Guest guest Posted December 29, 1999 Report Share Posted December 29, 1999 On 26 Dec 1999, Sraddha dd wrote: > As far as I am concerned, to leave children without parents at such an early age is a kind of emotional abuse. That's from my own personal > experience. > Ys. Sraddha dd I don't believe it is absolutely required that a 5 year old boy needs to be bereft of his parents in order to become Krsna consciousness. Sounds like like it could be a fanatical understanding of the gurukula principle. Still, in the old days, I can at least theoretically appreciate how as a society of young spiritual idealists with little experience or training in any feild -- that might have been the best of what might otherwise have been consired a number of undesirable options. Again, if Vedic culture is the standard, it appears that the gurukula was generally run by a village brahman, someone with whom the various families involved probably had trusted relations for many generations. Under such circumstances, the young boys would thus remain in their familiar village enviroment, often seeing their parents in the village on a daily basis. That almost sounds better than my old summer camp, where young boys spend up to 8 weeks away seeing their parents maybe only once. Also, it would seem the village brahman gurukula was run on the charity of the parents, so there would be some kind of natural checks and balance system in play with regards to the various activities involving the children. Certainly if some unsavory actions were discovered, the reputation of the entire brahman's family would be lost along with their carear and livelihood in that village, where again, they may have resided for a number of generations. So while the gurukula experience is considered desirable, it may not be absolutely required. For instance, I never went to gurukula! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 30, 1999 Report Share Posted December 30, 1999 On Tue, 28 Dec 1999, WWW: Sthita-dhi-muni (Dasa) SDG (Alachua FL - USA) wrote: > [Text 2892489 from COM] > > On 26 Dec 1999, Sraddha dd wrote: > > > As far as I am concerned, to leave children without parents at such an > early age is a kind of emotional abuse. That's from my own personal > > experience. > > Ys. Sraddha dd > > > I don't believe it is absolutely required that a 5 year old boy needs to be > bereft of his parents in order to become Krsna consciousness. Sounds like like > it could be a fanatical understanding of the gurukula principle. > > Still, in the old days, I can at least theoretically appreciate how as a > society of young spiritual idealists with little experience or training in any > feild -- that might have been the best of what might otherwise have been > consired a number of undesirable options. > > Again, if Vedic culture is the standard, it appears that the gurukula was > generally run by a village brahman, someone with whom the various families > involved probably had trusted relations for many generations. Under such > circumstances, the young boys would thus remain in their familiar village > enviroment, often seeing their parents in the village on a daily basis. That > almost sounds better than my old summer camp, where young boys spend up to 8 > weeks away seeing their parents maybe only once. > > Also, it would seem the village brahman gurukula was run on the charity of the > parents, so there would be some kind of natural checks and balance system in > play with regards to the various activities involving the children. Certainly > if some unsavory actions were discovered, the reputation of the entire > brahman's family would be lost along with their carear and livelihood in that > village, where again, they may have resided for a number of generations. > > So while the gurukula experience is considered desirable, it may not be > absolutely required. For instance, I never went to gurukula! The other thing that you forgot to mention was that the young children were not cut off from nurturing motherly affection which young children need to develop in an emotionally healthy manner. Not only did they see their own mother in the village from time to time, but also they had exchange with the wife of the brahmana teacher. This no doubt had a softening and civilizing effect on the whole situation. It appears that the wife of a brahmana was treated like a mother, as Manu advises. For example, we read of Krsna and Sudama being requested by their guru's wife to go and fetch some firewood. This is a typical family chore that any mother might have her son do. (In fact, I've even asked my own son to do this while we were on a camping trip.) The presence of this wife and de facto mother to the boys also seems like a helpful guard (though not a guarantee) against child abuse. your servant, Hare Krsna dasi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 31, 1999 Report Share Posted December 31, 1999 On 29 Dec 1999, Hare Krsna dasi wrote: > > The presence of this wife and de facto mother to the boys also seems like a helpful guard (though not a guarantee) against child abuse. > > your servant, > > Hare Krsna dasi > I am sure even Guru Krsna will agree that woman are good for some things! .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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