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Architecturing our new generation (Hamari Bhavi Pidhi Aur Usaka Nava Nirmaña): Vangamaya Vol-63

Children of today will be the architects of the society and the world of the new millennium…. The seeds of proper development of their personalities need to be sown in right away…., because, childhood is supposed to be the best phase of life for inculcation of righteous tendencies (susanskaras). A child’s mind and sentimental core is like soft wet clay, which can be molded in any desired form.
Giving birth to a child is not so difficult as to bring him up with proper care of his health and training of his mind and inner self. While most people are aware of healthcare means, a few know about how the child should be educated…., still fewer, only countable ones, are those, who know about the necessity and modalities of ideal development of a child’s future by – understanding his psychology, refinement of his inner instincts and cultivation of ideal values and tendencies in him…. This volume brings us detailed guidance on these less-heard and little-cared aspects of child-development.
Acharya Sharma writes that birds, animals and enormous varieties of other creatures grow and adapt to the specific modes of life as per the inspirations of Nature. Their lives revolve around food, reproduction and defense. So remarkable is the influence of natural conditions on them that even the new born creatures become self-dependent in no time; Fish, for instance, starts hunting for its food soon after birth.…; dogs of hardly one or two days, find their own place to rest…. But, a child of the intelligent species – the humans, is quite helpless in this respect. An infant of this highly evolved class can’t even find the breasts of his mother – who is lying besides, to suck the nectar of her milk….; he hardly does anything on his own except crying….
A human infant can’t grow and survive in good health without the mother’s, or the nurse’s help… At every stage of his development, he needs others’ help. Whether it is learning to speak, walk, play, read or write…, a human child performs this by observing others, and getting training and support from the members of the family at home and teachers at school…
In terms of psychology and subtler domains of consciousness, it is true that the inner instincts (sanskaras) inherited from the past births, and the genetic inheritance, do have their influence on human mind since its childhood. Nevertheless, it is also true that the environment of present life, influence of parents’ characters, behavior of family members, mode and quality of teaching at school, etc, play significant role in overall development of the child. The healthy inherited tendencies driven by the sanskaras could be gravitated in ideal directions, and the evil ones could be waned out, by careful conditioning of the child’s mind. This is what the “vidya” taught in the Indian Gurukuls of yore used to render.
Indifferent attitude, neglect of child’s psychology, or harsh behavior with the child, hinders the latter’s development and might result in making him dull and duffer, or, aggressive and cruel…. Balanced attention with love and discipline and careful encouragement and refinement of his talents, on the contrary, would help his development into a bright, enthusiastic and creative citizen and might endow him with sagacious will power too….
The above facts might have been observed by hundreds of experts of child psychology and gamut of theories might have been developed and written by researchers on these lines, however, we hardly see practical implementation of these in any family or any school of education these days.
The present volume focuses on ideal modes of bringing up the children, ideal modes of their education and training, which would help revival of the ancient system of gurukuls while keeping pace with the present circumstances of life…. It also shows us the practical ways of adopting these ideal modes in today’s life style…. A large number of live examples are cited here to enable us see the authenticity, practicalities and scope of Acharya Sharma’s ideas and experiments.
In the ancient times, gurukuls used to bear the responsibilities of righteous shaping of the disciple’s personality since the latter’s childhood. The gurukuls offered excellent shiksha – school and university education, which gives detailed knowledge of the world and material components of Nature and sharpens one’s talents, skills and intellect for professional success and worldly progress…., – in different disciplines of knowledge. What made the gurukuls distinct and absolute as compared to the best centers of education today, was the simultaneous inculcation of vidya, which used to refine and ideally orient a disciple’s attitude, inner tendencies and aspirations.
The piety of sentiments and strength of inner self, which are the architects of great personalities, of the glory of human life…, were nurtured in the gurukuls by the nectar of vidya. The ascetic disciplines and training of altruist life educed in the gurukuls, under the eminent guidance and immense love and attention of the noble gurus and their wives, were indeed the secrets of what founded the divine culture of ancient India and made this country a land of heavens.
Today, when education has been confined to shiksha alone, and has been largely commercialized…, the dignity of cultural heritage has lost its foundation, and cultural values are suffering all round adulteration and moral decline…., it has become most essential to review what we are doing for the younger generation. How are we going ensure happy and healthy environment of life for them with a bright and secured future? Acharya Sharma’s thorough discussions, systematic analysis and foresighted guidance presented here, cover every aspect of these challenging issues….
