Jain Spirit 2003 10 No 16

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

Page 35

sacred; with this we enter the glorious work of the Spirit. Womanhood rises above animality and ordinary instincts, towards real humanity and its powers. In this attempt lies our true duty. If this duty was always of the greatest importance, it has certainly taken a capital one in the present turn of the earth's evolution. All those who feel that their heart extends further than the limits of their own person and family; all those who realise that they belong not to themselves or to their family or even to their country but to God - who manifests Himself in all countries through mankind - they indeed know that they must rise and set to work for the sake of humanity, for the advent of the Dawn.
In this momentous, endless and many-sided work, what can be the part of womanhood? It is true that, as soon as great events and works are in question, the custom is to relegate women to a corner with a smile of patronising contempt which means: this is not your business, poor, feeble, futile creatures... And women - submissive, childlike and lazy perhaps have accepted this deplorable state of things in many countries. I dare say that they are wrong. In the future, there shall be no more room for such division, such disequilibria between the masculine and the feminine. The true relation between the two sexes
is on equal footing of mutual help and close collaboration.
Here we come back to our starting-point: our duty of true maternity. Who else is to construct this form; who is
him an example of what one teaches. Sincerity, honesty, straightforwardness, courage, disinterestedness, unselfishness, patience, endurance, perseverance, peace, calm, self-control are all things taught infinitely better by example than by beautiful speeches. Parents have high ideals and always act in accordance with them. You will see that little by little your child will reflect this ideal and spontaneously manifest the qualities you would like to see expressed in his nature. Quite naturally children have respect and admiration for their parents; unless they are quite unworthy, they will always appear to their children as demigods whom they will try to imitate as best as they can.
With very few exceptions, parents are not always aware of the disastrous influence that their own defects, impulses, weaknesses and lack of selfcontrol can have on their Ichildren. If you want your
child to respect you, have respect for yourself and be worthy of that respect at every moment. Never be authoritarian, despotic, impatient or ill-tempered. When your child asks you a question, do not give him a stupid or silly answer under the pretext that he cannot understand it. You can always make yourself understood if you take enough trouble; contrary to the popular saying that it is not always good to tell the truth, I affirm that it is
meant to manifest the spiritual force capable of transforming | always good to tell the truth. The art is in telling it in such the earth's present conditions if not the women? It is no longer a way as to make it accessible to the mind of the hearer. In sufficient to form a man similar to the greatest men we have early life, until he is twelve or thirteen, the child's mind is heard of or known, or even greater, more accomplished and hardly open to abstract notions and general ideas. Still, you more gifted than them. We must strive to come in touch can train it to understand these things by using concrete mentally by the constant aspiration of our thought and will with images, symbols or parables. Up to quite an advanced age the supreme possibility which, exceeding all human measures for those who mentally always remain children, a narrative, and features, will give birth to perfection. a story or a tale well told can teach much more than any number of theoretical explanations.
Parenting is a spiritual act which requires faith, wisdom and discipline. May every parent nurture unique souls and enable their self-realisation.
oni miog gnimur
on al d ng ady to blad van Mirra Alfazza was affectionately known as 'The Mother' in the Aurobindo Society.
September November 2003 Jain Spirit
Parenting requires faith, wisdom and discipline
Ideal Parent
Parents know very well that their children must be educated and they try to do what they can. But even among those who are the most serious and sincere, very few know that the first thing to do in order to be able to educate a child is to educate oneself, to become a conscious master of oneself soil that one never sets a bad example. It is through example that education becomes effective. To speak good words and to give wise advice to a child has very little effect if one does not give
PHOTO: DINODIA
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