Every child is beautiful and lovely

Every child is beautiful, lovely. And this is because he is born with love. But then, by and by, a disorder somehow occurs within him. Every child is so lovely; every child is so beautiful.  Have you ever seen an ugly child?

The beauty of a child has nothing to do with his physical body, it comes from some inner strength. Within him, his lamp of love burns brightly and its rays emanate from every pore of his body, spreading their luster all around. Wherever he looks, he looks with love.

But as he grows he begins to lose this love.  And we help in that process. We do not teach him how to love, we teach him how to guard himself against it, how to be wary of it. We tell him that love is very risky, very dangerous. We teach him to be suspicious, to be full of doubt. We tell him it is necessary to be like this, that people will take advantage of him otherwise.

We tell him there is much cheating, dishonesty and treachery in the world, that it is everywhere, and that unless he is on guard people will rob and cheat him. We tell him there are thieves everywhere. We are totally unaware of the fact that  God is everywhere,  yet we never forget that robbers abound!

And so we train children to be on their guard against thieves. If you want to prepare children in this way, then you cannot teach them love – because love is dangerous.  Love means trust; love means faith;  love means accepting – and being suspicious is keeping a look-out so no one can steal from you it is being on guard, remaining constantly alert, as if there could be an attack at any moment from any quarter.  So, before any attack comes,  you yourself become the aggressor.  You see this as the best way of protecting yourself. We train our children to be like sentries. And this is how we do it.

As a child grows he becomes involved in protecting himself – with money, with a house, with all sorts of things.  He makes every possible arrangement to secure himself  from attack, no matter from which quarter it might come. But in the midst of all these arrangements we forget that we are closing all our doors,  that we are even barring the entry of love.  Our protection may now be complete

To be insecure is to be alive.

And, of course, living like this there is no safety. A stone is safe and a flower lives in danger – but a stone is dead and a flower is full of life! If a storm comes, the flower will fall but the stone will remain where it was. Mischievous children may come and pick the flower, but the stone will remain where it was. When the sun sets in the evening the flower will wither, but the stone will remain unaffected, will remain in its place.

Would you prefer to be a stone simply because it is safe from such dangers ?  That is the condition you have chosen! You have become like stones. The flower is always in jeopardy. Love is a flower. And there is no greater flower, no more important flower in this world than love. There is also nothing that is in greater danger

We prepare children to live so-called ”safe” lives, and the result is that love starts to wither. Then we teach them to be dishonest, and love withers even more. Then we show them how to be egoists, and love dies. There is only one way to be full of love, to be loving, and that is to love onese lf.

And we teach our children to save themselves  we never teach them to lose themselves,  to let themselves go. We tell them it is a question of one’s name, of one’s  family, of one’s community, of one’s nation.

Once Mulla Nasruddin’s eldest son ran away from home. The Mulla was very unhappy, but after a while he heard that his son had joined a theatrical company and had become a great actor. Now the Mulla began to praise him.  After some time it was announced that the drama company was coming to the town where the Mulla lived. He bought a dozen first-class tickets and invited all his friends.

He invited me as well. The Mulla wanted everyone to see what a great actor his son had become. He was very excited it was a great occasion for him. On the night of the play we all went to the theater. The play began, but by the time the first act was almost over there was still no sign of the Mulla’s son. The Mulla was perched nervously on the edge of his seat. The first act finished and the second began. The son was not in the second act either.

Now the Mulla began to get a bit upset; he became quite dejected. When the third and final act opened his son was still not on the stage. Near the end of the play, when it was almost time for the curtain and the audience was getting ready to leave, the Mulla’s son appeared on the stage with a gun in his hand. He was playing the part of a sentry. He walked back and forth across the stage in front of a gate. Then the curtain began to fall! He had not spoken a single line!

The Mulla could not take this. He stood up and cried aloud,
”You fool! You may not be allowed to say anything, but at least fire your gun!
The prestige of our house is at stake!”

We educate our children in the ways of prestige, pride and vanity. We admonish them never to do anything that might endanger the prestige of the house, of the family, of the name. How pleased you are when your son stands  first in his class! You teach him not to love, not  to be loving, but when he stands  first at school you receive him with kindness and distribute sweets to your friends and relatives.
Do you know what you are doing?

You tell your son to try always to be first. But only they who know how to be last receive love. You tell him to compete, to fight, to be ambitious, always to be first no matter what the cost. You are teaching your son politics; you are making him into a politician. And now throughout his life, come what may, he will always try to be first. But one day he will realize that he may have stood  first, but that he has lost the real thing: he has lost the ability to love; he has lost the greatest  thing in life.

A politician cannot love anyone. He has no friends. He cannot have any friends. Do you think a politician can have a friend?

How can one who has power and authority have a friend ? All who are near are enemies, awaiting him downfall, always ready to throw her out. That is why a politician makes changes in her Cabinet so often. It is dangerous to keep a person in the same post too long because he will become too sure of himself. Being sure of his position, he will trip him up whenever he gets the chance and knock her down. This is the tactic used by everyone who has ever risen to the top.

How can there be love in politics?

Politics is full of hatred, conflict and competition. When you want your son to be competitive you are indirectly teaching him hatred, antagonism and hostility. You also want your son to amass great wealth – piles and piles of money. But don’t  you know that

the lives of those who acquire great stacks of money are devoid of love? Their lives are empty of  love. Those who have real love in their lives have so much genuine riches they are not crazy enough to pursue this other so-called wealth.

Try to understand this point clearly and carefully. Wealth is a substitute for love, and so you will never find love in the life of a miser. He is a miser because there is no love in him. His substitute for love is his wealth.

If love exists in your life then you know you have spread so much love around that those who have received it will care for you if some difficulty arises in the future. And if there is so much love in your life that it takes the form of prayer, then you know that God will look after you. You will think,

” If He takes such good care of the birds and plants, why should He be displeased with me?”

But if there is no love in your life then you know that there is no one but your bank balance to look after you. Then your only friend is your wealth. If there is no love in your life who will worry about you in your old age? Who will massage your tired feet? Who will help you? Who will support you in your old age? If there is no love in your life, no one will. Then you will only have your money. It will be your only friend. In a miserly, loveless life there is no support, no help but wealth.

So you will find that the heart of a rich man is as lifeless as his grip on his wealth is solid.