Acharya Sharma identifies – the family, as the first training school, and the mother, as the first teacher of a child. He attributes the noble title of “first guru” for the mother and therefore emphasizes the need of ameliorating her status to enable her bear this great responsibility efficiently. Right from the birth of a zygote, it is the mother, who consistently sacrifices her vital elements for the survival and growth of the embryo. She keeps the fetus in her womb until nine months and continues feeding the child thereafter for several years from her own body…
Externally, her blood, her milk and other biochemicals of her body nurture the child’s body. Internally too, her vital energy, flow of her consciousness, her thoughts, her mental impulses, affect the mental and subtler development of the child’s consciousness since the post embryonic stage.… When the child begins to perceive through the sense organs and learn from the surrounding environment, again it is the mother, who influences him most intimately. The kinds of thoughts and aspirations she cultivates in the child at this stage, naturally condition corresponding sensitivity and tendencies in him. These inscriptions, unless subjected to greater and more powerful influence of a noble guru, or vital inspirations of others in contact, significantly affect the child’s mental makeup.
The mental tendencies inculcated in the early childhood attract, with greater intensity and expansion, the thought waves and mental vibrations of matching characteristics in the later phase of child’s development. This is what lays the foundation of his inclinations, determination, his desires and his overall character…. Serene character, brilliant aptitude, righteous thinking and piety of sentiments of the mother, would thus set the righteous basis for moral elevation and ideal development the child’s psychology. Her ignorance, misconceptions, improper development, misconduct, etc, on the contrary, would illusion the child’s mind and might accelerate his development in the negative (untoward) direction.
Acharya Sharma’s trenchant views should give substantial food for thoughts to all those who want solutions for righteous education and proper development of the future citizens. The men and women, the entire social system of today, will have to work as per his guidance, to first educate and develop the mothers of today and tomorrow to enable them play the role of an adept teacher, an ideal source of positive inspirations for the child.
A child’s mind is like a clean piece of paper…. Whatever is sketched on it in whichever color, it begins to look like that. The images of parents, other family members and teachers leave deep impressions on the mirror of child’s mind. His delicate mind and sentimental core need to be dealt with carefully, till he enters well within the teenage. The teenagers need altogether different, but equally caring, approach based on friendly interactions. Acharya Sharma presents adept analysis, encompassing the multifarious vibrations of children’s psychology through the deepest depth and widest grandeur of their minds in different stages of adolescence. In this context, he elucidates the subtle influence of inherited intrinsic tendencies too. He shows how it is possible to inculcate virtuous tendencies, talents and righteous attitude in children at the right moments. He writes that love, encouragement, respect and protection are more required by the children than the elders. Little care towards disciplining them along with fulfilling these sentimental requirements opens their minds for receiving what we want to teach them. He makes the points clear with live examples of relevance in the day-to-day life of most of us…. This volume would be an excellent guide for the parents, teachers, as well as the researchers of child psychology.
Another distinguished feature of this volume is that, a comprehensive, foresighted and feasible approach for collective development of culture and civilization is presented here focusing at the role of younger generation in particular. How the elementary training of hygiene, orderliness, punctuality, civic sense, soberness, modesty, etc, given in the childhood induces these qualities as natural habits in the youngsters and thus ensures essential support for their contributions in the civilized society? What is essential for cultural development of the children? How to deal with their inquisitive nature? How to arouse their compassion, altruist feelings and spiritual sentiments?
What is the ideal notion of religion and theism in the context of cultural and moral elevation of the younger generation? How to recognize and handle the transition in children’s psychology? A gamut of the above kinds of important queries are answered here with perspicuous discussions and guidance especially suited for today’s circumstances, where the external environment appears to be highly toxic – both for the biological as well as the psychological development of the youngsters.
The new millennium is going to bring new hopes, new directions, and new possibilities. But, we have to face the ever-new challenges of today and prepare well to welcome the new opportunities of the new era…... As we all know, our preparations for the future of the society, nation and the world as a whole, would depend a lot upon how we prepare the future generations…. This volume offers us the key to do so in an ideal manner and witness the culmination of human civilization and culture worth the divine dignity of humanity.