Generation Gap

Author(s): Dada Bhagwan
Publisher: Dada Bhagwan Foundation

Page 11

Questioner: When these children grow up, how are we to instill our religious values on them?
Questioner: Here, living in America we have money but we are lacking in moral values. What should we do when we have to live in such an environment?
Dadashri: Parents themselves should develop moral values that result in a loving family environment. The love from the parents should be such that their children would not want to leave them. If you want to improve your child, the responsibility lies with you. You are bound by your duty to your child. (P.2)
Dadashri: Children will learn whatever they see in you. So if you become religious, they will too. They learn from watching you. If you smoke, they will do the same. If you drink alcohol or eat meat, they will too. Whatever you do, they will imitate. They want to imitate and even go beyond their parents' deeds. (P.5)
Questioner: Will they not receive good moral values if we place them in a good school?
Parents should instill the highest moral values in their children. Many parents in the USA have complained to me about their children eating meat and indulging in other unacceptable activities. I asked the parents whether they themselves indulged in similar activities and they told me that they did. I told them that children would always imitate the moral values of their parents. And sometimes the children may behave differently outside of the home also. But your duty as parents should be to instill good values in them and you must not fail in this. (P.3)
Dadashri: Children will only receive good values from their parents. They may receive some from their teachers; friends, peers and other people around them but the major part will come from the parents. Only when the parents are morally upright do their children become morally upright also. (P.7)
Questioner: If we send our children away to India for schooling, are we not forgoing our responsibilities?
You have to be careful and make sure that they do not eat non-vegetarian food. If you are eating non-vegetarian food, then after receiving this Gnan you should stop. (Gnan is the process by which Pujya Dadashri imparts to the aspirant the knowledge of the Self and separates of the non-self from the Self). Children will follow your conduct. (P.4)
Dadashri: No, you are not forgoing them. You can provide all the financial support needed. There are some excellent schools in India where even people of India send their children. These schools also provide good quality boarding and accommodation. (P.10)