):
spirituality, and that means, ifyour spirituality is condensed
to just a Sunday for a few hours, you need to wake up and you
need to start thinking about howto bring spiritual education
into their life, wherespirituality becomes just as
important as worldly education.
If you want your kid to get adegree and go to college, get a
(38:24):
degree, or get a business and bea millionaire, billionaire,
whatever you want your kid to be, just as much as that, you need
to make sure you want them tobe enlightened beings.
That's the way we should befeeling.
This is the way we should beapproaching things in life.
We shouldn't be saying you knowwhat you know.
(38:45):
I believe that you shouldcontribute to society, but if
you're contributing to societyand you're living in society,
but you're an absolute horribleperson, you're horrible to your
children, to your family, butyou're person, you're horrible
to your children, to your family, but your and your spirituality
is just there for the namesakethat you're spiritual, it's
(39:09):
gonna do nothing, and so toavoid this, we need to be
properly invested inspirituality.
So it starts when they're young, and I believe that, like I'm
so glad my parents took me tosatsang every week.
It helped me.
I wish we had more satsangthroughout the week.
(39:29):
I wish spirituality was morefocused upon as I was growing up
in worldly education.
I wish my parents didn't focusso much on getting a job and all
that and they were like I wishthey balanced it with
spirituality.
I wish that was the case, butthey only knew what they knew.
But today I can make adifferent choice.
(39:52):
I can make a different set ofvalues and you know, when it
comes to my son and and anyfuture children I have, or
anyone that any of my nieces ornephews that may look up to me,
if they do that, I can guidethem in the right way, guide
(40:13):
them in the right manner.
So, uh, that's really how Iwant to.
That's the episode today.
Let me know your thoughts.
You know, maybe you havechildren and you've gone through
this difficulty.
Maybe you wish your childrenwere more spiritual.
Maybe you have some counterarguments about why.
(40:34):
What I'm saying is totallyridiculous in today's day and
age, anything.
But I just wanted to share that.
You know the six reasons why Ibelieve children need spiritual
education too.
But let me know your thoughts.
If you like this episode,please like it.
Do comment on it, share it,subscribe to my channel and I
(40:57):
shall see you in tomorrow'sepisode, where we'll do a deeper
dive into why Advaita Vedantais very different to Law of
Attraction.
So the second part, which is adeeper dive.
Thank you very much forlistening.
Take care, namaste.
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