A child is one of the most beautiful gifts from nature’s bounty, one of the most delightful guests waiting to be invited. Why not plan its welcome instead of leaving it to chance or accident? No guest likes to come in uninvited.

Bringing a new life into your world is a joy and a celebration, and it gives the parents a sense of pride as well as a feeling of gratitude. Today, when most of the pregnancies are accidental and most of the upbringing haphazard, the idea of planning for a baby appears to some as too far-fetched.

Life is about experiences. Experiences happen through implementation and experimentation. Experimentation with the right kind of base or direction invariably leaves us with a sense of satisfaction every time we look back. Health and spiritual excellence are the two primary keys to a nourishing ‘pregnancy planning’. The complete health of a couple is a primary requirement to a joyful pregnancy and a healthy baby. According to WHO, health is not just absence of disease but presence of well-being at all levels: physical, mental, social and emotional.

When the birth of a child is a wanted phenomenon, it affects the child positively in all respects. To be ready to conceive a baby, the couple needs to be physically and emotionally fit, and mentally prepared and settled. A couple must have a proper diet, do regular exercises and possess a healthy lifestyle.

According to medical science, a human can regain complete health in approximately 60 days with proper diet and exercises.

Following such a discipline of diet and exercises in your routine would ensure your preparation towards your vision of a healthy baby.

However, there is much more to it when we look at it from a spiritual angle.

Achild givesbirth to a mother

‘Every soul chooses its own womb’.

When this statement holds true, your child becomes the decision maker. The situation is the same as that when you enter a bus: you always look for the best seat, window, cushions and leg space. Or, when you select a room in a hotel, you look for the best one with a balcony view. Likewise, a pure soul too searches for the best womb.

When we say ‘the womb’, it means the couple’s ‘being’. The being of a person is affected by aahar (diet), vichaar (thoughts) and aachar (conduct). Cleansing of human body, mind and soul through SSY (see Sec.VIII, Appendix.7) creates an opportunity for a ‘wonderful soul’ to choose a magnificent destination called ‘you’.

Parenting is more about consciousness and less about being a biological parent. You can be a parent without really giving birth to a child.

Guruji Rishi Prabhakar states: “You are eligible to be a parent when you see every child as yours. Come, experience SSY; allow it to empower you to become enlightened parents”.

The more the person is aware, content and happy, the more the chances are of a pure soul choosing that person as the destination. Trust me, everyone prefers to be in a calm and peaceful home.

AMILLIONDOLLARQUESTION: WHYHAVEACHILD?

The quality of the seed determines the quality of the plant. The quality of the fruit or the flower will depend on the quality of the seed. If the seed is good, chances are the plant will give good fruits or flowers, and vice versa. Similarly, the seed for a great human being is planted when the parents decide why they want a child.

Most of the time no thought is given to “Why should we have a child?” It is said that most of the pregnancies are accidental and the upbringing of the child experimental. The seed for a human being is sown even before the mother becomes pregnant. The seed is planted when the parents plan to have a child.

It is very important that parents should have a clear answer to “Why they want to have a child?” Most parents do not think about it.

“My wife had begun to tell me that she needed to have another child because our son was feeling alone and required some company. In normal course this would have been a sufficient reason for having another child. But I refused to have another child especially if the reason for it was the above-mentioned one. I explained to my wife that we have to think about the soul to come and not only about ourselves. Thereafter, we sat together and decided that the new child will get the best of upbringing and education, and that the child will experience life as a blessing and benediction. We prayed to God to bless us with a divine soul. A daughter named Pari was born to us and she is a bundle of joy, love, understanding and beauty. She is truly a divine soul. Jitendra Gupta (Trainer; lives in Rishi Gurukulum, Pune). jitendrargupta@rediffmail.com  First, understand why you wish to have a child and, second, be clear about what kind of life you will give to the ‘child to come’ — do not think only about yourself. Go for conception only after completing these steps.

Preparation for conception

A child’s genes are formulated first in the minds of the mother and the father. What you visualise is what you bring forth into the world. When sex is the point of happiness which then leads to conception, the child so born will also be oriented only towards mere physical pleasure and will be self-gratifying and selfish. The demon kings Hiranyakashyapa and Hiranyaksha were born thus. Their mother had insisted on sex before sunset, from the great tapasvi, their father.

When togetherness and appreciation of each other are the dominant factors in a couple’s relationship, a beautiful, caring child is born.

When the child is born as a means of future security for the parents, the child will be calculating and afraid to share.

When the purpose of having a child is to fight a war (a case in question could be the situation in Palestine), the child will become a terrorist.

When the purpose of begetting a child is to bring joy to one and all, the child will be a playful Krishna.

When the purpose of having a child is to invite God into the family, a divine, great personality, like Sant Dnyaneshwar, Mukta bai, Meera bai or Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, is born.

When the child is born as an offering to the guru, a great sevak like Vivekananda or Gandhi is born. The child himself will become a Jagat Guru.

Pregnancy and preparation for the same.