An Enlightened Education
Nurturing Spiritual Well-Being
Children need a balanced education, now more than ever. This education should not only nurture intellectual and emotional growth, but also address their spiritual well-being. When children understand their inner capacities and strength, they can flourish in any environment. Focused attention and a global perspective are two other keys to an enlightened education.
Shri Mataji placed great emphasis on building a solid foundation with early childhood education, believing it should be a collective process shared by parents and teachers. The natural environment, too, plays a teaching role. As children learn about plants, animals, and conservation, they gain respect for Mother Earth and her precious resources.
"Literary education is of no value, if it is not able to build up a sound character."
Mahatma Gandhi
To instill a sense of self-esteem and dignity, Shri Mataji placed great value on discipline - a discipline rooted in love and respect. “It’s our duty to see that our children grow as great people. Greater than us,” said Shri Mataji. “They have to look after the world.”
Putting her vision into practice, Shri Mataji created an educational system with Sahaja Yoga at its core. In addition to a challenging academic curriculum, students meditate regularly. This helps them improve their attention and ability to focus, as well as increasing their sense of self- confidence and self-understanding. Young people from around the world thrive at Shri Mataji's schools in India, Italy, Canada, Austria, the United States, the Czech Republic, Russia and Australia, where they continue to build deep relationships.
With regards to children, Nobel Prize winning author Rabindranath Tagore remarked that, "They are living beings - more living than grown-up people who have built shells of habit around themselves. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary for their mental health and development that they should not have mere schools for their lessons, but a world whose guiding spirit is personal love."
Today's children are tomorrow's future, and an investment in good education is synonymous with an investment in a better world. However, the social and psychological well-being of children are increasingly compromised at schools. At least one in five children and adolescents may express a mental health problem in any year and in the United States, it is estimated that one in ten children and adolescents suffer from mental illness severe enough to cause some level of impairment.
Scientific research on meditation[1] reveals that it is a proven evidence-based bio-spiritual intervention to prevent as well as manage the aftermath of stress borne out of routine imbalances in our life, whether at school, the workplace or at home. Sahaja Yoga Meditation (SYM) has shown that it is unique because it is spontaneous, simple and effortless. All these attributes of SYM Meditation have made it acceptable, enjoyable and popular among children as well as school teachers. It has also been effective in providing teachers with a work – life balance approach to dealing with the heavy load of managing and delivering a syllabus within a time frame and with quality.
Various initiatives like The Inner Peace Project (www.innerpeaceday.org) and Dhyaandhara[2] (India) are bringing the benefits of overall school health and life of children through Sahaja Yoga Meditation to regular schools.