Srila Prabhupada has stated that grihastha devotees are generally engaged in material activities and therefore they should take to Deity worship. Grihastha devotees are advised to adopt Deity worship according to the suitable arrangements and directions given by the spiritual master. The special purpose of Deity worship is to keep oneself always pure and clean. […]
Eight Tips for Parenting Older Children
Empowering couples, families and individuals with skills and techniques based on universal, spiritual principles. You’ve heard it before and may be experiencing it now: Parenting an adolescent or older child can be tough. Frequently, older children can shock you with their self-centered, rude, irrational, ungrateful, lazy and defiant behavior. Believe it or not, these characteristics […]
Letters From Srila Prabhupada to Disciples About Children
Letter to Arundhati dasa, July 30, 1972 “Child-worship is more important than deity-worship. If you cannot spend time with him, then stop the duties of pujari. At least you must take good care of your son until he is four years old, and if after that time you are unable any more to take care […]
Increasing Our Dependence On Krishna
Raising kids and realizing Krishna—do they go together? “ONE WHO CANNOT deliver his dependents from the path of repeated birth and death should never become a spiritual master, a father, a husband, a mother, or a worshipable demigod” (Shrimad-Bhagavatam 5.5.18). As a parent I often wonder if I am up to the task. After all, […]
Family Love and Affection: It’s Very Necessary for Healthy Krsna-Conscious Families
Picture this: Srimati devi comes home from school one afternoon so quietly that her mother senses a problem. “Srimati”, she calls, “Are you okay? How was your day?”, When she doesn’t hear a response, Sudevi, Srimati’s mata goes to the ten year old’s bedroom, takes one glance at her daughter’s tearful face and hugs her. […]
The Graduate
The Graduate: A high school graduation inspires thoughts on raising a child in Krsna consciousness. My husband and I take a seat on the shiny varnished bleachers in the large arena used for basketball games. The well-dressed crowd sits in anticipation as their sons and daughters, filing through the rear entrance in dark blue caps […]
Is Experience the Best Teacher?
AFTER GIVING Arjuna knowledge of matter and spirit, Lord Krishna tells him, “Deliberate on this fully, and then decide what you wish to do.” Our children also have to choose between material and spiritual life. To prepare them for this choice, do we need to give them experiences of both? Do our children need any […]
Divine Consciousness Of a Previous Life
Helping children to take advantage of their dormant spirituality. THE BHAGAVAD-GITA tells us that a child with good opportunities for genuine spiritual life must have progressed in yoga, or Krishna consciousness, in a previous life. Krishna tells Arjuna some symptoms of such a child. First, the child will be attracted automatically to the yogic principles, […]
Crack in the Universe
How can we raise children so that when they grow up they’ll stay out of the modern culture of divorce, remarriage, and illegitimacy? THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY founder of Sunday school in America, H. Clay Trumbull, remembers calling to his father before falling asleep at night. “Are you there, Papa?” “Yes, my child, I am here.” “You’ll […]
Do You Force Your Children?
WE SIT IN THE Calcutta Airport waiting for an announcement, the flight three hours late. The many ceiling fans do little to refresh the air, polluted by cigarette smoke and hundreds of bodies. My ten-year-old son and I sit by a door, opened a crack but with negligible effect. I talk with a blue-saried nun […]
