Maharishi Mahesh Yogi: No Teacher of Hippies

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“A general feeling has overtaken civilized society today that they should not infringe upon the feelings, likes, and dislikes of other people. This has gone so far as to create a widespread belief that even children should not be told what to do. It is said that they should not be told what is right and what is wrong, should not be guided to do good and to steer away from bad. This probably comes from the field of psychology, which brings out the principle of growth in freedom. But it is fundamentally unfortunate to let this criterion of freedom overshadow all the basic fundamentals of advancement of life. If one does not know that the thing that he is doing is going to harm him either now or later, then someone who has that knowledge must tell him, in a spirit of love, kindness, sympathy, and help, that this action is not right.

If a child is going to pick up a burning coal, thinking that it is a lovely bright toy kept there for him to enjoy, it is only right for the parents to stop the child from going to it, even if the child resents not being permited to jump into the fire. Such a freedom is ridiculous and dangerous to the development of man, to the development of the younger generation, and to the development of the innocent, ignorant people who do not have this wisdom and the experience of life. It is the responsibility of the elderly people to advise the young. Even if the young people resent their directions and do not obey, it is good to tell them. They will find out for themselves the result of not obeying their elders, but if the elders do not speak out at all and leave the child to find out for himself that it was wrong, then they have wasted the child’s time and have been cruel to him. Knowing that it was not right for the child and not helpful for his life, they did not keep him from going that way. it is a very wrong tendency in parents to believe that whatever they say must be followed by the child, but if they see the possibility of the child resenting their advice they keep quiet and do not give it. it is not kindness; it is not live; it is not right for the parents to take this attitude. The child is young and inexperienced and has not that broad vision and experience of life. In all freedom for the child, the parents should tell him in love and kindness that this is wrong and that is right. If he resents it, the parent should not much insist, because if he does not obey and does that thing, he is naturally going to come across an experience which will tell him that his father or mother was right. That is the way to cultivate the tendency of the child to obey and act according to the wishes and feelings of the parents. If the child is resentful and does not obey, the parents have at least done their duty in informing the child. And then again, it is also their duty to have the child informed of the right action by their friends, teachers, and neighbors – from someone whom the child really loves and obeys. It is the duty of the parents to see that the child is brought up on all levels of wisdom and good in life. The responsibility for not having told the child what is right and wrong and not trying to change his ways if he is going wrong lies with the parents. Children are the flowers in the garden of God, and they have to be nourished. They themselves do not know which way is better for them to go. It is for the parents to make a way for them that is free from suffering. It is also part of the parents’ role to punish a child if he does not obey and does wrong, but the children should be punished in all love.

It is the foremost duty of parents to see that their children are brought up on a constructive scale of wisdom and right action in the society. And the modern tendency of putting the fate of the children completely in their own hands is highly detrimental. It only leads to uncultured growth of the younger generation.

There are schools in some countries which advocate complete freedom for children, but these schools are basically the result of a policy sponsored by those whose sole purpose is to make the nation weak and who therefore want the younger generation to grow up without traditions and without any cultured basis in life, devoid of the strength of character. It is cruel and greatly damanging to the interests of human society not to guide and shape the manner of behavior, thinking, and action of the younger generation through simultaneous love and discipline. The same idea has crept up even in the schools for very young children where the teachers are forbidden to punish the children. The result is found in the growth of child delinquency, leading to juvenile delinquency and to great uncertainty in the minds of youngsters about the right and wrong of an action, thought, or mode of behavior. Today’s youth does not understand and does not have any comprehension of the standards of traditional decent behavior of his nation. This is just the wild growth of undeveloped minds without the background of any traditional culture.

It is a shame that education in many countries has been influenced in such a manner, in the name of growth in freedom. There have been disastrous results from not shaping and directing the modes of thinking and behavior in the lives of the younger generation.

It is up to the statesmen, the patriots, and the intelligent people of the various nations to look into the disastrous results of such a pattern of education, perperated in the name of child psychology, and to amend the ways of education and the raising of the children. Children should be loved and they should be punished. They have to be loved for the growth of their life, and they have to be punished if they are wrong. This is just to help them to succeed in life on all levels. Each nation has a tradition of its own, and its people have their religions and faiths. The children should be given the understanding of their tradition, their religion, and their faith.

It is a great mistake on the part of educators today to find an excuse in the name of democracy not to give any traditional understanding to the children. Such ideas necessarily originate with those whose motive is to weaken the nation and rob the people of their national traditions and dignity. And to root out the traditions of the society is the greatest damage that can be done to the welfare of a nation. A society without tradition has no basic stability or strengh of its own; it is like a leaf left to the mercy of the wind, drifting in any direction without any stability and basis of its own.

In the name of modern education, the societies of may countries are drifiting away from old tradition. The result is a wild growth of faithless people, without tradition, whose society exists only on the superficial gross level of life.”

Science of Being and Art of Living, 1963 (2001), 225-8.

Note the absence of Indian bazaar kitsch in this video.