How do you explain to a 5-year old the law of karma after he crushes a snail to bits?

[krsna]

I tried to explain that karma , the natural law of action and reaction, is there - that if you do a bad thing to someone, you'll get something bad happen to you. And in this particular case, "You my little boy will get crushed!"

 

But then he adds that nothing happened to him after the last time he crushed a snail ?

 

Should I recite to him the story of King Nrga?

[Guest guest]

hehe - he's only 5 remember /images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

My dad taught me the law of karma of sorts around that age too... he explained that if i do something bad or good at some point in my life or next i will get the reaction.

 

Like Postman Pat - i don;t know if thius cartoon still shows on tv but basically this man is a postman. So you write your own letter (your actions) and address it to yourself. God is like the postman. He delivers it to you. If you wrote something good or bad you cannot blame the postman - you wrote it yourself. So actions are like writing letters to yourself - if you want something nice to open then only do nice things.

 

If a child says "but nothing happened last time i crushed a snail" - that is GREAT /images/graemlins/smile.gif that is good inquisition. Some adults wouldn't even argue like this. You explain to him that this is only one life. There are more afterwards - it would be easier to explain if there is an elder in the family. You say after they go they go into another body. And that body might be that of a snail. OK so this isn't entirely accurate, but lets remember its a 5 yr old!

[theist]

That's very good. I got something out of that myself. Also try to draw out the child's natural tendency to love small creatures and not to treat them like objects.

 

I still vividly remember mistreating harmless snakes. One time I was swinging this little snake around and I put him in this large hole. I remember him looking up at me as if he was asking me why I was so cruel. I still remember that terrible feeling I had very vividly. I never mistreated another small snake. The idea of karma never entered my mind.

[mahoney]

Trying tpo explain Karmic law to a 5 yr old is sheer stupidity.When all the grown up adults around us cant even define the soul ,how the hell do you expect a 5 yr old to understand such an abstruse topic.

 

In childhood all of us have killed insects and animals through ignorance. It does not mean that an act done out of ignorance,

no matter however heinous the crime may be ,should be punishable by human law or Gods law.

 

Let the child live his own life.Please dont pester him with inanities

[krsna]

Yes, I needed to hear that. You're such a sweet devotee!!!

[mahoney]

I am sorry I did not mean to hurt your feelings or anger you in any remote way. I feel that children should be taught ina simple way that hurting other living beings is bad. Thats all

I am not advocating that children should be bad or cruel .

 

 

[Guest guest]

I tell her that she got in the way of where the bug was going. Now she has to deal with the mess she made. A slug is on its way to devour dog stool, and will be gone soon enough, slow but steady.

 

It works, now she picks them up with a napkin and drops them on dog stool, shes happy, slugs happy, and Im happy.

 

Karma is quite relative, what do you tell a small child who breathes, devouring countless universes, some populated with human beings, like the valakhilyas. Even mrgrari, who became so pure that he brushed ants out of his way, still slapped the unseen victims of our very lives.

 

Torturing little animals is not condoned here, but it is innocent curiosity that is going on. We use it as a lesson in biology. I know she wont be torturing any yellow jackets, sho wont slap a pit bull in the nose like she does our worthless mutt. Nature is the best teacher of action and reaction, but using the word "karma" like the christians use the world hell is ridiculous. Who cares for such things. All evil is replaced, no one can get rid of bad habits without good activities to replace them.. Re-engage the soul, and let god do the punishing.

 

Hare Krsna, ys, mahaksadasa PS I tore the head off a chupacabra once, and didnt feel the slightest guilt for doing so. My son has been told to love the Iraqis and middle-easterners, but to slice them down without apology if they attempt to kill innocent people.