What Can We As Mothers Truly Do? — A Deeper Offering for Our Children’s Future

A Contemplation Beyond Feeding and Fulfilling

In every corner of the world, mothers are doing the unimaginable—balancing, multitasking, soothing, providing, protecting. Yet something within often whispers: Is this enough? Or is something deeper being forgotten?

Today, our children are growing up amidst abundance. And yet, never before have they seemed so restless, so distracted, so unsure of who they are. Somewhere, without realizing it, we’ve replaced nourishment with stimulation, presence with performance, and inner grounding with outer success.

The Forgotten Path of Learning

True education was never meant to come with pressure, competition, or price tags that suffocate families.

In ancient Bharat, children learned in Gurukuls, nestled in forests and nature. There were no heavy fees, only the sacred exchange of knowledge and seva. Education was free, not because it was cheap, but because it was priceless. Gurus didn’t teach for money—they taught to uplift society.

What did they teach?

Not just math and grammar—but patience, silence, dharma, nature, humility, and how to live in sync with one’s true self.

Children learned how to listen to the wind, read the sky, walk barefoot on the earth, and sit for hours in contemplation. They learned how to be before they were taught how to achieve.

Let Them Be Bored

Today, the moment a child is bored, we rush in with screens, toys, distractions. But in that very boredom lies the doorway to something precious.

Let the child be bored—and in that boredom,

he will hear the birds,

feel the breeze,

observe the ants,

talk to the trees,

and most importantly,

he will begin to meet himself.

No app or achievement can offer that.

Scriptural Silence, Subtle Wisdom

The Upanishads whisper, “Yat pinde tat brahmande” – What is in the body is in the cosmos.

Where will a child experience this truth?

Not in a smart classroom. But in the forest. On the soil. With a Guru who knows how to guide the inner being.

In the Mahabharata, Queen Kunti’s life was filled with trials. But from her arose sons like Yudhishthira and Arjuna, not by sheltering them, but by preparing them. Real parenting is not about removing the storm—it is about preparing the child to stand strong in it.

My Own Undoing as a Mother and Seeker

I wasn’t always like this. I once believed in giving more, doing more, protecting more.

But life has a way of un-teaching what is no longer needed.

Over the years, I’ve let go of the synthetic, the excessive, the instant.

I now walk barefoot more than I wear heels.

I measure well-being by the sparkle in a child's eyes, not the scores on a test.

And I’ve found that when we stop over-parenting, nature begins to parent them just fine.

An Inner Vision, Not an Institution

People ask me about the Gurukul or Ashram I wish to build.

But truthfully, I wish for something far more silent:

A generation of mothers who remember what it means to raise not just minds, but hearts aligned with dharma.

This vision doesn’t need walls or donors.

It begins when a mother chooses clarity over confusion, rhythm over chaos, and trust over control.

Let’s raise a generation who knows the song of silence, who understands that real learning happens when no one is watching, and who grows not in front of a screen, but under a tree.

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Not More. Just Deeper.

So what can we as mothers truly do?

Not more. Just deeper.

Deeper listening

Deeper boundaries

Deeper truths

Deeper presence

We are not here to protect our children from every fall, but to hold the light when they rise.

And in doing so, we may just raise a generation that doesn’t need rescuing from their own minds.

• Manjushree