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IT'S A CHILD!
We come into this material world completely dependent on our
mother and father. Without the help of our mother we can't even
get food.
The complete dependence of a newborn child puts the mother
and father in a very responsible position. The parents provide
the first impressions which are important in the development of
the child's character. The influence of the parents on the
child doesn't start with birth, it starts at the time of
conception. In the Vedic times there was a ceremony which was
performed before the mother and father united to conceive the
child. This was called the Garbhadhana-samskara or the "seed
giving ceremony". The purpose of this samskara, samskara means
"purifying process", was to situate the minds of the parents in
spiritual consciousness before they engaged in sex life to
beget the child. This is because the consciousness of the
mother and father at the time of their union determines the
consciousness of the child. So it is very important, if we want
to have good children, that the mentality of the parents at the
time of union is Godly. Otherwise, if they are simply driven by
lust and having sex for their enjoyment only, any child born as
a result of such lusty sexual intercourse is actually unwanted.
The parents are not having sex to beget a child, they are just
having sex to satisfy themselves. Children resulting from such
lusty activities are called varna-sankara, "unwanted children".
In the world at the present time almost nobody is interested
in religious principles therefore they are almost all having
sex for enjoyment only so now most of the children being born
are "unwanted children". This has created a hellish world. It
has created a situation where the mothers and fathers no longer
care about their children. Now the parents are quite happy to
kill their children in the womb.
It's quite clear the child enters the womb at the time of
conception. With the aid of modern science we can actually see
the child starts to develop from the very moment of conception.
Even before science gave us the ultrasound the Vedic scriptures
described that at the time of conception the fathers semen and
the mothers discharge emulsify into a pea like form which grows
day by day. It is described that first seven holes develop and
these holes gradually become the different senses; the mouth,
the eyes, the nose, the ears, the genitals and the rectum.
These are the seven holes in the body. So from the pea shaped
form the child develops seven holes and gradually these holes
develop into the senses and in this way the body of the child
is formed. At the time of seven months the child becomes
conscious within the womb of the mother. He can actually think
and perceive his surroundings and the mother can fell the child
developing within her womb.
We can only know the thoughts of the child in the womb from
the Vedic scriptures because we can't remember our stay in the
womb. It is described when the child becomes conscious in the
womb at the seven month point he is aware of his surroundings
and he is even aware of where he came from, he knows what
happened before and if he is pious he knows about God also. So
he prays to God, because he can remember his previous births,
he knows he suffered in the past, and he knows he is back
within the womb of another mother because he forgot God. This
is a very important point, the child is completely aware of why
he came into the womb.
The mothers womb, contrary to some popular opinions, is not
a comfortable place. Sometimes people in the West have a very
rosy idea of the situation of the child within the womb of the
mother but it is actually a very uncomfortable position. The
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child has on one side the mothers digestive fluids and if the
mother eats anything disturbing the child suffers. So on one
side he is suffering from the burning of the gastric fluids of
the mother's stomach and on the other side there are all sorts
of obnoxious things like stool and urine and sometimes worms.
Whenever the mother takes any drugs or intoxicants they
immediately enter her blood stream. The child's blood
circulation is connected to his mother's but his body is much
more delicate so he feels any effect more seriously. If the
mother drinks alcohol, she may be a little resistant to it's
effects, but the effect is ten times more serious on the child
-- he gets the same alcohol through the mothers blood but he
has no resistance, he's body is so delicate.
So the child suffers like anything in the mother's womb. He
knows he is suffering and he knows why he is suffering, he
knows his previous life, he knows everything. If he is pious he
prays to God, "Please God get me out of this position, I don't
want to have to take birth again in the material world. If I
have to take birth then please don't let me forget You." This
is the situation of the child in the womb. The time of birth is
intensely painful for him. When he is being forced out of the
mother's womb he has to come through a small space and it is
very painful. As a result of the pain and the comparatively
comfortable position outside the womb the child forgets
everything after his birth.
