The Upbringing of Children

revenge. Out of sheer spite, he reviled his supposed enemy at home and did his best to defame him publicly. He even tried to destroy his means of livelihood by going to court and filing false cases against him. These reprehensible activities went on for fifteen long years. His children would, of course, hear of religious values from his lips, but all the while, they would be breathing in an atmosphere that his destructive activities had poisoned. And wherever the atmosphere does not match the pious utterances made in it, a set of double standards is bound to be the result. We should never forget that actions speak louder than words. Most parents, no matter how religious-minded they imagine they are, tend to make this mistake. While they talk to their children about spiritual and moral issues, they divert practically all their attention to worldly affairs. They will speak of the next life, but they will set up their homes so that the great goal of their lives degenerates into the mere piling up of things of worldly importance. They will extol the virtues of a righteous life, but instead of donating their wealth to good causes, they spend it fulfilling their children’s worldly ambitions. This is not religious training; it is but a mockery of it. Uttering religious words does not achieve religious training; they call for the sedulous building up of a religious atmosphere. In a home where there is no all-pervasive atmosphere of religion, it is not possible to instill moral values simply by letting fall a few religious-sounding phrases. Spending