I.D. Soni
The Child : The Life Of Nation
An infinite power lies hidden in the heart of every child. Educate him! Educate! The little ones will lead us out of chaos into light. The Nations walk on the feet of the little ones. The children are the richest treasure of a community, a society and a nation. The children are apostles on earth…….. They are God’s angels on the earth.
New India, will be built more in schools and homes than Assemblies and Parliaments. I do not exaggerate if I say, children are jewels. Yet see how we neglect them. Look at the little ones, in their homes, in the street, in the school. Let every teacher realise that it is a sin of grave character to inflict physical punishment on these little ones. There are teachers who box the ears of their students; there are teachers who ask them to stand up on the benches; there are teachers who slap their faces, forgetting that they have their angels who weep, when the teachers feel happy in inflicting punishment on the rosy faces of the little ones.
Children are spirits of joy, Give them joy in the classroom and on the playground. Build for them children’s gardens, where they may, move looking at nature, at trees and flowers and streams. Take them out on excursions to quiet places. Give them stories reflecting the spirit of beauty and loveliness. Recite to them poems and show to them pictures. Nature, I sometimes think, is a lovely dream of God. So are the pictures and poems and stories; lovely dreams of the pure in heart. So, train the children that they grow in beauty and love. God’s shadow is upon this universe. This shadow of beauty, loveliness. So, train the children that we bring the renewal and joy and the sunshine of life.
Let us guard our children
More intellectual learning, more pedantry does not take us to God. Life eternal cannot be realized by knowing the meanings of texts, not by brain power, not by study of many books; but we can learn the truth only by undergoing a churning of our mind, undergoing a laceration of our whole nature. It is not easy. But it is possible for everyone to attain it. If some people have attained it, they are the heralds for the rest of humanity. They are the elder brothers, so to say, who tell us, “What is possible for me is possible for you. I am not made differently. The same God who dwells in me dwells in you too.” So it is that many metaphysicians and thinkers have searched for a vision of true greatness, a vision of good men, saints; etc. If their stories are listened to by young children, if they patiently go through their tales of woes overcome by attainment of joy, unconsciously the mind is moulded. We will see that an impression is made. All influence is not deliberate, not conscious. It is more often unconscious than conscious.
By surrounding people, surrounding by young children with examples of true saintliness and great goodness, we unconsciously permeate their minds, perfume them, colour their minds with a desire for attaining similar positions, similar achievements. The child is an imitative being, first and foremost. Whatever we say it will do. If we put before it the ideals of great character, not of military victory, not industrial power, not intellectual eminence, but true saintliness, people who have suffered for humanity, who have laid down their lives that other people may live, if that kind of idea is put before them, we have no doubt that the idea will have some kind of influence on the young people’s minds. It is, therefore necessary that in every school and in every home a little space must be left for the individual to be alone with himself, to examine himself. It is necessary for him to listen to the stories of the great saints and the sages of this world. That will make a tremendous impression.
If it is possible for us, let us give our children, the right ideals, they will grow into a world consciousness, a consciousness where everybody is treated as God’s creature, where we never look upon other people as inferior to us, but look upon them as equals. That sense of equality is necessary to be inculcated in the minds of children in order to safe guard them from evils and hatred.
Children are our richest treasure
We all are busy gathering silver and gold; but we have been neglecting our richest treasure. The richest treasure of a community, a society and a nation is the children. The children are the richest treasure of a nation. This should be the faith of every school in India. It requires a new type of education. A new type of education – is this not the one urgent need of India, today? For, today, India, alas! is wandering from distraction to distraction. Today, India lives in forgetfulness of ideals that made her great in the long ago. Today, India lives in forgetfulness of her Vedas and her Upanishads, her Ramayana and her Gita, her Shankara and her Shivaji, her Nanak and her Kabir, her Gurus and seers, her sages and her saints. And, today, in India both knowledge and power are running to waste, are being perverted into instruments of social chaos and destruction. Today, more than ever before, our urgent need is a new type of education, an education which may build up the character of the students through development of body and through training of the will-power and the emotions. A humble attempt is essential to be made in each and every school to train our richest treasure in this atmosphere of education, so that, in the years of their manhood or womanhood, they may become servants of India and humanity.
Five factors enter into the making of new education. The first factor is respect for the child. Respect the teachers, yes; but every teacher must respect the child. Who are these children, the little ones who come to the school, day after day? Behold them with true teacher’s eyes. And we will see that they are angels of God who have come to bless us.
The second factor which enters into making of new education is reverence for the universe, reverence for Nature. For Nature is a garment of God. Make this richest treasure to come into contact with Nature as Nature has a lot to teach them. Let the students grow in the reverence of Nature and they will grow in reverence for life, for every unit of life.
The third factor of new education is reverence for oneself. Let the students be trained to respect their bodies. Keep the bodies pure, undefiled. For body is a temple of the spirit, a Temple of the Lord. The body must become a fit vehicle for the forces of the spirit. The fourth factor of new education is reverence for humanity reverence not only for the great ones of our race, of our country, reverence for all the great ones, the seers and sages, the poets and patriots and the heroes and the holy men who have appeared in the east or who have appeared in the West.
The fifth factor that enters into making of new education is Seva, service of the poor and broken ones, reverence for the lowly and lost. The poor are the pictures of God. To serve them is to worship God.
Children are our most precious possession
Children are the most precious of the nation’s possessions. In western countries, child-education is receiving more and more attention. We cannot spend too much for child-education. It begins in home-life and even earlier. In a sense, child-education is ante-natal. The child’s education begins in mother’s womb. Let the mother, in her period of pregnancy be in a good atmosphere, physical and metaphysical. Let her mind dwell on noble ideals. Let her heart be rich in aspiration. And the child in the womb will be influenced accordingly.
How to educate child’s reasoning powers and his impulses towards freedom is the teacher’s task. We must help him in self-realisation through education of the senses and feelings. For these are awakened first; and then, judgement and will-power. Teachers must take special note of the student’s senses and emotions. Parents and teachers both should take good care of the child’s health. And see that he grows not only in health but, also, in strength. Let our children develop love for games. Their irritations and nerve-excitements would disappear if they would be sportsmen in life.
Above all, teachers of the right type are needed to take care of this precious possession i.e. children. In ancient India, as in ancient Greece and Arabia, a beautiful feature of social life was reverence for the teacher : Not without reason. For the teacher in training the child is engaged in sacred work. At the Gate of Life stands the child asking for help to grow, to unfold latent power and to achieve. Pay well, and get the best teachers for boys and girls. What we spend today will return to us thousand fold in the future.
The child’s unfoldment proceeds, partly, on the line of imitation. Therefore, let us be careful to the choice of teachers. They should not belong to no better than a “depressed” class. They should not be ill-paid, ill clad and overworked. Let us restore them to their rightful position in society.
Every primary school is a centre of spiritual work, that of unfolding the hidden life of the little ones of God. Carry the message of knowledge to every cottage. Vidya is the light of life. Vidya is a light of nations. Spread it for and wide. Light more Light in Goeth’s words if we want to see that this precious possession grows in the right spirit.
(The writer is President, Home for the Aged & Infirm, Ambphalla, Jammu)
