Dear Jeyamohan,
I am thinking of giving my children (7 and 4 years old, respectively) a simple introduction to Hinduism, ethics, and philosophy (I am including myself in that simple introduction). Would your books on Hinduism be suitable for them to read and understand? Or would you recommend any other book for beginners?
Thanks.
Arunkumar
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Dear Arun,
Young children do not read or understand any of my works. I have the intention of writing them that way in the future; let’s hope.
You can introduce the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, and the basic Puranas to children. The Amarchitragata series is important in that regard. The books published by Ramakrishna Math are also helpful.
I believe we shouldn’t give children stories that depict intense devotion. This is due to their inability to comprehend the depth of such emotions. Not only that, if we insist on devotion at this age, they may soon become disbelievers.
Similarly, I have seen from experience that stories that emphasize intense devotion and self-sacrifice are not helpful for children. For example, the story of Kannappa Nayanar may mislead them because they do not belong to this modern era; they present the emotions and values of the previous feudal age.
Similarly, youth should steer clear of stories that depict religious wars. For instance, stories about the Jains set fire to Naavukkarasar to kill him. These stories are, in fact, fictitious and, according to today’s values, extremely crude.
Their creation aims to foster devotion by igniting basic emotions. They heavily draw inspiration from Christianity. Christianity builds its saints’ stories in this way. They are not suitable for today’s children.
We can present fantasy stories to children as mere fantasies. Today’s children would not inquire as to how Hanuman was able to fly, as they are aware that Harry Potter is capable of flight.
When distributing books, we can examine all these aspects. We should introduce the method of extracting the basic value from a story.
Jeyamohan
