Happy Children’s Day!

“Children’s’ Day” is celebrated on 14 November, every year. It is in honour of India’s First Prime Minister, Mr. Jawaharlal Nehru, whose birthday is on this day and who loved children dearly. The day in itself creates excitement in every child. They feel that it is, “My day!” A day when they can celebrate their existence as a child.

Param Pujya Dada Bhagwan says this regarding children, “This [today’s] generation is open, receptive and healthy-minded. Keep positive intents (bhaavs) for your children. This will bring good results. They will change for the better and this will happen naturally. Today’s generation is the best that has ever been.”

Therefore, it becomes our duty to help these children become the best versions of themselves. In fact, a child resembles a small plant, which if well nurtured flourishes and blossoms to its fullest. If we want a child’s mind to grow, we have to plant seeds that would help them become a good human being. This nurturing includes provision of a proper education, a good support system, a loving and safe environment, values, care, freedom etc. Moreover, nurturing has to be variable to a certain extent. Because every child is unique, his/her nurturing also has to be unique. This is of utmost importance because children sow new seeds in whatever they do, even though the harvest may not be visible right away. Hence nurturing them requires great care and patience.

Another very important task that lies on the shoulders of parents is to watch out for the weeds that also tend to grow. Weeds are the unwanted plants that grow and steal the nutrition from the actual plant, thereby harming the growth of the actual plants. Param Pujya Dadashri says, “A child indeed brings his values (sanskar) with him, but you have to help with that, as it is necessary to nurture those values. He [the child] is looking for knowledge. Each time he does something wrong, explain to him that this is wrong. It should come into his realization. Otherwise he will believe that what he is doing is correct. That is why he ends up on wrong path. [Parents] should understand when to encourage, when to discourage, how much to encourage, and how much to discourage the children.”

So this Children’s Day, let us all keep positive intents (bhaav), be determined to encourage seeds and discourage the weeds not only in our children but also within our own selves.

Wish you all a very Happy Children’s Day!