Teaching your child religion

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji

631

 
 

Swamiji speaking on the five Mahayajnas [five great sacrifices] 

If the five Mahayajnas – the five great sacrifices – are followed, and if chastity is practised by both the man and the woman then gods can come on Earth.

The first Mahayajna is the worship of the household deities: Devayajna. Many modern children today want to throw out the household deities. They say, 'Oh, all this is nonsense. There is only one God, now why should we worship all the other gods and goddesses?' They are fools. Our great grandfathers and our great Rishis [Sages, Seers, Saints] did not make those rules for nothing.

If you take the love that is already there, and from there step higher, you will find your task in life becoming easier. The worship of the different deities will culminate in the worship of your Ishta Devata [chosen Ideal or deity], who is One-without-a-second. That is why the Ishta Devata was made, to show you there is only one God – not many gods and goddesses.

But you have to worship or at least respect the different deities that your father, your mother and your great grandfather worshipped because you are the fruit of that worship and the love given to those deities. In the depths of your heart you have to remember this.

Secondly there is Rishiyajna. Many mothers and many fathers today are wasting the lives of their children. They think that it is the duty of some sannyasi [Hindu monk or Swami] or some holy man to teach religion to their children. It is not so. First comes the mother and father, then the guru [spiritual preceptor].

Just as every day you force the child to do homework in secular education, similarly it is the duty of every householder to force the child to read at least one or two verses from a holy scripture or from the life of a great hero saint. In this way your child will not become a worm without a spine. It is your duty. You must make it so no matter how much your child dislikes it.

Your child may dislike going to school but you know that schooling is a vital part of life so you make sure that the child attends. Similarly make sure that your child studies some holy scripture. If you give a person this habit whilst young, when he or she grows up they will automatically miss it.

1) Care should be taken by the reader to
understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every
teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with
Swamiji at the time. 2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the
posting for further explanation or links.

There are currently available, over 100 different CDs
or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email
timhoare@webmail.co.za to order. Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and
teachings.

Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Sarada Devi, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Nischalananda Puri, Swami Shivapadananda

Click Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna to read online…

Reference websites (please mouse-over
the name to connect): Ramakrishna Math and Mission, Ramakrishna Centre of SA, Ramakrishna Centre of Southern Africa,
Ramakrishna Dham, Swami Shivapadananda 2