Jain Spirit 2002 10 No 12

Author(s): Jain Spirit UK
Publisher: UK Young Jains

Page 26

EVERY CHILD IS UNIQUE
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Our children need to be nurtured but not moulded on parental fear or ego, explains Divya Ajay Shah
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ARENTING IS A HUGE RESPONSIBILITY. IT IS A ALSO A tremendous opportunity. Parents can bring up their children such that they produce rays of hope wherever they go. However, the modern world seems tough, fastmoving and stressful, both for parents and for children. In this article, I would like to show how children can help us to heal ourselves and the planet. If we allow and support them in the right way.
To be born a human being is considered to be a rare privilege. It is stated in the Jain scriptures that it is only in the human birth that a soul can attain liberation. Even the angels are said to crave to be born as humans, so that they may progress on the path of evolution. I believe that each one of us is at a different stage of evolution and the final destination for all is to realise one's soul in its purest form and attain liberation. It may take several births but every birth that we take is to progress on our path towards perfection.
One of the most important things to realise is that the child is not ours. He or she does not belong to us. We do not create
Jain Spirit September November 2002
his character, his capacities and his talents. These he created for himself by lives of experience in the past. He comes to us because of bondages from past lives and to work out some of his karmas - good and bad - and to progress on his path of evolution. Kahlil Gibran has said, "Your children are not your children. They are an expression of life's longing for itself. They come through you but they belong not to you. And they dwell in the house of tomorrow. Therefore, don't give them your thoughts or make them in your image.,,
Various great thinkers and philosophers have broadly identified four aspects of a human being. These are: the physical body, the emotional body, the mental or intellectual body, the intuitional or spiritual body. To bring up a balanced child all these aspects need to be properly nurtured. Rudolph Steiner (founder of the Waldorf Schools) and J. Krishnamurti set up their education systems based on this.
The development of the physical body emphasises the need for a well balanced diet and ample exercise. Diet becomes an important issue in the modern culture of fast foods. It requires