about the gurukula meeting

ok, so we had a meeting last night about the gurukula......and I walked out after about an hour or so, with my unruly daughter because I felt as though I crashed the meeting by bringing my child...of course, I was under the impression that the children were what the meeting was all about.
Since I was not really noticed except by the sweet mataji that felt the need to continually shush my child for making noise with crayons, I have a few points I would like to bring up here...
We desperately need a PreSchool and we need to include ALL of our children. ALL OF THEM...there should not be a choice in whether we should send them to the Montossori school, or the public school down the street because it is more convienent...we are raising DEVOTEE children and they should be in a KRISHNA CONSCIOUS school...period...if you are not sending them to gurukula, then you are not raising devotee kids. Srila Prabhupada opened this school in Dallas for our kids to get an education not only in ABC's and 123's but in our belief system, so that when these kids grow up and move out into a vicious material world they will be PREPARED to meet any and all obstacles with the FAITH and DEVOTION that was instilled in them in the gurukula...and this needs to start in PreSchool and Kindergarten, not in the 3rd grade when they have learned all kinds of nonsense from outside sources....yeah, I know my kid will grow up knowing others eat meat, but I dont want them sitting next to someone at school who is eating it and learn about it from exposure. I quote Srila Prabhupada....

"From the very beginning they should be trained up. From the body, they should be trained up how to take bath, how to chant Hare Krsna or some Vedic mantra, go to the temple, offer obeisances, prayer, then take their lunch... In this way, they should be always engaged. Then they'll be trained up. Simple thing.

If children are allowed to play just like Krishna was playing with his cowherd boyfriends, then little ABC, then see the deity and have arati, then take little prasadam; in this way if they are always diversified, they will be always jolly and become fixed-up devotees at young age. And small children, they learn better these things from their mother and women in general. So I thing that some mothers of our children should go to Dallas and take charge of teaching the children, especially how to play nicely the pastimes of young Krishna. If you ask one child to be a tree, he will immediately hold out his arms "Just see I am a tree." If you ask him to be a cow he will walk on his hands and knees immediately and you can hit him with a stick and say "hut, hut." And if they will not take prasadam you can say "Now you are a cow and you must eat the grass" and immediately they will stand on hands and legs and eat prasadam like cow eating grass. So in this way our children in Dallas school should be trained because I want that a new generation of devotees shall carry on this great mission successfully".

About the concern with other people who would want to send their kids to our school based on academics and might not want them exposed to our religion......ummm...if they dont want their kids around Hare Krishnas then they need to find another school...again I quote...

"We have to concentrate to give them some idea about God--that should be our first business. In art class they should be encouraged to draw pictures of Krsna, Kuruksetra, etc. There are so many subjects for drawing as it is stated in our book Krsna. If they are trained, they will come out nice devotees. It will depend on the process of training."

sorry, but I know a lot of kids that have been enrolled in Catholic school, and even though they are not Catholic, they are still required to wear the uniform and got to Mass and Confession.... if their parents dont want them to do that, then they need to find another school...I think if someone wanted to send their kid to the gurukula based on the academics, then they would not have a problem with the religion, I mean, they had to be open minded enough to find us in the first place, right? Again I quote Srila Prabhupada..
"They will never accept that one must undergo austerities to break the influence of the modes of material nature upon the living entity in order that he may experience the transcendental bliss on the platform of pure goodness. Therefore they see our school as a threat and a cruel punishment to the children. If we were to run our school as it was actually to be run, they would close it down, and factually they will place more and more codes and restrictions as the school develops to water down the process until it becomes unrecognizable and useless."


Which brings me to the inclusion of religion in the school...THIS IS VITAL!!!!!
We are a religiously based school...the kids should be required to attend morning program, and have religious instruction throughout the day, not just on Monday but everyday. They need to learn instruction in being a devotee, they need to learn how to chant japa in the early grades, to memorize verses in the Gita in the middle grades, to be able to debate the Bhagavatam in high school...along with academics that we already know the school provides on an exemplary basis. I have no qualms that our gurukula can supply my children with a better education than they can get down the street at the local public school...but if that was all I wanted for them then I would send them there...
Bottom line....we all need to get involved with the gurukula, all our children should be attending and it needs to go back to what Srila Prabhupada wanted it to be... I will leave you with this last treat from Srila Prabhupada
" The most important thing however is to see that somehow or other the children are always engaged in some kind of Krsna conscious activity, then they will naturally develop a taste for it and think it great fun even to work very hard for Krsna's pleasure."