Inculcation of Virtues is by Itself a Spiritual Practice

Sanskar (Subconscious impression) is multiplication of virtues and division of defects. Creating sanskars means inc-ulcating good habits and eliminating bad ones. Good sanskars are created in children by making them offer namaskar (Obeisance) to parents everyday, teaching them not to criticise others etc. However, how should one teach all this ? All this should be taught to the children not through lectures, narrating stories, giving enticement of chocolates or ice cream, but through our own actions. If an 8-year-old child is ordered to offer namaskar to his parents daily, he will do it only for a few days and then refuse to comply even if he is explained its significance. There is only one way to make your child offer namaskar to elders. From today onwards, offer namaskar to all elders in your family only once. Do not tell the child to offer namaskar even once. After a few days, the child will follow you in offering namaskar to all elders in the family. He will feel ashamed that his parents are offering namaskar to his grand-parents and he is just watching them. Thus, a sanskar is an act performed without uttering a word.

A child does not need to be taught how to abuse; but a sanskar of chanting the Name of ShrTram has to be inculcated in it. For this, it is important for all the members in the family to chant.

The younger the child, easier it is to create sanskars on it. If the parents are in the habit of offering namaskar to the child's grandparents everyday, then for a 2-year-old, this becomes a part of his nature, and when any elderly visitor comes he will immediately hurry to offer namaskar and will tell his parents that they had forgotten to do so but he did not !

It is difficult to create sanskars on adults; because it is difficult to change their views. Only their firm sankalpa (Resolve) can eliminate their defects or enhance virtues.

Children love to imitate; so, without your knowledge, the child copies your walk, talk, laughter, temper, every little action. This is precisely why parents need to monitor themselves constantly to ensure that their actions, speech and thoughts are good. This means you have to create sanskars on yourself. If you behave ideally in front of your child, there will be no need to make separate efforts to create sanskars on children.

Sanskars are mainly made on the mind. They increase the sattvik state of the mind by increasing the Sattva (See Glossary) component in it. Finally, the mind achieves thoughtlessness, the zero state. At that time, the necessity to create sanskars stops because the individual on whom the sanskars have to be made, his mind, does not exist; with it the sanskars of many births get wiped out. Now, the universal intellect carries out all its worldly transactions. All its transactions are automatically enriched 100% with sanskars.

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