Nintendo--it's a toy, but it's not a game. Toys have real influence in shaping young minds and emotions, more than parents realize. When kids play in an open field or in the woods, they are experiencing nature and learning how to relate to natural things. So many messages are going into their minds, so much information is being absorbed. It's very different when our kids spend their hours alone with popular video games like Nintendo, which work within the subterranean stratum of the subjective mind, aligning vasanas in the chitta to kill, kill, kill.
Nintendo--it awakens the desires to succeed through intimidation and force. Nintendo--it teaches kids that the world is full of enemies to be slayed, opponents to be conquered, attackers to be attacked first. Nintendo--it complements a strategy to develop a nation of terrorists within every home that harbors this asuric mechanism. For those who don't know, Nintendo is a Japanese-produced video computer system that plays a variety of arcade-type games. And there are many other such games that you can buy on CD-ROM or play interactively on the Internet.
To develop sattvic youth for a brave new world, we have recently asked moms and dads and the youths themselves to disarm themselves of toy guns and knives, and of Nintendo and all other kinds of computerized killer games. Among the families in our fellowship, this has been accomplished. Lots of seven-year-old children have burned their guns and dismantled or sold their Nintendos in the name of ahimsa, the dharmic principle of not harming others--even in one's mind, even in one's dreams--physically, mentally or emotionally. The big games, Nintendo and Genesis, and all the similar computer and video games and toy guns and knives and cannons have been taken out of my followers' homes and thrown into the garbage cans.
Instead of learning the "us-versus-them" world, our children are learning about the "us-helping-them" world of civilized society. It took a little courage, because these games are amazingly popular, and children become attached to them, even addicted. But our homes have all been disarmed, with no more violence masquerading as fun. What about your home? These video and computer games, as well as toy guns and knives and other weapons of death and destruction, educate children that this is the way to live on planet Earth. They learn that to solve a problem, it's "bang, bang, bang, you're dead." You don't have to reason with anyone, negotiate, compromise or use any form of intelligence. "Bang, bang, bang, you're dead" solves the problem. Is that what we want them to learn? Playing like this hour after hour teaches children that life is cheap, meaningless. Those with the bang-bang-you're-dead subconscious mind, how will they ever learn that life is precious? How will we ever teach them that living with asuras is different from living with Siva?
Nintendo--it awakens the desires to succeed through intimidation and force. Nintendo--it teaches kids that the world is full of enemies to be slayed, opponents to be conquered, attackers to be attacked first. Nintendo--it complements a strategy to develop a nation of terrorists within every home that harbors this asuric mechanism. For those who don't know, Nintendo is a Japanese-produced video computer system that plays a variety of arcade-type games. And there are many other such games that you can buy on CD-ROM or play interactively on the Internet.
To develop sattvic youth for a brave new world, we have recently asked moms and dads and the youths themselves to disarm themselves of toy guns and knives, and of Nintendo and all other kinds of computerized killer games. Among the families in our fellowship, this has been accomplished. Lots of seven-year-old children have burned their guns and dismantled or sold their Nintendos in the name of ahimsa, the dharmic principle of not harming others--even in one's mind, even in one's dreams--physically, mentally or emotionally. The big games, Nintendo and Genesis, and all the similar computer and video games and toy guns and knives and cannons have been taken out of my followers' homes and thrown into the garbage cans.
Instead of learning the "us-versus-them" world, our children are learning about the "us-helping-them" world of civilized society. It took a little courage, because these games are amazingly popular, and children become attached to them, even addicted. But our homes have all been disarmed, with no more violence masquerading as fun. What about your home? These video and computer games, as well as toy guns and knives and other weapons of death and destruction, educate children that this is the way to live on planet Earth. They learn that to solve a problem, it's "bang, bang, bang, you're dead." You don't have to reason with anyone, negotiate, compromise or use any form of intelligence. "Bang, bang, bang, you're dead" solves the problem. Is that what we want them to learn? Playing like this hour after hour teaches children that life is cheap, meaningless. Those with the bang-bang-you're-dead subconscious mind, how will they ever learn that life is precious? How will we ever teach them that living with asuras is different from living with Siva?
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