An article from the book ‘Your Child is Your Parent’ by Manoj J Lekhi.

Every child is born meditative; in fact, the child is always in meditation, when born.

Whatismeditation?

Meditation means being in the moment totally, not worried about the past or the future. If you observe children, you will see that each one of them lives as if this moment is all that there is in his life. He lives from moment to moment. If he wants to cry, he cries; if he wants to laugh, he laughs; if he wants to scream, he does just that at that moment. Slowly, as he grows, we, as parents, and the society condition him and he begins to suppress his emotions and expressions, and he becomes one of us. In this process, he loses the essence of being in the moment, being in meditation.

This is inevitable, and is sure to happen. So, the way out is to also introduce the child to the formal methods and techniques of meditation. This should also happen through fun and play, without making him conscious of the exercise. Meditation techniques will stay with him as he grows up.

In our Rishi Gurukulams, we introduce our children to meditation right from the time they are in nursery. Our children meditate for a few minutes every day by sitting quietly and allowing their thoughts to be and thus get into the habit of allowing things to be the way they are, right from childhood.

The gift of meditation is the greatest gift you can give your child. It is called Brahma Upadesha!

Up to the age of 12, the child is encouraged to just sit quietly for a few minutes. From the age of 13, when the child is in the 8th class in school, a crucial year, he is encouraged to go through HMP (100% Memory Programme. For more information, see Sec.VIII, Appendix.5). It is here that he undergoes the formal Brahma Upadesha which will sharpen both the hemispheres of his brain.