Ishan Shivanand argues that children learn everything about the outer world but nothing about themselves, leading them to seek numbness through alcohol, materialism, and screens. He contrasts temporary outer peace with lasting inner peace through ShivYog meditation, urging parents and educators to teach spirituality early to raise self-aware, creative adults.
Is it suitable for children to learn Shiva Yoga? Ah, it's, it's not just about being suitable, it's about being the need of the hour. If you look at our children today, we are teaching them everything. We are teaching them how to work a cell phone, we are teaching them how to upgrade their computers, we are teaching them A for Apple, B for ball, The only thing that we are not teaching our children is who they are, what they are, and what does it mean to be a human being. The child knows everything about the external world, but the child knows zilch about the internal world. And that is why you will find the external memories are becoming more powerful. But more the external memories are becoming powerful, our cell phones are getting now 300 GB data, and soon they'll have 1 terabyte data. Our laptops have 2-3 terabytes of data, soon they will have 20 terabytes of data. The more the information processing capacity in the gadgets, the more idiotic human beings are becoming. Because now we don't use our head, we're so reliant, we don't know a way, Google Maps. We don't understand anything, Wikipedia. And in that Wikipedia also, we will not research. Whatever is written, we will lap it up. We will not question. We will be a slave to technology. And what kind of a life are we giving children if we are making them just slaves? Because slaves are dependent. And if you don't teach children spirituality, then they are dependent. I want you to understand, a man who knows himself knows how to become peaceful and relaxed. A man who doesn't have spirituality will not know peace, but he needs peace. So what? Converts, what changes, that he will exchange the word peace for numbing. Now numbing looks like peace, but numbing is not peace. A person will turn to alcohol, a person will turn to materialism, a person will turn to relation after a relation, all meaningless. A person will turn to substance abuse. And all these things you will find they are numbing. Or a person will sit in front of the television till the time he doesn't become like a zombie and drops dead. And you will find society is becoming more and more numb. In the morning we can't wake up, so we have coffee. In the night we can't sleep, so we have alcohol. We have a dependent society. A society dependent upon means of being numb. The richer you are, the more means you have to make yourself numb. And the best part is that each time you make yourself numb, you become a little bit less, and the numbing agent becomes a little bit more less potent. So each time you will have to increase the intensity of the numbing agent. Earlier you could get drunk and this much alcohol, now you need this much alcohol. And each time you numb yourself, it harms your body, it harms your mind, and you become a slave. And why I'm telling you all this is because all this is because we are not teaching our children how to be relaxed, how to find peace. Because one is inner peace, and that comes through Shiv Yoga. Spirituality, and one is outer peace. Outer peace will always numb. Outer peace will always make a person dependent. And outer peace is addictive, and outer peace is harmful. Inner peace is, is the best. It is so very joyful. It makes a person aesthetic, and it always gives you more. It never takes away from the body. Meditation always makes you more. So if you ask me, should children come to Shiv Yog, I ask you, do you want a child or do you want a slave? Do you want to teach your child to be relaxed? And if you want your child to be peaceful, then yes, the earlier a person gets into Shiv Yog, the better. Because the more person can truly experience life and not become addicted to it. That is all I am saying. Give your children a chance. Let them become, let them learn, let them develop. If you ask me, I would rather work harder on children because they are starting their life, and if we can guide them now, then imagine what miracles they will create when they become young adults. And that is what I want to tell you. Bless you. Namaste.
