Garbhasanskar

When I was in Mumbai last year in September, I happened to go to a wonderful workshop on the insistence of my mother. She is well aware of all the important things happening around and wants me to get the best of everything. That workshop was organized by "The Manashakti Kendra", Lonavala. They conduct numerous courses related to personality development, mind development. Many people work there as volunteers who have devoted their lives just to make the life of other people better. You can check out their website here: http://www.manashakti.org/

My mom got to know that they also do workshops for the pregnant women to help them cope up better with their pregnancy and also help in giving birth to a baby, who is strong, sound in health and mind. They believe that the generation which is due to come to this world has to be very refined with good morales, culture and values and educating them can start right from the time they are in the mother's womb. I found this concept very interesting and it is actually not very novel to our Hindu culture. It is said that Arjun's son, Abhimanyu learnt the art of breaking the "chakravyu" in his mother's womb. There is other evidences too where Jijabai narrated stories of valor and strength to Shivaji while he was in womb and the rest is history. We all know him for his extraordinary determination and wonderful qualities as a king. He was responsible for establishing "Swarajya" and a hindu community.

Let me explain you the meaning of the word Garbhasanskar to you. It is a sanskrit term and it literally means 'education in the womb'. Garbha can be understood as the foetus and sanskar is the ritual of purifying. Every soul who comes to this earth has both good and bad qualities. So in a way it is tried to strengthen the good qualities and reduce the bad ones so that the soul leads a satisfying life later.

I went with my mom to that workshop which was for 1 whole day. Atul, being away, for work couldn't attend it and the organisers there wanted someone to accompany the expectant mother, so my mom readily obliged. It was a wonderful experience and it made me connect to my baby whom I hadn't seen yet. First and foremost we were told that the baby who is going to come into our life and family has chosen us to be his/her set of parents because the soul thinks that we would be able to give him/her a better life. So when the baby is here, treat her/him as an individual and not someone who has come to fulfill your unfulfilled wishes and desires. They have a set of desires of their own and they will take birth to fulfill those wishes. They also stated further that everything I do or think has a direct effect on the baby inside. If I am sad, she also gets sad, if I am happy, she is happy. So the bonding begins from the time, she conceives in me. Oh, what a feeling it was! The orators there made us realize the importance of having good food, having good habits, good thoughts and also suggested that we invest time for our babies till their arrival.

There they made us listen to the prayers of the person who established the Manashakti Kendra. Swami Vigyananand addressed to the babies and welcomed them and gave them instructions how to behave and what to do in the life which they are going to see soon. Then the organizers gave us different options to carry out our day where we can engage ourselves with the baby. Talking to the baby helps a lot as they recognize voices right from the time they begin to hear. They showed us clips where a new born baby who was just 2-3 days old listened carefully to the chanting of Aum by his father and got quiet while he was crying. It seems that the father was chanting it everyday when the baby was yet to be born. It really looked like a miracle. People often say, small babies do not understand anything, but this baby was hardly a few days old and he proved that he understood the sound and voice which he heard regulary. And it is also a common sight where babies after their birth respond to their mothers very easily. Why does that happen and how? It is definitely because the babies do listen to their mother's voice everyday and they can easily relate to it.

There are various experiments carried out abroad too in this field and amazing results have come up. The people in foreign countries congratulated the presenters of papers from Manashakti Kendra during the seminars, because here this thing is catching up quickly and there are so many people willing to get benefits from it. Abroad, people hardly believe in such things or attend such classes. The workshop gave us a kit in which there were different good books for the mother to read, a prayer book from which prayer can be read to the baby welcoming him/her in this world. There is a CD of classical music which can be played and it seems babies just love soft, soothing music. There is a story book from which stories can be read out. These stories have different qualities and morale in them and are very insightful. Once the baby is born, they also have a follow-up on them and they publish the statistics of the kid. Kids who have gone through this programme are definitely different from the other kids, is what the result shows.

I would like to tell you all my personal experience too. Now I am in my 8th month. When I touch the baby and start saying my prayers, the baby stops moving around and listens carefully. From 7 pm in the evening till 8:30 pm, it is baby time at my home. I listen to Vishnu sahasranaam, then say ramraksha, maruti stotra and a few other prayers. Then I read out a story to the baby and then put on the classical music CD. By that time, I think the baby goes off to sleep very happily. She/he is so much used to this time now. I do not miss it at all and my mother-in-law also contributes equally to this. I am sure baby will respond to her also when she is out.

One of my friends remarked saying that I am giving so much pressure to the baby by making her listen to so many things which she might not be wanting to hear. I do not know if he said that jokingly or was serious, but I pitied him for saying that because he doesn't know the importance of such things as he has never tried it. Who doesn't want their kids to lead a happy life with least complications? Everybody does. I am doing my little bit and I leave it entirely to the baby what she wants to do ahead in life. People believe in god and some don't. It is exactly that way. You believe in something or you don't. I believe in it and want my baby to be happy, cheerful and content and want her to lead a fulfilling and joyous life and this ritual which I do is going to help in future too.

Being positive about this whole thing has changed me as a person over the last few months and I am sure, my baby is going to be a bundle of joy when she arrives.