Raising children

When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’

Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.

Even if they raise their children, I will bereave them of each one. Yes, woe be to them when I turn away from them!

For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children,

He has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: ‘You are My Son; today I have become Your Father.’

Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

Reish Lakish raised an objection to Rabbi Yoḥanan from a mish-na (Para 3:2): Courtyards were built in Jerusalem on stone, and beneath these courtyards there was a hollow space due to the concern that there was a lost grave in the depths. The space served as a barrier preventing the impurity from reaching the courtyards above. And they would bring pregnant women, and those women would give birth in those courtyards. And those women would raise their children there, thereby ensuring that the children never became impure. This would enable the children to assist in the rite of the red heifer.

The Sages taught: With regard to the women who raise their children for the red heifer, i.e., who would raise their children in special places so that they would live their entire lives up to that point in a state of ritual purity, enabling them to draw the water for the purposes of the ritual of the red heifer, these women would take their wages from the collection of the chamber. Abba Shaul said: Their wages would not come from the collection of the chamber. Instead, wealthy and prominent women of Jerusalem would sustain them and provide them with a livelihood.

And Rabbi Berekhya said: If a person sees that Torah is ceasing from his children, and they are not becoming Torah scholars like himself, he should marry the daughter of a Torah scholar. This will ensure that his children from her will be raised with Torah, as it is stated: “Though its root will grow old in the earth, and its trunk will die in the ground,

Allah made a covenant of old with the Children of Israel and We raised among them twelve chieftains, and Allah said: Lo! I am with you. If ye establish worship and pay the poor-due, and believe in My messengers and support them, and lend unto Allah a kindly loan, surely I shall remit your sins, and surely I shall bring you into Gardens underneath which rivers flow. Whoso among you disbelieveth after this will go astray from a plain road

And when the children among you come to puberty then let them ask leave even as those before them used to ask it. Thus Allah maketh clear His revelations for you. Allah is Knower, Wise

Wealth and children are an ornament of the life of the world. But the good deeds which endure are better in thy Lord's sight for reward, and better in respect of hope

Narrated Abu Saʿid Al-Khudri: as above (the sub narrators are different). Abu Huraira qualified the three children referred to in the above mentioned Hadith as not having reached the age of committing sins (i.e. age of puberty)

Narrated Abu Saʿid: A woman came to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and said, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! Men (only) benefit by your teachings, so please devote to us from (some of) your time, a day on which we may come to you so that you may teach us of what Allah has taught you." Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Gather on such-and-such a day at suchand- such a place." They gathered and Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) came to them and taught them of what Allah had taught him. He then said, "No woman among you who has lost her three children (died) but that they will screen her from the Fire." A woman among them said, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! If she lost two children?" She repeated her question twice, whereupon the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Even two, even two, even two!" (See Hadith No. 341, Vol)

Narrated Ibn ʿAbbas: (In the Pre-Islamic Period ) the children used to inherit all the property but the parents used to inherit only through a will. So Allah cancelled that which He liked to cancel and put decreed that the share of a son was to be twice the share of a daughter, and for the parents one-sixth for each one of them, or one third, and for the wife one-eighth or one-fourth, and for the husband one-half, or one-fourth

Teachers, fathers, grandfathers, sons, grandsons, uncles, fathers-in-law, brothers-in-law, and other relatives.

In the light of wisdom, our ancestors who sought deliverance performed their acts. Act thou also as our fathers of old did.

Serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity, forgiveness, uprightness, knowledge, wisdom, and faith in God—these constitute the duty of a spiritual teacher.

The disciple asked: O Master, teach me the Upanishad. (The teacher replied:) The Upanishad has been taught thee. We have certainly taught thee the Upanishad about Brahman.

When taught by a man of inferior understanding, this Atman cannot be truly known, even though frequently thought upon. There is no way (to know It) unless it is taught by another (an illumined teacher), for it is subtler than the subtle and beyond argument. O Dearest, this Atman cannot be attained by argument; It is truly known only when taught by another (a wise teacher). O Nachiketas, thou hast attained It. Thou art fixed in Truth. May we ever, find a questioner like thee.

Children (the ignorant) pursue external pleasures; (thus) they fall into the wide- spread snare of death. But the wise, knowing the nature of immortality, do not seek the permanent among fleeting things.

The gift of the teaching surmounts all other gifts; the taste of the teaching surmounts all other tastes; the joy of the teaching surmounts all other joys; the ending of craving surmounts all suffering.

