Jain Spirit 2003 10 No 16

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

Page 34

LIFESTYLE inamqolsa simonosa
tery Strive to be a good example for your child
IDEAL PARENT
Parenting can be full of spirit and joy, explains Mirra Alfazza
T
HE FIRST CRITICAL ASPECT OF PARENTING IS the act of procreation. Instead of doing the thing like an animal, driven by instinct or desire and most of the time without even wanting it, human beings do it at will. I knew people who put themselves in a state of aspiration, almost of prayer, chose special circumstances and prepared themselves through concentration and meditation, to bring down an exceptional being into the body they were going to form. In many countries the woman who was going to have a child was placed in special conditions of beauty, harmony, peace and well-being, and in very harmonious physical conditions, so that the child could be formed in the best possible circumstances. This is obviously what ought to be done, for it is within the reach of human possibilities. Human beings are developed well enough for this not to be something quite exceptional; however, very few people think it over and there are innumerable people who have children without even wanting them.
Maternity is considered as the principal role of the woman. However, this is only true so long as we understand what is meant by the word maternity. To bring children into the world as rabbits do their young - instinctively, ignorantly, machinelike this certainly cannot be called maternity! True maternity begins with the conscious creation of a being, with the willed
32 Jain Spirit September November 2003
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shaping of a soul coming to develop and utilise a new body. We forget it but too often that the true domain of women is the spiritual. To bear a child and construct its body almost subconsciously is not enough. The work really commences when, by the power of thought and will, we conceive and create a character capable of manifesting an ideal. Do not say we have no power to realise such a thing. I saw several instances of this very effective power myself. From among them, I remember two little girls very clearly; they were twins and perfectly beautiful. The most astonishing thing about them was how little like their parents they were. They reminded me of a very famous picture painted by the English artist Reynolds. One day I mentioned this to the mother, who immediately exclaimed: "Indeed, isn't it so? You will be interested to know that while I was expecting these children I had a very good reproduction of Reynolds' picture hanging above my bed. Before going to sleep and as soon as I woke, my last and first glances were for that picture and in my heart I hoped: may my children be like the faces in this picture. You see that I succeeded quite well!" She can be truly proud of her success and her example is of great utility for other women.
With this effort, maternity becomes truly precious and
PHOTO: DINODIA