"Teach, your children well, their father's hell did slowly go by
And feed them on your dreams, the one they pick's the one you'll know by."
(Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young)
In February this year I informed Srila Govinda Maharaj that a number of devotees in London were requesting initiation from His Divine Grace. On my recommendation he most graciously accepted those devotees as his disciples and this last Saturday His Holiness Sripad Bhakti Pavan Janardan Maharaj was in London to conduct the ceremony on behalf of our Divine Master.As you probably know I am blessed with two beautiful daughters, Nadiarani, who will be fifteen this year, and Malini who will be six. I would have waited for Malini to reach eight years before requesting Harinam for her (as I did for Nadiarani) but it was my feeling that Srila Gurudev may not stay in this world for much longer and so I asked for his merciful connection now and he so generously agreed.
So Malini received her Japa Mala via Janardan Maharaj and Nadiarani received Gayatri Diksha and I was a little tearful and very happy father.
As I am sure any parent will tell you, raising children is very taxing and as much as you try you can never be sure that you are doing the right thing. I asked Srila Govinda Maharaj about this once and his (always) sage advice was, " Never force them but just give them love. Be there for them and try to teach them by your own example."
I think in this advice lies the secret to our success or failure as parents. We have to teach our children by our own example. If I am a cheat and a thief then the chances are my children will learn cheating and thievery from me. So as a parent I am acutely aware that I have a very grave responsibility to be the best person that I can and to be the best devotee that I can be. Like it or not we are automatically Guru to our children and this is an enormous weight if we consider the truth of this. No matter how we instruct our children they will inevitably recognise if we are hypocrites and likely reject our advice because of that. Ultimately we will have to live what we teach if we want our children to have a chance of accepting Krishna Consciousness as the path of their lives.
Of course all living beings have free will and so even perfect teaching supported by perfect practice may not be enough. Srila Govinda Maharaj lived with the sons of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Maharaj like their brother and he often remarked to us, "Srila Prabhupad gave Krishna Consciousness to the whole world but he was not able to give that to his own sons." So remembering that I think it prudent to expect the worst, however much we hope for the best for our kids.
The influence of material nature is extremely strong and we are easily persuaded by her charming proposals, still we should not give up our attempt to do what's best and to pass on what we have found most valuable in our own lives. And if we have the support of a strong devotional community and make sure our children have the opportunity for regular association and devotional service, we may well be pleasantly surprised.
When I see how important Krishna Consciousness is to the children of the devotees as they themselves become adults I am constantly amazed. It is their religion, not just the beliefs of their parents. They own it and they live for it. This is a real testimony to the reality of devotional life and finally our children become our teachers and nothing could make us happier. Isn't that the truth?
"Teach your parents well, their children’s hell will slowly go by.
And feed them on your dreams, the one they pick's the one you’ll know by."
