The role as a parent

The sacred and divine purpose of the family is to help each individual member to discover his own real reality. If an individual does not discover the real reality in himself, then he is denying the promise that he made to God. What is this promise? Once upon a time when he was in the soul's region, he promised to realise, to reveal and to manifest God on earth. In order to fulfil that promise he chose to take birth in one particular family rather than in any of the millions of other families on earth. It is in this family that the child's physical and spiritual development take place during his formative years.

When you are blessed with a child, you bring into your life a solid portion of divinity from above. At that time, your soul makes another solemn promise to God: that you will make your child a perfect instrument of God. Either you will be in a position to help your child yourself or you will take the help of some other human being. This is your soul's promise.

American parents often confuse lack of discipline with love and concern. When it is a matter of deep love and concern, they do not give it. And when it is a matter of strict spiritual discipline, inner discipline, they are certainly not giving it to their children. Their children are not properly moulded with inner or outer discipline. They are not properly taught either on the spiritual plane or on the physical and mental planes.

From:Sri Chinmoy,A child's heart and a child's dreams, Aum Publications, 1986
Sourced from https://srichinmoylibrary.com/chd