We Are Brahman 2

Children have no inhibitions until the age of six or seven. They have no understanding of gender differentiation. They are absorbed in their own selves until that age. Their interest in the external world is one of learning.

It is possible to develop such communities where children can roam unclothed. It is the adults that you must worry about. They are the ones with samskaras. So, when you ask if this is practical, you are imposing your own judgment based on your tainted upbringing.

There are people who want to clothe animals, their pet dogs and cats for instance. They say that these animals are obscene. These people are obscene; they are the perverted ones. Nudity is your natural state. I have roamed around without clothes in the Himalayan Mountains in the dead of winter. Neither people nor nature bothered me.

Imagine the society that will arise, the generation that will grow up, when children are brought up this way. They will grow up unafraid and completely balanced. They will be the most sensual people on earth without being sexually driven by lust. As of now your educational system brings children down instead of bringing them up. They grow up with inhibitions, fear, greed, jealousy and a host of negative elements.

If you observe young children who have been brought up by wise parents who do not control and inhibit them, all their energy centers are open. They have no fear of anything. What they want at that moment they ask for, and they do not have unfulfilled desires. They are not stressed by being suppressed. They do not compare themselves with others and accumulate borrowed desires.

In the gurukulam education, they are not taught anything formally until the age of seven. At this age they are taught gayatri mantra. This awakens inner intelligence. They are then taught various life skills along with scriptural truths. The education is well rounded.

The children are supported based upon aptitudes. They are not rated based on intelligence tests that measure crammed knowledge. They are allowed to progress based on their own aptitude, at their own pace, and choose what they are good at. There is no compulsion to perform based on someone else's expectation. Again, you may ask, 'how practical is this? These kids need to earn a living.'

Please understand and reflect on your own life. How many have been pushed into doing things that you hate doing? How many dislike your work? If you are honest, the vast majority of you will say 'yes'. You have been pushed into doing what you are doing by your elders based on their concept of what you must do. You never had a choice to do what you wanted to do.

I meet youngsters who say, 'I wanted to be an athlete, but my parents wanted me to be an engineer. I hate my studies.' Don't think this happens only in Bharat or Asia. Even in the USA where children pay for their education, they are often pushed into studies based on peer pressure or what others influence them to do. They end up hating what they are forced into. We then develop a generation of mavericks who break away from society, like the hippies.

When you do something you like, that passion shows in the outcome. What you deliver and how you perform is a reflection of your passion, as excellence in whatever you do. You are automatically successful in what you do. You will be materially successful without needing to make that a stated objective.

You don't need to believe me. Look around and see for yourself. Statistics show that eighty percent of wealthy people who accumulated their own wealth broke away from the crowd. They are dropouts or those who chose to do things based on their rules rather than expectations of society.

Without understanding and acceptance, if you follow rules of society out of fear and greed you will get nowhere. Understand what your passion is and follow it. Teach your children to follow their passion. Don't limit them with the conditioning that limited you.