How to keep the magic alive?
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Hello everybody!
Today, my son told my wife he wanted to meet "Unnikrishnan" (The child Krishna)in the flesh. When my wife told him that it was not possible, that Krishna was God and is everywhere, he started wandering around asking "Is he here? Here? HERE?" in different places. Ultimately, unable to bear his pestering, my wife was forced to say that it is not possible to see God and it was only a belief.
So his next question was "Then who is starring in the TV serial?" (There is a popular serial about Krishna in the local TV now). My wife told it's just a boy like him...he was shocked. He asked:"Does he go to school then?"
My wife e-mailed me the whole conversation verbatim (I'm in Abu Dhabi). She's unhappy he's losing the magic of childhood.
My question is: how to keep the magic alive without lying?
Your suggestions please...
Nandu.
Today, my son told my wife he wanted to meet "Unnikrishnan" (The child Krishna)in the flesh. When my wife told him that it was not possible, that Krishna was God and is everywhere, he started wandering around asking "Is he here? Here? HERE?" in different places. Ultimately, unable to bear his pestering, my wife was forced to say that it is not possible to see God and it was only a belief.
So his next question was "Then who is starring in the TV serial?" (There is a popular serial about Krishna in the local TV now). My wife told it's just a boy like him...he was shocked. He asked:"Does he go to school then?"
My wife e-mailed me the whole conversation verbatim (I'm in Abu Dhabi). She's unhappy he's losing the magic of childhood.
My question is: how to keep the magic alive without lying?
Your suggestions please...
Nandu.
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu
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Nandu, leave answers open ended. Allow his imagination to work the problem.
"I don't know" isn't necessarily a lie. A child's experience of divinity isn't the same as an adult's, no?
People do have visions, children even more so, I think.
Let me tell you a story I don't think I've shared here:
He is, perhaps, four years old at home with his mother in their garden apartment living room. Sunshine streams in through the window. Something is about to happen. He knows this. He doesn’t wonder about it as that would have been an older thing to do. It just is, and that is usually good enough for a four year old.
He gazes through the window into a humid sky filled with billowing, cumulus clouds. His mother is vacuuming the carpet behind him. He doesn’t wait long. There, in the hazy cleft between two clouds a shadowy silhouette walks briskly from behind one to the other. The form, there and gone, had definite features: a long robe-like garment and a head with a bearded chin and shoulder length hair surrounded by a halo.
“Busy,” was the impression the boy felt from the figure. He smiles as a feeling like Christmas morning or snuggling with his mother or going to the beach all rolled into one starts to fill him up. The feeling passes those, leaves them behind. He giggles.
“I saw Jesus in the clouds,” says the boy to his mother.
“That’s nice,” his mother replies. She’s busy too.
She didn’t believe him. He didn’t care. It didn’t matter. He laughs and jumps about the room as if gravity was losing its hold. It’s the only way he can release what he feels. If he didn’t he might float away and bounce around on the ceiling.
His mother, however, feels otherwise. He is definitely in the way and a distraction and acting strange.
“Sit down on the couch!” she says, mildly exasperated. He sits. It’s okay. This doesn’t bother him either. Nothing can bother him. He has something special. He doesn’t even know what it is and that matters not at all. He sits and smiles and giggles.
His mother lowers the Venetian blind for cleaning and the light pours through the slats painting bars of light on the wall next to him, each bar a brilliant, primary color. This is a parting gift, like candy. He looks in amazement from the wall to the window to see if the colors are there too. They aren’t. He looks back to the wall where the colored bars remain for a moment, then slowly fade to sunlight.
The end.
Twenty years later the grown boy relates this, for the first time to anyone, to his oldest brother who, amazingly, recalls their mother mentioning it to him at the time.
So, Nandu, I would say the best adult answer to such a question would be, "Just wait. Who knows?"
Cheers,
Michael
"I don't know" isn't necessarily a lie. A child's experience of divinity isn't the same as an adult's, no?
