This Issue
‘Children and Parenting’ being the theme of this issue, we review three books on parenting (all of them published in the year 2000), based on the teachings of Bhagawan Baba.

Sathya Sai Parenting

Rita Bruce

Sri Sathya Sai Books and Publications Trust, available at the Ashram

Matru Devo Bhavah

Pitru Devo Bhavah

These Vedic injunctions extol the mother and father as divine. Implied in this is the immense responsibility that parents need to bear to be worthy of such reverence.

Sathya Sai Parenting is all about proper parenting. Rita Bruce seeks to establish the intimate bond of love and responsibility that exists between parents and children despite the stress of the clamouring crisis in human relationships. Truly, as the author points out ‘children have become parent smart’ with the home losing its significance as a loving sanctuary. Indulgent parenting styles have jeopardized the harmony of home.

The author tries to find a solution to the complexities of the modern lifestyle of parenting in the discourses of Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baba. The urgent need, based on researches and surveys, and as emphasised by Bhagawan, is value-based education mingled with disciplined parenting.

What is interesting is the exhortation to parents to cast away the confused attitude of ownership of their children and shoulder the responsibility of parenting as God- given.

As the reader progresses through the pages of the book, the weighty responsibility of parenting jolts you into a significant awakening. The book is a guide to all parents and would-be-parents answering a volley of questions that plague the modern mind in fulfilling the mission of Bhagawan in the establishment of a Golden Age of a healthier and happier future.

8.5" x 5.5"

250 pages

Paperback

Rs. 160

Upbringing and Education

Gerard T. Satvic

Sai Towers Publishing

"The proper care of children is the foundation of a culture," says Bhagawan Baba and this forms the bottom line of Gerard T. Satvic’s way of living.

Founder of ‘Satva Institute for Spiritual Growth and Health Education’ in Holland, he aims at spreading Universal Knowledge about prevention of disease, development of human personality, human values and upbringing especially among the future parents.

The book under review is an ardent effort in that direction based on the teachings and principles of Bhagawan Baba and supported by a ‘penetrating study’ of the works of Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) from India and Carl G. Jung (1875-1961) the well-known Swiss psychiatrist. The work attaches significant importance to education and parenting in drawing the picture of the future culture of humanity where complete development of human personality is made possible. Personality development is a much talked about subject today. Achievers in different fields of human endeavour are those who have consciously chiselled their personalities. Yet the author feels we are perpetuating a culture, which seriously threatens real freedom because the idea of personality is limited to sheer fulfilment of ones desires, which has become the ultimate goal of man today.

The author focuses on the blossoming of personality as the unification of body, mind and soul — of doing, knowing and becoming — this being the spiritual structure of human personality. Related issues of wholesome food and lifestyle are discussed with value-based education for children forming the crux of the book. The book is indeed a practical guide to all those who wish to tread the spiritual path with a firm step to establish a culture in accordance with the vision of Sai.

9.5" x 6.25"

152 pages

Paperback Rs. 160

Hardbound Rs. 225

Upbringing and Education

Gerard T. Satvic

Sai Towers Publishing

"The proper care of children is the foundation of a culture," says Bhagawan Baba and this forms the bottom line of Gerard T. Satvic’s way of living.

Founder of ‘Satva Institute for Spiritual Growth and Health Education’ in Holland, he aims at spreading Universal Knowledge about prevention of disease, development of human personality, human values and upbringing especially among the future parents.

The book under review is an ardent effort in that direction based on the teachings and principles of Bhagawan Baba and supported by a ‘penetrating study’ of the works of Sri Aurobindo (1872-1950) from India and Carl G. Jung (1875-1961) the well-known Swiss psychiatrist. The work attaches significant importance to education and parenting in drawing the picture of the future culture of humanity where complete development of human personality is made possible. Personality development is a much talked about subject today. Achievers in different fields of human endeavour are those who have consciously chiselled their personalities. Yet the author feels we are perpetuating a culture, which seriously threatens real freedom because the idea of personality is limited to sheer fulfilment of ones desires, which has become the ultimate goal of man today.

The author focuses on the blossoming of personality as the unification of body, mind and soul — of doing, knowing and becoming — this being the spiritual structure of human personality. Related issues of wholesome food and lifestyle are discussed with value-based education for children forming the crux of the book. The book is indeed a practical guide to all those who wish to tread the spiritual path with a firm step to establish a culture in accordance with the vision of Sai.

9.5" x 6.25"

152 pages

Paperback Rs. 160

Hardbound Rs. 225

Human Values: The Heart of Dynamic Parenting

Pal Dhall and Tehseen Dhall

Global Service Publishing, Prasanthi Nilayam,

available at Ashram

Parenting is not only a very challenging task but a most rewarding one. Modern youth confront psychological problems of alienation and rootlessness resulting in suicides and vandalism. The older generation live with a fear of being abandoned and left incarcerated in old-age homes.

The book under review is set against such a backdrop of modern society and seeks to provide solutions to bridge the widening gap between parents and children. The inspiration for the book as the authors proclaim is Sri Sathya Sai Baba’s teachings on human values. Excerpts from Baba’s speeches form the basis of the book.

The authors clearly answer questions like "Why and what for are human values and what is the role of parents in instilling a value-oriented life in their wards?" Family and its cultural context, modern experience of childhood and adolescence, changing roles of men and women as parents and the influence of the rapid inflow of technology have made parenting an uphill task.

The authors feel that human values alone can resolve and straighten out our chaotic existence in society. Baba’s emphasis on Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Non-violence and Love is the guiding factor all through the work. These eternal values perennially replenish the human heart to reach out into higher realms of spirituality. The book is a product of serious and enlightened thought regarding parenting and throws valuable and interesting light on value based parenting responsibility. It categorically states that human values are the heart of parenting…of dynamic parenting

It is a valuable book worthy of finding a place in the hands and hearts of parents.

All reviews by Sai Lakshmi

8.5" x 5.5"

189 pages

Paperback

Rs. 80