The child comes from an extremely hellish condition within
the womb to a relatively comfortable position outside so he
forgets his suffering. As soon as we are born we forget
everything in the past, we can't remember the womb nor can we
remember our previous births. This is a trick of the material
energy. We have done all the things we are doing in this life
before in many lives and although everything has always ended
in frustration we think this time will be different. We have
already tried in so many ways to enjoy this material world and
been frustrated, if by nothing else, by old age, disease and
death. All our endeavours were useless. It is the mercy of
maya, the material energy, which enables us to forget
everything in the past and take birth again to have another go
at enjoying in this world. Our life here is described as being
like chewing something which has already been chewed. If you
take some sugar cane and chew on it you can enjoy a sweet taste
but if you discard the chewed sugar cane on the street and
another person comes along and chews the same sugar cane he
can't get the sweet taste because the juice has already been
extracted. This material world is compared to the sugar cane
which has already been chewed. The sweet taste is not here. But
we are trying to find that sweetness. We think if we engage in
sex life, if we get money, a beautiful woman, a nice house, a
beautiful car, if I become a big man in the world, then I will
be happy. But there is no real pleasure in these things -- it
is simply like chewing sugar cane which has already been chewed
by someone else.
So the child comes out of the womb and at this time the
parents have the responsibility to help the child revive his
God consciousness. That's why we are here in the material
world. We have come here by our own choice, we have rebelled
against the orders of God, and we have come her with the idea
of enjoying separately from God. But this material world is
constructed in such a way as to frustrate our attempts.
bahunam janmanam ante
j¤anavan mam prapadyate
vasudevah sarvam iti
sa mahatma sudurlabhah (Bg. 7.19)
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"After many births in the material world one becomes
intelligent and can see there is nothing in this world so he
surrenders to Krishna (God)." This is the thoughtful persons
conclusion.
It is the responsibility of parents to awaken this God
consciousness in their children but instead we have created a
society that presents the children with the material illusion
from day one. There is no spiritual knowledge. From birth the
child's bodily identification is reinforced by the parents.
They immediately expose their child to so much material
brainwashing. Immediately he is sitting down in front of the
television and is being contaminated with so many material
desires.
The desire to enjoy separately from God is being reinforced
at every step of our lives. Everywhere we go we are encouraged,
"You should do this to enjoy for yourself." You can look in any
publication and you will find it is simply, in one way or
another, encouraging people to enjoy separately from God. Even
the so-called spiritual groups, even the Christian church is
encouraging, "You want something? Then come here and pray to
God for it." This is also the enjoying spirit, it's not the
real mood of a servant of God. The real mood of a servant of
God is he wants to please God, he wants to do something for the
pleasure of God. This mood should be cultivated within the
children born into this world. This is the responsibility
parents have to their children.
In this age there is no regard for the life of the child
within the whom of the mother. What is paramount in this age is
"my pleasure". The women have become very militant and have
formed the feminist movement which has as one of its principal
aims the womans right to "control her own reproductive system".
This means women should have the right to go anywhere, have sex
with any man and then kill the child resulting from that sex
life. This is our society. This is our "civilization". As a
result so many young children are being murdered under the name
of abortion. Everybody knows it is a child within the womb of
the mother, everybody knows it's a human being, everybody knows
that human being is capable of contributing so much to this
world. We were all in that position, within the wombs of our
mothers, and we could have been killed by our mothers but by
their mercy they didn't kill us, they allowed us to take birth.
Our mothers underwent the difficulties -- it is a great
austerity in many ways for a mother and father to bring a child
into this world and to raise that child. It's not an easy thing
to raise a family in this age but it is a very valuable thing
if one can raise the children as devotees of God. This is the
purpose of married life; to bring nice God conscious children
into the world and give them a good upbringing so they develop
their love for God, re-establish their relationship with God.
It's the responsibility of the parents to see their children
will not have to again enter the womb of another mother. In
other words the children should be trained to go back home,
back to Godhead, after this life.
The spiritual world is real -- there is a spiritual world.
paras tasmat tu bhavo 'nyo
'vyakto 'vyaktat sanatanah
yah so sarvesu bhutesu
nasyatsu na vinasyati (Bg. 8.20)
This means beyond this material sky there is the spiritual
sky and in the spiritual sky everything we see here is also
there but there it is the original pure spiritual form and here
what we see is simply a perverted reflection. So we are seeing
a reflection of the spiritual world in this material world. We
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can see the reflection of a tree in the water. In one sense the
reflection of the tree is real but if the tree is producing
some very nice fruit, say it is the reflection of a mango tree.
