A childlike heart

Because a child lives in the heart, he always feels that his mother or his father will take care of him. All the time he feels that there is protection, there is guidance, there is assistance. So naturally he has confidence in his life. Because he is always in the heart, he feels that there is no need which his parents will not fulfil. If he lived in the mind, he would immediately think, "Oh, perhaps my father will not be able to do this. Perhaps my mother will not be there to help me." Then he would become fearful, doubtful and anxious. But a child does not live in the mind. Similarly, if you want to have a childlike spirit, no matter how old you are, you have to feel that there is Someone with infinitely more Wisdom-Light who is constantly thinking of you, guiding you and protecting you, and that this Person is God.

He who cares more for the intellect than for the heart, he who cares more for the outer achievement than for the inner achievement, he who cares more for society around him than for God within him, can never act like a child. A true child lives all the time in the heart, whereas a grown-up is all the time in the mind. In the mind there is no love. Real love can be found only inside the flower-heart. The flower-heart tries all the time to make others happy. Because God has the flower-heart of a child, He is trying all the time to make us happy. A child's flower-heart is a divine heart. If we remain in the outer world, we see children as ordinary human beings. But if we go within, then we immediately see that children embody all the divine qualities of God. At that time we see children as true miracles — as divine instruments, as flowers of God.

It is especially the parents who have to see their children in this way. If the parents feel that their children are flowers of God, then the parents will make the children not only feel this but also grow into this. It is the parents who, right from the beginning, have to see the divinity in their children and make their children see the divinity within themselves. That is the parents' supreme role. It is not enough for the parents to feed and clothe their children and send them to school. No, the parents must take responsibility for bringing out their children's divine qualities.

All children can and must be reached spiritually. It is infinitely easier to reach children spiritually than to reach them any other way. For children are nothing but fresh and beautiful flowers ready to be placed on the altar of God the Truth, God the Light and God the Delight.

From:Sri Chinmoy,A child's heart and a child's dreams, Aum Publications, 1986
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