About This Book
Part One
Introducing Avatar Adi Da's Instructions
on Conscious Childrearing
Chapter 1
Giving Children the Cause and Freedom to Be Happy
The Great Means: Helping Children Embrace the Devotional Relationship to Avatar Adi Da
Transcending "Narcissus" at the Pond
Locating Happiness:
What Avatar Adi Da Means When He Says Children Can
"Invoke Me, Feel Me, Breathe Me, and Serve Me"
Giving Children an Authentic Relationship
to the Living Divine Reality Itself
Going Beyond Santa Claus and the Hulk
Part Two
"Growth and Out-Growing"
in the First Three Stages of Life
Chapter 2
The Seven Stages of Life
The "Bright" Force Inherent in Avatar Adi Da's Seventh Stage Revelation:
The Principle of Attraction
The First Three Stages of Life
Right Life and the Advantages of
Stage-Appropriate Practice for Children
Chapter 3
The First Three Stages of Life — An Overview
Early-Life Education, or, My Seventh Stage Way of
Schooling In The First Three Stages of Life
— Essay and Commentary by Avatar Adi Da Samraj
The Calling to Serve the "Right, True, and Free Development" of Children and Young People in the First Three Stages of Life
On Adult Re-Adaptation: Regeneration of the "Free and Growing Movement" toward Completion of the First Three Stages of Life
Chapter 4
The First Stage of Life — The Process of Individuation
Even the Youngest of Children Need a Sacred Way of Life
Overview of the Developmental Tasks of the First Stage of Life
The Four Phases of the First Stage of Life — Newborns, Infants, Toddlers, and Children above Three
How to Serve First Stagers: Basic Practical Guidelines
Signs of Maturity in the First Stage of Life
For Adults: Growing Beyond the Dependency Connection
Chapter 5
The Second Stage of Life — The Process of Socialization
Overview of the Developmental Tasks of the Second Stage of Life
How to Serve Second Stagers: Basic Practical Guidelines
Signs of Maturity in the Second Stage of Life
For Adults: Resolution of the Relational and Social Character
Chapter 6
The Third Stage of Life — Integration of the Human Personality
Overview of the Developmental Tasks of the Third Stage of Life
How to Serve Third Stagers: Basic Practical Guidelines
Signs of Maturity in the Third Stage of Life
For Adults: Outgrowing the Typical "Indefinitely Prolonged Adolescence"
Part Three
"Radical" Devotion:
Devotional Practices for Children and Young People
Chapter 7
Whole Bodily Devotional Turning to Avatar Adi Da
Mind, Feeling, Breath, and Body: Turning the Four Faculties to Avatar Adi Da
"It Is All One Feeling": Summarizing the Practice of Whole Bodily Devotional Turning to Avatar Adi Da
Chapter 8
Feeling the Mystery: The Practice of Meditation
in the First Three Stages of Life
Sitting Down "Quiet and Not Busy Every Day for a Little or a Big While"
Meditation and the Two Ways of Expressing Devotion to Avatar Adi Da
Four More Admonitions That Inform Meditation
Feeling the Mystery "Really Quiet and Strong"
Adapting to Meditation in Each of the First Three Stages of Life
Practical Guidelines for Children's Meditation
Meditation Is a Gift
Chapter 9
Real-God-Sensitive Prayer
and Other Forms of Worship for Children
Devotional Gestures
The Ceremony of Giving and Receiving Gifts
Prayers for Invoking Avatar Adi Da's Blessing
Welcoming Avatar Adi Da into Their Hearts Each Day: Sacred Occasions for Children
Recitations of Avatar Adi Da's Reality-Teaching
Devotional Chanting
The Devotional Prayer of Changes
The Laying on of Hands
Receiving Avatar Adi Da's Darshan
Likhita Japa
The "Eyes and Ears" Exercise
Guided Meditation
Wandering
Chapter 10
The Principle of Retreat
Part Four
Right Life: Practical Life-Discipline
for Children and Young People
Chapter 11
Feeling-Breathing:
"Conductivity" Practice for Children and Young People
The Three-Part "Conductivity" Exercise in the First Three Stages of Life
When and Why: Engaging the Three-Part "Conductivity" Practice
Notes on "Conscious Exercise" for Children
Chapter 12
Conscious Food-Taking
Diet in the First Three Stages of Life
Foods to Choose and Foods to Avoid
Eating and Meals
Chapter 13
Service: A Fundamental Life-Principle
Service to Avatar Adi Da
Turning the Faculty of the Body to Avatar Adi Da
Service to Others
Service as Cooperation and Participation in Sacred Culture
Service in the First Three Stages of Life
Part Five
"Discipline Is an Act of Love":
Intimacy as the Foundation for Conscious Childrearing
Chapter 14
The Pleasure of Calm Is Fundamental
Chapter 15
Intimacy Is the Healing Principle
Chapter 16
The Dynamic Play of Nurture and Challenge
The "Mother-Force" and the "Father-Force"
Using the "Two-Man Con"
Consciously Introducing the "Father-Force"
Chapter 17
Freedom and Responsibility Go Hand in Hand
Part Six
Learning to Live as "I Love You":
Adapting to the Principle of
Transcending egoity in Relationships
Chapter 18
Helping Children Go Beyond the "Oedipal" Sufferings of Childhood
The Greek Myth of Oedipus
Observing the Unwritten Script: In Adults and in Children
Replacing the "Oedipal" Drama with ego-Transcending Love
Discovering the "Treasure Locked Up in the Family Attic":
For Third Stagers and Adults
"The Secrets of How to Change"
Chapter 19
"Remember to Love": Right Moral Development
The Moral Challenge in Each of the First Three Stages of Life
Transcending the ego's Complaint: "You Don't Love Me!"
The Wound of Love Is Not a Reason to Punish Others
Never Be Weak in Love: The True Source of Sympathy and Compassion
Do Love, Say Love, Give Love, Be Love: Don't Wait!
Practical Guidelines for Serving First, Second, and Third Stagers
Chapter 20
A Reality-Based Understanding of
Human Emotional-Sexual Development
The Etheric Dimension and Emotional-Sexual Development
Open, Non-Sex-Negative Communications
with Children and Young People
Gender Roles and Relations between the Sexes
in the First Three Stages of Life
Emotional-Sexual Development in the Third Stage of Life
Summary of Emotional-Sexual Development
in the First Three Stages of Life
Epilogue
Avatar Adi Da's Call to Young People:
"Take Your Practice Seriously"
Appendices
About Avatar Adi Da's Schema of the Seven Stages of Life
Passages Addressed Directly to Children and Young People
Passages Relevant to Adult Re-Adaptation
Forms of Name-Invocation of Avatar Adi Da Samraj
Glossary
The Universal Offering of His Divine Presence, Avatar Adi Da Samraj
by Ruchiradama Quandra Sukhapur Rani Naitauba
About the Vision of Mulund Institute
Index
The First Three Stages of Life