On YouTube
How to be good parents? || Acharya Prashant, on Vivekachudamani (2018)
Scriptures and Saints
378 views
2 years ago
Vivekachudamani
Liberation
Biological Conditioning
Upbringing
Education
Self-Realization
Parenting
Adi Shankara
Description

Acharya Prashant explains that a child represents the default state of human existence, where one is born as a purely biological entity driven by physical conditioning and bodily impulses. This state is inherently restless and lacks higher-order values, as the body is concerned only with self-preservation and material needs. He clarifies that divinity exists in the child only as a seed, and the purpose of spiritual upbringing and education is to refine these innate biological tendencies and align them with the truth. When a seeker of liberation, who has tasted the joy of the supreme self, returns to unreal pursuits, it is described as childish and foolish behavior because they are choosing the partial over the total. Addressing the personal concerns regarding a child's aggressive and undisciplined behavior, Acharya Prashant asserts that the child is not to be blamed, as disorder is innate to the biological self. Instead, the responsibility lies with the parents and teachers who serve as the child's primary educators. He emphasizes that a child learns more from the conduct and being of the parents than from their words. If a child remains disorderly, it reflects a lack of wisdom and realization in the parents. He suggests that the child's behavior acts as a mirror, exposing the true state of the parents' own spiritual growth and the quality of the environment they have provided.