People do have visions, children even more so, I think.
Let me tell you a story I don't think I've shared here:
He is, perhaps, four years old at home with his mother in their garden apartment living room. Sunshine streams in through the window. Something is about to happen. He knows this. He doesn’t wonder about it as that would have been an older thing to do. It just is, and that is usually good enough for a four year old.
He gazes through the window into a humid sky filled with billowing, cumulus clouds. His mother is vacuuming the carpet behind him. He doesn’t wait long. There, in the hazy cleft between two clouds a shadowy silhouette walks briskly from behind one to the other. The form, there and gone, had definite features: a long robe-like garment and a head with a bearded chin and shoulder length hair surrounded by a halo.
“Busy,” was the impression the boy felt from the figure. He smiles as a feeling like Christmas morning or snuggling with his mother or going to the beach all rolled into one starts to fill him up. The feeling passes those, leaves them behind. He giggles.
“I saw Jesus in the clouds,” says the boy to his mother.
“That’s nice,” his mother replies. She’s busy too.
She didn’t believe him. He didn’t care. It didn’t matter. He laughs and jumps about the room as if gravity was losing its hold. It’s the only way he can release what he feels. If he didn’t he might float away and bounce around on the ceiling.
His mother, however, feels otherwise. He is definitely in the way and a distraction and acting strange.
“Sit down on the couch!” she says, mildly exasperated. He sits. It’s okay. This doesn’t bother him either. Nothing can bother him. He has something special. He doesn’t even know what it is and that matters not at all. He sits and smiles and giggles.
His mother lowers the Venetian blind for cleaning and the light pours through the slats painting bars of light on the wall next to him, each bar a brilliant, primary color. This is a parting gift, like candy. He looks in amazement from the wall to the window to see if the colors are there too. They aren’t. He looks back to the wall where the colored bars remain for a moment, then slowly fade to sunlight.
The end.
Twenty years later the grown boy relates this, for the first time to anyone, to his oldest brother who, amazingly, recalls their mother mentioning it to him at the time.
So, Nandu, I would say the best adult answer to such a question would be, "Just wait. Who knows?"
Cheers,
Michael
Give me stories before I go mad! ~Andreas
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The truth hurts. But something tells me it hurts mother more than child. Children are more resilient then us older models.She's unhappy he's losing the magic of childhood.
My question is: how to keep the magic alive without lying?
-Nandu
In America we make a special pilgrimage to a place specifically designed to ‘keep the magic alive’. It’s called, appropriately, the Magic Kingdom – better know as Disneyland.
At Disneyland the parent looks to the child for clues as to how to feel rather than the other way round. And when the feeling of magic is successfully transferred from child to parent, the parent experiences a temporary refuge from samsara.
Nandu,
There is a very famous editorial in the USA. It's called Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus. Perhaps you might get an idea or two from it.
aecleo
There is a very famous editorial in the USA. It's called Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus. Perhaps you might get an idea or two from it.
aecleo
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Nandu, I am a teacher, and I don't think this is over the head of any child. If anything, it's under the head of many adults!On 2006-04-23 06:12, nandu wrote:
Actually, I told my wife to tell my son that Krishna was inside his heart: just think about him long enough, and he'll see him. But my wife fears it'll be over his head.
Nandu.
I think that that is exactly how to keep the magic alive: by showing him where it is found. Didn't Hannumanji show us that the heart is where God is manifest? If your son wants to know God in the flesh, then his own heart is the best place he should look. Your advice is golden.
Perhaps your wife, if she does not see Krishna in her own heart, sees him in your son... or soon will when he begins to find Krishna alive and well in his heart.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: RavenHeart on 2006-04-25 19:27 ]</font>
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Nanduji
The Devas are as real as we are. Now the question is how real are we. Maya covers the truth in everything. It is very good to tell him Lord Krishna is in his heart of hearts. The guha not the pump. Tell him he is to invite Sri Krishna to reside there. And if he practices bhakti with one pointed devotion He can see Him. And tell him if he studies the Gita all His life it will continually amaze him how close Krishna can become to him. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare - Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
Don't ever take the magic from him. Tell he will learn to see with divine eyes and he will. That is the way to transcend Maya. It is with devotion. Slowly teach him puja. You and Your blessed Devi Wife are his first Gurus. Do not hide the light of the Sanaatana Dharma, proclaim it.
