What is the purpose of raising a child?

September 13, 2006

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Provided by: Jayasri Radha

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Contributed by: Jayasri Radha on 9/7/2006

What Is The Purpose of Raising A Child?

The Vedic Viewpoint and Other Spiritual Perspectives

The ancient Vedic literature explains that the purpose of raising a child is to deliver them from material existence.

One should not become a teacher, husband, mother or father or politician unless they can deliver their dependants from material existence. In other words, to help their dependants so that at the time of death they will return to their original home in the spiritual world, never to experience birth, death, old age or disease again.

The Vedas describe that one may take a wife as a matter of responsibility and to help her in spiritual life. When the married couple decides to have a child there is a whole process to invoke a spiritually elevated or conscious soul to come into the womb. This process of invoking such a child is called Garbhadhana-samskara. In this process there are certain austerities recommended for the husband and wife to perform leading up to the day of conception. There are certain foods recommended to be taken and not to be taken on the day of conception. The whole day is to be spent in meditation on Gods Holy Names and praying for an elevated soul to come into the womb. There are certain days of the week and month recommended to invoke a boy and certain days for invoking a girl. There are certain times of the day not recommended for conception, such as early morning and dusk. These are considered inauspicious times and could bring in a terrible child. One should not take any

intoxications such as alcohol, mind altering drugs, cigarettes, coffee or any caffeine. This can bring in lower conscious children into the womb such as a ghost or demon. One should eat only vegetarian foods to keep out any inauspiciousness or contamination. The consciousness of the couple should be very happy and peaceful and should have a very spiritual mood feeling gratitude and love for the Supreme Creator who will ultimately be sending the child. What ever the consciousness is of the parent the child will have a combination of such. A boy will take on more of the mothers attributes and a girl will take on more of the fathers attributes. These are the laws of nature.

The couple should have the consciousness to bring in a child in which they both feel responsible to help this child throughout their life to understand their eternal relationship with God. Then there is a very good chance for a spiritually elevated child with all good qualities to come into their lives.

We can see today very clearly that there is no process being done to have a good child. This is one of the main reasons why our society is chaotic. No one knows how to conceive a God conscious child what to speak of the purpose of raising a child.

That child that comes into your home is not your child but a gift from God for you to care for and teach them to love God. If one raises their children in the proper consciousness then naturally there will be peace and happiness in the family.

Life is a science according to the Vedas which are the original books of Knowledge put forth by God to teach us how to live each step in life so that we can attain real peace and happiness. If one follows the Vedic knowledge through a bonafide teacher they can gradually elevate their consciousness as well as help their family members.

The Vedas state that there are four stages of life; the student or Brahmacari stage, until the age of twenty-five. The next stage is married life called Grihastha, until the age of fifty. Then the husband and or wife travel to holy places giving up family affairs called Vanaprastha stage. Finally the husband can take Synnyasa or the renounced order of life giving up all association with wife and family and completely surrendering his life to spiritual activities. Though if one spends the first three stages of life in Bhakti Yoga (devotional service to God) then it is not actually necessary to take to the Synnyasa stage of life because he is already absorbed completely in spiritual consciousness while performing his duties. In this way his life is already perfect.

We can see according to the ancient Vedic Literature that the purpose of human life is to become spiritually elevated through these different stages of life and our family members are only for us to help do the same. For more information on this topic, read The Bhagavad-Gita as it is, and then the Srimad Bhagavatam, by his Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. (A saint and spiritual master in the pure line of disciplic succession of these teachings).

By Jayasri Radha

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