spiritual disciplines kids - Spiritual values

According to recent research, India is very low on the scale of personal happiness. Indians aren’t happy. Despite our technological progress and new products and open economy, we are not satisfied. We work hard at school, at college, at work – all towards the end of making money, and then spending it. Consumerism is rampant, and so is depression.
One reason could be that our spiritual values have been neglected too long. India has had a long and rich spiritual tradition. It has not only been the cradle of several faiths, but also had the benefit of questioning spirit demonstrated by the Sufi and Bhakti movements and modern day saints like Swami Vivekanand and Mother Teresa.
Spirituality again is something intimate and individual. Unfortunately, few people today have even read the Gita, or any other book that offers spiritual guidance.
But most of us are spiritual to some extent. We are always asking questions to which there are no obvious answers – questions about life, death, life after death, the soul, the universe, our Creator etc. This quest is the beginning of spiritual awakening.
Someone has defined their spiritual quest as ‘an impulse to seek and unite with a reality beyond the appearances of the world, fulfilling the need for a meaning’.
Some people try to fulfill this need through religion. However the two are not the same thing. Religion has an element of spirituality in it, but it is essentially a set of beliefs, social and personal rules and rituals followed by a community.
What is spiritualism then? The word spiritual comes from ‘spirit’ – something that is intangible, non-material and unseen. The dictionary defines spiritual as ‘pertaining to the intellectual and higher endowments of the mind; pertaining to the moral feelings; reaching and affecting the spirit, or the soul’.
In ancient times, children were educated in ashrams, by sages who spent years meditating in the forests. Spiritual help and guidance was close at hand, in those times. In fact, according to Indian tradition, after fulfilling family obligations, a person was free to retire from social life and meditate in the forest. In other ages, we had wandering fakirs or Buddhist monks who would often preach to anyone who would listen or sing songs of enlightenment.
Modern systems do not offer us the luxury of spirituality. What we do have are commercial outfits that sell ‘instant nirvana’ at spiritual centres. Spiritual values cannot be bought however. One has to grow towards them and into them.
You must find your own path, and through meditation and constant questioning, you can. Like the Gita says - "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to Me."

Articles on Raising good children. Author Annie Zaidi. Copyright@2000.Indianchild.com All rights reserved. If you wish to use any content from Indianchild.com, please indicate the source & link to www.indianchild.com