If you see the reflection of a mango in the water, although you
can say it is a mango, it's not exactly the same as the real
mango in the tree. You can see it's a mango, it looks like a
mango, you can't tell the difference. But you try and taste it.
You go and grab it and try to eat it in the reflection -- all
that happens is you get a handful of water, that's all, there
is actually nothing there, the real substance in not there.
Similarly we see in this material world a reflection of the
spiritual world. Here we have the idea of love between a man
and a woman and we have the idea of pleasure in sex life but in
reality the pleasure we experience is no more real than the
handful of water we get when trying to enjoy the reflected
mango. The actual substance, the actual bliss, the spiritual
pleasure we are looking for is in the spiritual world, it's not
here in the material world. This material world is something
like a mirage. If you look in the desert sometimes you will see
a very big expanse of water. If you are a thoughtful person you
can understand in the desert there is no big expanse of water,
even though there appears to be one. You can understand, "What
I am seeing is just a trick of my eyes." But if you are not so
intelligent and you are very thirsty and you see this huge
expanse of water in the desert maybe you will run towards the
water, what you are actually doing is running further and
further into the desert. Your chance of surviving is becoming
smaller and smaller because you are running towards the centre
of the desert. Similarly the pleasure we see in the material
world, the pleasure we think we will get from a beautiful
women, the pleasure we think we will get from a big, important
position, the pleasure we think we will get from having a new
car or a holiday on some exotic island. This pleasure is just
like the pleasure we don't get by trying to enjoy the mango
reflected in the water or searching for water in the desert.
This is the nature of the material world.
We have to turn our attention to the real world, the
spiritual world, the place where Krishna is. We have to change
our consciousness so we are always thinking about the spiritual
world, we are always thinking about Krishna. All our activities
should be performed for the pleasure of Krishna. In this way
our life will become spiritualised and even here in the
material world we can enjoy the real transcendental pleasure. A
devotee is not looking for anything, he is not desiring even
spiritual pleasure. The devotee says, "My dear Lord, I simply
want to please You. If You want something which is like poison
to me I will accept that as being nectar but if something I
think is nectar is displeasing to You I will reject that thing
as poison." This should be our mood. We should see what Krishna
likes and we should accept providing Him with this as the
highest pleasure even if it seems unpalatable to us. Many times
we have seen great devotees do things which are very difficult,
for example Lord Jesus Christ was completely surrendered to the
will of his Father and he was even prepared to be crucified, to
be killed, because it was the will of his Father. From the
material point of view this is not a very nice thing but he
accepted it because it was God's will. He didn't actually
suffer, of course his body suffered, but he was serving God and
there is great spiritual bliss coming from this service. We
have also seen in India many great devotees of the Lord who
have undergone so much suffering but they have continued to
serve God regardless. Because as devotees we are trying to
establish God consciousness within this material world
naturally we will be put into so many difficulties, that is the
nature of this world. This world is full of people who have
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almost all rejected God and the whole background of the
material world is to enable us to forget God. The whole world
is such a phantasmagoria, such a big show, and the purpose of
this big show is simply to bewilder us into thinking, "I can be
happy here separately from God." There is no other purpose for
the material world. So when we try and preach about God, when
we try to established God consciousness within the world we
will naturally face many difficulties. My spiritual master,
Srila Prabhupada, when his disciples were facing great
difficulties in spreading Krishna consciousness and
distributing books, said not to worry and that these
difficulties were a sign that our preaching is pure. So we
shouldn't be concerned if there are difficulties on the path of
spiritual life, rather we should be concerned if there are no
difficulties. If life is very easy, if things are going on very
smoothly we should know our preaching is not very potent.
People like to have a very comfortable arrangement in spiritual
life. Going to church on Sundays, meeting all their friends and
having a nice social chat. There is no difficulty for these
people, their spiritual life, so called, goes on very easily.
My humble request is that these people who are having a very
easy going spiritual life should question in their heart,
"Why?" In Krishna consciousness we say, "You're in maya." Maya
means "that which is not". You have accepted this material
world as being a comfortable place so you are sleeping in the
lap of maya. So now is the time to wake up and serve Krishna.
Hare Krishna!
--
Madhudvisa dasa |
| S H E L T E R I N T E R N A T I O N A L
|____________________________________________
I am, in one sense, everything--but I am independent.
Sudarsana Home madhudvisa@krishna.org