You’re not one who has memorized the teaching just because you recite a lot. Someone who directly sees the teaching after hearing only a little is truly one who has memorized the teaching, for they can never forget it.

Through joy in the teaching you sleep at ease, with clear and confident heart. An astute person always delights in the teaching proclaimed by the Noble One.

‘Divinity’ is a term for your parents. ‘First tutors’ is a term for your parents. ‘Elder gods’ is a term for your parents. ‘Worthy of an offering dedicated to the gods’ is a term for your parents. Why is that? Parents are very helpful to their children, they raise them, nurture them, and show them the world. Parents are said to be ‘Divinity’ and ‘first tutors’. They’re worthy of offerings dedicated to the gods <j>from their children, for they love their offspring.

“Mendicants, a family where the children honor their parents in their home is said to live with divinity. A family where the children honor their parents in their home is said to live with the first tutors. A family where the children honor their parents in their home is said to live with those worthy of offerings dedicated to the gods. ‘Divinity’ is a term for your parents. ‘First tutors’ is a term for your parents. ‘Worthy of offerings dedicated to the gods’ is a term for your parents. Why is that? Parents are very helpful to their children, they raise them, nurture them, and show them the world.

33 “Mendicants, I say that these two individuals cannot easily be repaid. What two? Mother and father. You would not have done enough to repay your mother and father even if you were to carry your mother around on one shoulder and your father on the other, and if you lived like this for a hundred years, and if you were to anoint, massage, bathe, and rub them; and even if they were to defecate and urinate right there. Even if you were to establish your mother and father as supreme monarchs of this great earth, abounding in the seven treasures, you would still not have done enough to repay them. Why is that? Parents are very helpful to their children: they raise them, nurture them, and show them the world. But you have done enough, more than enough, to repay them if you encourage, settle, and ground unfaithful parents in faith, unethical parents in ethical conduct, stingy parents in generosity, or ignorant parents in wisdom.”

Salok, Third Mehl: The stories of one's ancestors make the children good children. They accept what is pleasing to the Will of the True Guru, and act accordingly. Go and consult the Simritees, the Shaastras, the writings of Vyaas, Suk Dayv, Naarad, and all those who preach to the world. Those, whom the True Lord attaches, are attached to the Truth; they contemplate the True Name forever. O Nanak, their coming into the world is approved; they redeem all their ancestors. ||1||

Pauree: He Himself is the school, He Himself is the teacher, and He Himself brings the students to be taught. He Himself is the father, He Himself is the mother, and He Himself makes the children wise. In one place, He teaches them to read and understand everything, while in another place, He Himself makes them ignorant. Some, You summon to the Mansion of Your Presence within, when they are pleasing to Your Mind, O True Lord. That Gurmukh, whom You have blessed with greatness - that humble being is known in Your True Court. ||11||

Aasaa, First Mehl: There are six systems of philosophy, six teachers, and six doctrines; but the Teacher of teachers is the One Lord, who appears in so many forms. ||1|| That system, where the Praises of the Creator are sung - follow that system; in it rests greatness. ||1||Pause|| As the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weekdays months And seasons all originate from the one sun, O Nanak, so do all forms originate from the One Creator. ||2||30||

The Tao produced One; One produced Two; Two produced Three; Three produced All things. All things leave behind them the Obscurity (out of which they have come), and go forward to embrace the Brightness (into which they have emerged), while they are harmonised by the Breath of Vacancy. What men dislike is to be orphans, to have little virtue, to be as carriages without naves; and yet these are the designations which kings and princes use for themselves. So it is that some things are increased by being diminished, and others are diminished by being increased. What other men (thus) teach, I also teach. The violent and strong do not die their natural death. I will make this the basis of my teaching.

When one is about to take an inspiration, he is sure to make a (previous) expiration; when he is going to weaken another, he will first strengthen him; when he is going to overthrow another, he will first have raised him up; when he is going to despoil another, he will first have made gifts to him:—this is called “Hiding the light (of his procedure).” The soft overcomes the hard; and the weak the strong. Fishes should not be taken from the deep; instruments for the profit of a state should not be shown to the people.

The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest; that which has no (substantial) existence enters where there is no crevice. I know hereby what advantage belongs to doing nothing (with a purpose). There are few in the world who attain to the teaching without words, and the advantage arising from non-action.