Jai Maa
Jai Bhagavan
Love baba janaardana kalianandaswami
_________________
Sivo'ham
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: baba on 2006-05-03 10:29 ]</font>
The Devas are as real as we are. Now the question is how real are we. Maya covers the truth in everything. It is very good to tell him Lord Krishna is in his heart of hearts. The guha not the pump. Tell him he is to invite Sri Krishna to reside there. And if he practices bhakti with one pointed devotion He can see Him. And tell him if he studies the Gita all His life it will continually amaze him how close Krishna can become to him. Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare - Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
Don't ever take the magic from him. Tell he will learn to see with divine eyes and he will. That is the way to transcend Maya. It is with devotion. Slowly teach him puja. You and Your blessed Devi Wife are his first Gurus. Do not hide the light of the Sanaatana Dharma, proclaim it.
Jai Maa
Jai Bhagavan
Love baba janaardana kalianandaswami
_________________
Sivo'ham
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: baba on 2006-05-03 10:29 ]</font>
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baba,
I am not a believer in the traditional "God" up there in the clouds. But recently, I have found the spiritual journey to be inward, and it is a worthwhile voyage.
I have started writing a novel about Krishna. Now, he has become an obsession with me, my personal deity even...this dark god with a mischeivous smile whom you can love as a child, lover, mentor, friend or as the whole universe in the Vishwa Rupa. I hear that this happens everybody who touches Krishna.
Truly, there is magic in that flute.
Nandu.
I am not a believer in the traditional "God" up there in the clouds. But recently, I have found the spiritual journey to be inward, and it is a worthwhile voyage.
I have started writing a novel about Krishna. Now, he has become an obsession with me, my personal deity even...this dark god with a mischeivous smile whom you can love as a child, lover, mentor, friend or as the whole universe in the Vishwa Rupa. I hear that this happens everybody who touches Krishna.
Truly, there is magic in that flute.
Nandu.
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu
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Hello everybody,
My family has joined me in Abu Dhabi so the unit is together again.
It is my duty to put our son to sleep. He needs a story every day: and I am happy to provide. Last night, the talk again came round to "Unnikrishnan".
I taught him a mantra I used to chant as a boy to keep away nightmares. The last line says: "Let Krishna protect me in bed". He immediately asked: "Where is Krishna"
Myself: He's near you.
Son: Where? I can't see.
Myself: He's in your heart. Close your eyes and you can see him.
(He closes his eyes)
Myself: Now?
Son: Yes...
Myself: How does he look?
Son: Dark, with peacock feathers in his hair, flute in hand...
Myself: Is he smiling?
Son: Yes.
Myself: Give him a kiss...
Which he did with great gusto, not one but several.
The magic is back!
Nandu.
My family has joined me in Abu Dhabi so the unit is together again.
It is my duty to put our son to sleep. He needs a story every day: and I am happy to provide. Last night, the talk again came round to "Unnikrishnan".
I taught him a mantra I used to chant as a boy to keep away nightmares. The last line says: "Let Krishna protect me in bed". He immediately asked: "Where is Krishna"
Myself: He's near you.
Son: Where? I can't see.
Myself: He's in your heart. Close your eyes and you can see him.
(He closes his eyes)
Myself: Now?
Son: Yes...
Myself: How does he look?
Son: Dark, with peacock feathers in his hair, flute in hand...
Myself: Is he smiling?
Son: Yes.
Myself: Give him a kiss...
Which he did with great gusto, not one but several.
The magic is back!
Nandu.
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu