Soul Reflections
By Kamal Tolia
Children ….. Little Teachers from God
Part 1 Introduction
Congratulations! It’s a Boy / Girl!! Wonderful news by all accounts even though the whole house will be turned upside down soon! A new baby in the house! What does it stand for? Losing sleep, night feeds and a lot of crying, but equally it stands for lots of love, cuddles and smiles.
What else do children represent? They represent the continuity of Life. Since time immemorial, man has chased after the elixir of immortality. We do not wish to die, we want to live on forever. Well in a way we do: through our children. When we die, we leave behind our children, and so life continues. As Khalil Gibran has said: ‘Your children are life’s longing for itself …..’
The theory of incarnation is based on the belief that every soul is infinite, immortal and part of the Divine. But it thinks it is a finite, mortal being. In the process, it has made many mistakes which it has to undo. Hence it chooses to return in a human form to learn lessons in each lifetime so it can advance closer to the realization that he / she is Divine. Thus it makes sense to believe that each new born child already has a store of information gathered over many lifetimes of learning.
This is the innate wisdom in every child and no child comes with a ‘blank state’ mind. Even the ancient philosophers Plato and Descartes believed that innate ideas and principles are placed in the human mind by a god or higher being or through a process.
In reply to my childhood question ‘where do babies come from’, my mother used to reply quite simply, ‘from God’. What a simple answer, but how true! We truly arrive from the spirit world (God’s world) and are therefore closest to our spiritual self in infancy.
In fact, children are pure miracles, simply by virtue of being born. They are proof that God exists, since it is only God who can give life. Even the whole process of child birth is a miracle. We only need to watch one child being born to realize how awesome God is, and by extension, how awesome a baby is!!!
These little miracles that come to us —- what is the message they carry? They come to tell us there is hope for mankind yet. In spite of the poor state of the world: natural calamities, economic crises, global warming, terrorism, human trafficking and other such calamities and evils, all is not lost. God has not turned away from us, or else why would He / She send us these beautiful little Angels that are a part of Him / Her self?
Every time a baby is born, it is God sending us a message —– I AM HERE. In the words of the great Indian Sage and Guru Rabindranath Tagore ‘Every child comes with a message that God is not yet discouraged of man.’
Let us understand more about these little Angels of God and the lessons they have come to teach us!
Soul Reflections
By Kamal Tolia
Children ….. Little Teachers from God
Part 2 Children’s Pure Auras
The aura we have is an energy field that surrounds our physical body. The aura of little children up to the age of 5 years is violet in colour. Violet is the highest vibration colour closest to the qualities of spirituality. It is associated with the crown chakra at the top of our head which is the most spiritual chakra. The violet colour stands for wisdom, strong intuitive and psychic power and is found in the aura of idealistic, artistic and spiritually evolved beings. As such babies with their violet auras are pure beings from a pure source!
This explains why it feels so good to hold a baby in your arms. Our aura gets this beautiful cloud of violet from the baby making us come closer (even if momentarily) to the Source. Every time we cuddle a baby, we ‘borrow’ this lovely spiritual purity. This gives a new meaning to the reason why everybody wants to hold the baby and the baby is passed on like a parcel when relatives come to see a new born!
Nancy Ann Tappe and other well known Psychics like Doreen Virtue and Celia have written variously about a special group of children that have been born in the last 100 years or so. They are characterized by the appearance of their aura. We have the Indigo children and the Crystal children, so named because their auras show these colours. These children have been found to possess special spiritual abilities and are believed to be highly evolved souls that have come here to enable us to evolve. This can happen because they have played / will play important roles on earth which will result in revolutionary changes for the Good of Mankind. Or it can happen simply by their presence as their spiritual auras will raise the vibrations of the auras of others in their environment.
According to Nancy Tappe, these special children may display
Indigo children:
- Psychic, telepathic or intuitive abilities
- Non conformist to authority or rituals
- Sensitive both emotionally and environmentally
- May be right brain dominated
- Highly spiritually advanced with a desire to benefit humanity
- May have a rebellious attitude or even show ADHD or ADD behaviour
- May display temper issues
- May often be introverts
Crystal Children:
- May often be introverts
- Psychic or clairvoyant
- Possess a peaceful disposition
- May be speech delayed up to four years and may even be autistic
- May be prone to insomnia
- Respond well to energy healing modalities
- May be attracted to meditation
Celia describes the Crystal children thus: they are very connected, communicative and highly sensitive individuals. They are extremely kind to others and often display a care for the behavior of others around them as though it were a personal experience showing their connectedness to ALL
Well, what can I say except that we are indeed blessed to have amongst us these lovely souls with their amazing auras to spread joy, friendship and love of one another.
Soul Reflections
By Kamal Tolia
Children ….. Little Teachers from God
Part 3 Seeing Auras
Seeing auras of people is a gift for some of us but for others it is a mystery. We long to have this gift. The desire to see the auric field and prove that it is made up of colours has led to the invention of machines which capture the human aura in an instant. Babies by contrast, don’t need any machines. They are born with this natural gift of seeing auras.
Babies will often look over and behind a person’s head at their aura. If they do not like the aura of the person picking them up, they will cry and continue to do so, however much the person tries to pacify them. The baby will cry even if the person’s aura is different from the aura of their parents or carer.
At a family and friends gathering long ago, my four year old son watched as we all did, a friend picking up my 6 month old niece who immediately started crying. So he put her back in the pram. After some time he tried to pick her up again and she went bawling again. This happened a few times, much to the chagrin of the friend, until my son, all four years of him, walked up to the friend and quite matter of factly announced: ‘I don’t think she likes you.’ ‘Why?’ asked the friend. ‘You are too dark’ was my son’s explanation. In the embarrassed silence that followed, I apologized for my son and took him aside and chided him ‘you must not say things like that!’ but he insisted that the ‘uncle’ was dark. Only many years later did I understand that he was referring to the man’s aura which he and my niece could see and which we adults could not.
In another case, Little Wairimu, a 6 month old baby girl, was awaiting adoption in an orphanage. And there was a lady interested in adopting her too. Let’s call her Lucy. This should have ended happily, but it didn’t. Prior to adoption, the prospective parent has to spend time with the chosen child on several days, so that the two can bond well. Whenever Lucy came to ‘spend time’ with Wairimu and would pick her up, the little baby would cry. The crying continued throughout the visiting time. It was the same throughout the ‘familiarizing time’ of 2 -4 months. Indeed in the last few sessions, Wairimu would start crying as soon as she saw Lucy, even before the latter could pick her up. Seeing how unhappy Wairimu was with the prospective mother, the orphanage authorities stopped the adoption process. And Thank God they did, because later on it was discovered that the would-be adoptive mother was arrested for being involved in a babies selling racket! Wairimu, Little being of God, in her infinite wisdom was rejecting the evil represented by Lucy again and again!
And so it is with babies and children. They see, feel and know much more than we believe they do!
Soul Reflections
By Kamal Tolia
Children ….. Little Teachers from God
Part 4 Older Children
Right up to the age of five years or even older, children continue to see auras. But because we tend to dismiss their description of people and colours they may stop telling us about the colours they see. But this does not stop them from expressing themselves in colour. When asked to draw their family or friends, children often use colours. If you looked at the drawing, you might wonder where did the orange and blue colour on the face come from? Or what is that colour doing around and over the head?
Sometimes the colours in the drawing of the person may not be contained within the outline of the body. They spread out of the boundary. This is deliberate, the child actually takes pain to extend the colours out of the body so to speak. He depicts what he sees —– the auras of the person or object he is drawing.
According to psychologists, children that persistently colour or paint outside the shape will grow up into very creative individuals. They will also have outstanding skills of ‘thinking outside the box’.
So why don’t all children come out highly creative? Because we adults and elders keep telling them that the paintings in which the colours are spilling out of the outline are untidy and that they must stay within the boundaries. We also praise their ‘neat’ drawings. We are sending and enforcing the message that paintings within the outline are ‘good’, the ones outside the outline are ‘not good’. Slowly the child begins to conform and stops depicting the auras as he sees them. We have seriously curbed the child’s freedom of expression.
Children not only see auras of people, they also see fairies and angels which we as adults do not. Many a time, a child will tell you about a friend that he saw sitting at his bedside when he was ill, or birdie friends that he / she sees flying around and that come to play with him. I have seen a little girl take out her plastic tea set and serve tea to a playmate only she could see. We think this is all the imagination of the children. In truth, it is anything but! These little beings of God are seeing other beings of God which we have lost the ability of seeing as we grew up.
As a child, Pratima (name changed) saw colours around people. She thought everyone did too. When she found out others did not, she thought something was wrong with her eyes. She stopped mentioning it. She even wished she could see like others. And slowly her wish came true. Over the years she started seeing ‘normal’ like others: people only, no colours. Only later she realized what a precious gift she had shunned, just so she could fit in with her peers.
Let us respect children’s special clairvoyant abilities. Even better, let us foster these strengths so they grow up into individuals living up to their full potential!
Soul Reflections
By Kamal Tolia
Children ….. Little Teachers from God
Part 5 Children and God
Having come from God, children intuitively accept the idea of God. You do not need to justify the presence of God for kids to start praying.
Kishan is a three year old boy who is prone to chest colds. He places his hands on his chest whenever he his chest is congested. He has been attuned to Reiki and knows that Reiki comes from God. As he heals himself, he chants the Gayatri Mantra which his mother has taught him: Om Bhur Bhuva Svaha, Tat Savitur Varenyam, Bhargo Devasya Dhi Mahi, Dhiyoyo Naha Prachodayat. The total surrender with which he carries out this act and says the prayer is a marvel to see! He has totally and unconditionally accepted the existence of a healing God. It is no surprise then that his congested chest heals.
Have you watched children at the temple? I have. They come right up to the Moorti, stand and stare at it for a few moments, and then bow down and make their obeisance. Unbelievable as it may sound, I have come across children who say they hear Mata or Ram or Krishna speak to them or see them extend an arm in blessing or that light was coming out of their eyes / hands / heart. So when children stand and stare at the Moortis, it is not an act of rudeness, but a time when special communication is taking place between God and child.
A friend who visited four year old Nikita’s family one day confided that she gets bad dreams. Very coolly and calmly, Nikita walked up to her and offered her a picture of Hanumanji. ‘Keep it with you’ she said. ‘He will protect you and you will sleep well’ she added confidently. Can one argue with this sweet logic? Such is the open trust little children have in God!
And contrary to what we think, death does not have the overpowering fear over children. When her mother passed away, Indira was reluctant to allow her seven year old son Mehul to see his grandmother’s body. Persuaded by her elders, she agreed. After seeing the body, Mehul was quiet for the rest of the day. But the next day, to her surprise and relief, Mehul announced that he knew where Grandma had gone. She had gone up to heaven and then become a star in the sky, watching over him and his dog! Such is the trust this little boy had in the existence of afterlife and that too, without any prompting from adults.
What happens when a child loses a pet? Almost all children accept the death of their pet. Although tears may come and they may need a replacement pet, innately, every child accepts death at a deep level. They know their pet has gone to God / Heaven / the sky. This total acceptance and letting go is what we adults have lost the ability to do.
It does not matter what their age or religious background is, children have an innate acceptance of God and his Goodness.
Soul Reflections
Kamal Tolia
Children …… Little Teachers from God
Part 6 …. First Lesson to learn from Children
Correct Breathing
Breath is Life and Life is Breath. Without breath there is no life.
What does a baby do as soon as it is born? It lets out a cry, filling up its lungs with much needed oxygen. This is usually a natural act, but if it does not happen by itself, then the baby is helped by the doctor who gives it a loving smack on its bottom to facilitate its crying.
After this initial discomfort, the baby starts to breathe on its own. Although still dependant on its mother for nutrition, it is now considered to be an individual being. So important is the first breath of a baby that astrologers mark the time of birth as the time of the baby’s first cry! This is the time used to calculate all astrological data concerning the baby’s life!
Having taken this first gulp of air, the baby settles down to a perfect rhythm of breathing. Its little stomach moves in and out and its chest expands and contracts in an in-breath and out-breath rhythm. As the stomach moves out and the chest expands, the lungs automatically expand downwards and outwards and life supporting air fills them. As the stomach moves in and the chest contracts, stale and unused air is forced out of the lungs. The baby carries out this breath sequence perfectly! No struggle, No haste!
As adults, we have lost this ability to breathe correctly. We breathe too shallow, too fast. Too little oxygen reaches our lungs and ultimately to our organs, tissues and cells. This seriously compromises all life processes in them. Is it any wonder that we fall sick?
Shallow, fast breathing is what the body would do under stress. When we continuously breathe incorrectly, the body reads it as a continuous state of stress and responds by producing stress hormones continuously, which further make us breathe shallow and fast …… the cycle goes on. This can result in stress diseases like heart problems, high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, etc which as we all know can have serious consequences.
So what is the way out of this vicious cycle? We need to re learn how to breathe! For this purpose, some of us attend Pranayama or Breathwork classes. We go to teachers to learn Ujjayi Breathing, Anulome – Vilome, Kapal Bhatti etc.
But we have simply overlooked what is right under our noses! Babies, little Teachers from God, can teach us our first lesson: How to breathe! If we could only watch a baby breathing as he / she sleeps AND COPY THEM, we would breathe correctly!
Once we have the correct breathing rhythm embedded in our life style, we can say goodbye to stress and hello to good health! Once we learn to breathe like a baby, we will even be able to sleep like a baby! No worry, no stress! What more could we ask for!?
Soul Reflections
Kamal Tolia
Children …… Little Teachers from God
Part 7 …. Second Lesson to learn from Children
Children truly live in the moment. In my teaching career I have been privileged to witness this many times. Just watch them at play in the sand pit / at the swings / in the playground at school or at home. If a child gets hurt, he / she may cry for a while, but as soon as they can, they get back to the play. They do not spend a minute longer than necessary on what has happened or the pain they felt. They go back to the game going on NOW.
Even older children of 6 – 8 years do not keep a grudge for long. Girls of this age group may call each other names but will sooner or later get back to the present and enjoy their game once more. Boys in this category may have a fisti – cuff to settle a score, but when that is done, they are back to enjoying playing with each other.
No dwelling in the past, what they live in is the present —- every moment of it! And what do we adults do? The exact opposite. We spend most of our waking moments thinking about our past and the mistakes we made or who hurt us, etc. or worrying about the future. In between the past and the future, we lose the present moment!
One day, Suresh, a father of two, asked his 6 year old son Yogesh whether he had any memories of his past lives. Yogesh looked him straight in the eye and answered it would be better if he (Suresh), focused on what was happening in his own life right now instead of digging into his (Yogesh’s) past!! Such profound wisdom coming from a six year old! Truly, children are our Gurus in disguise!
In another incident, Punita was grieving over the death of her sister in law who had just succumbed to cancer. It was a very painful loss as they had been very close. In the midst of the heavy, sad atmosphere in the house, her 8 year old son Pranav came up to her and said ‘Mummy, don’t be sad. Aunty has gone, but she will come again. You have to die to be born again, Mummy’. Who can argue with this sweet logic? Punita couldn’t help but smile at her little teacher and hug him. According to her, that was the turning point in her grief. She was able to accept the death of her sister in law, let go of the past, and start living in the present. She could be healed of her grief.
Here is the second lesson we can learn from children. Let go of the attachment to the past. What happened and what didn’t. Who did what to us and who didn’t. Let go of our attachment to the future too, what might or might not happen. Only then can we enjoy living in the present.
Soul Reflections
Kamal Tolia
Children …… Little Teachers from God
Part 8 …. Third Lesson to learn from Children
Expressing our emotions freely.
A psychologist living in the UK shared an incident she had witnessed in a park. It was summer, and the park was full of excited voices of children playing. Some were kicking a ball, others were on the swings, and still others were riding their bikes at the edge of the park.
One such group was playing by themselves. On a bench nearby, was an old man, sitting forlornly by himself. He was lost in his thoughts, but one could see the sadness in his face. A little girl from the group, perhaps 4 years old, suddenly left her group and walked up to the old man. She climbed on to the bench and hugged him. The hug lasted a good 2 – 3 minutes. She then got off the bench and went back to playing with her friends.
Not a word was exchanged between the man and the girl. But the act of being loved by somebody without any conditions attached was enough to make the man cry. The tears came and with them the emotional release he needed to heal. That done, the old man got up and walked away with a smile.
Such spontaneous acts come naturally to children. Intuitively they pick up on the emotions that others around them are feeling and they act accordingly.
Children express their emotions without inhibitions. If they are happy, they laugh freely, without worrying about what others will think about how they are laughing. If they are sad, they cry openly, without feeling ashamed of crying.
It is us adults that stifle this freedom of expression in children by telling them: “ Sh Sh ….. don’t laugh so loudly ….” Or “stop crying, you are a big boy / girl … big boys / girls don’t cry ….”
We suppress them just as we were suppressed in childhood. Not allowing ourselves to express our emotions can have disastrous consequences. We can become introverts. Our relationships can be compromised. We may even find it difficult to relate with anyone!
Not expressing our emotions freely leads to their build up in our body, making us ill.
But, you might say, we know all that … at the root of every disease is a negative emotion. The question is what can we do about it? The tragic fact is that having suppressed our emotions for so long, it is not easy to just reverse the process and start expressing them right away.
But we can make a start. And who better to guide us than children?! Laugh freely, and cry even more freely! Be sensitive to other peoples’ feelings. Tell the ones you love that you love them. Show them by hugging them and see how they reciprocate by loving you and hugging you back! As children, we had this ability to express our emotions freely. It is still within us. It is just dormant, not dead. We can awaken it!
Soul Reflections
Kamal Tolia
Children …… Little Teachers from God
Part 9 …. Fourth Lesson to learn from Children
Unconditional Acceptance
Do you remember your first day at school? Everything was exciting and frightening at the same time! A new place, new people, new books, a new desk and chair!
There were more little kiddos like you in the class. There were maybe 30 or 40 or even 60 altogether! You didn’t know their names of course. But how long did it take you make friends with them? Not long, I bet!
And did you ask them what religion they followed before you made friends with them? Did you even notice their colour? Were they white, black, brown, yellow or green? Did you even care if they were rich or poor? Whether they came from a high class family or low class family?
I think I speak for all when I say the answer to all the above questions is an emphatic NO!! None of us cared about these factors as a child. We made friends with anybody and everybody, full stop. And in many cases, the friends we made in childhood became our lifelong friends! Many of us feel that true friendship is only experienced in childhood, because it is minus any ulterior motives.
Then as we grew older, we became victims of social prejudices and in the process, created some brand new ones of our own. We followed the examples set by our families and elders and repeated their mistakes and adopted their religious, race, social and economic preferences. Some races were good, others were bad, we decided. Some we should keep friends with, others not, we decided. Some were worthy of our love and attention, others not, we decided.
Is it any wonder then, that our world is populated with hatred, anger, intolerance, lack of love? Is it any wonder that we have no lasting peace in most parts of the world?
In this hugely unpleasant world of our creation, we would do well to remember that a child will never choose his friends based on the caste and creed of the person. He / she has no prejudice against a religion, skin colour, social status or economic background. A child will simply love someone for who they are, not for what they appear to be. This is the Godly quality they possess, for only God is known to love all his children without prejudice i. e. unconditionally.
Here then is the third lesson we need to relearn from children: Be accepting of all people all the time. Be accepting of all people of all religions, caste, race, UNCONDITIONALLY. Do not have a superiority complex or an inferiority one. No thinking that My God is better, bigger, more powerful than Your God!
If the world became even half as unconditionally accepting of everybody as a child naturally is, there would be no wars, terrorism, religious conflicts. They would become a thing of the past and stay there where they belong!
Soul Reflections
Kamal Tolia
Children …… Little Teachers from God
Part 10 ……. Conclusion
All of us were babies and children once. We all had a pure aura and had the ability to see auras. We were clairvoyant and psychic. We knew the correct way to breathe, we lived in the moment and we expressed our emotions freely. We even accepted and loved others unconditionally.
But as we grew up we changed and lost all our God given abilities. We live in the past or worry about the future and therefore lose the NOW. We have lost the skills of expressing our feelings. We cannot love freely, cry openly, show our gratitude sincerely or even appreciate these qualities in others. All that we see in others is the difference between them and us …. their looks, their beliefs, their backgrounds.
Everybody is guilty of doing this …. every adult. Has this behavior and attitude made for a better family structure, better society, nation or world? Sadly, the answer is NO. One doesn’t have to have a PhD in human relations to understand that our world is populated with distrust, intolerance, hatred, selfishness and greed.
This then is the world we have helped create. Each of us is partly responsible. Little do we know that what we have created ultimately comes back to us only. We are the ones who are ultimately not at peace. We are not happy.
What is the way out of this? The answer is to go back to being a child. That does not mean to become childish. It means to become child – like. Only then will you be able to get back the qualities you once had as a child. You will be able to let go of the past, forgive freely, accept unconditionally and love everyone unconditionally.
But that is easier said than done. We really can’t turn the clock back. Nor do we need to. We only want to revive the beautiful qualities we had in us, which are still in us, albeit unused and rusty.
The best way to do this is to spend time with babies and children ….. your own, your relative’s, your neighbour’s, your friend’s. If you are a grandparent, spend more time with your grandchildren. Watch them play with each other, or better still, play with them.
Angela Schmidt says: While we try to teach our children all about life, Our children teach us what life is all about. And Jesus Christ: Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven … Mathew 18:3.
Let us honour our children. Let us see in them the Gurus they are. Let us relearn from them all that we have unlearned as we grew up. Let us remember to see the God in them and by extension, the God in everybody else. Therein lies our salvation and ultimately the solution to a better world.
