Growing up spiritual

As more Indian parents turn to yoga, meditation, chanting and mindfulness to raise calmer, emotionally balanced children, spirituality is finding a new place in modern parenting

- Bhavika N

If you are a frequent visitor to Premanand Ji Maharaj’s Ashram in Keli Kunj, Vrindavan, or have been watching his satsangs online, you would know the number of young children turning up to his darshan every week.

They sit cross-legged beside their parents, sandalwood tilaks flashing on their foreheads as they chant Radhe Radhe. Not far away, in the courtyard of an ISKON temple, you will spot a group of teenagers and youngsters swaying devotional songs humming the rhythm of Hare Rama Hare Krishna. They participate with genuine enthusiasm, just the way they would enjoy a party with their friends. It is part prayer, part playtime, and to their parents, perhaps, something deeper.

Across Indian cities, this quiet change is underway. Parents are introducing their children to spirituality, not as a ritual, but as a way of life. From yoga and meditation to chanting, storytelling, and mindfulness practices, families are reimagining what it means to raise emotionally balanced children in an age of screens, competition, and social distraction.

Quiet cultural shift

“Spirituality has become a new tuition except this one is for the soul. But unlike tuition, this doesn’t stress him out. It actually calms him,” says Ruchika Seth, a 38-year-old marketing professional from Delhi. She takes her 10-year-old son Vihaan, to a weekly chanting circle all the way to Gurugram.

For Ruchika, who juggles a demanding corporate job, spirituality is less about religion and more about emotional hygiene. “I want him to grow up thinking that peace is something you look for inside when you burn out at 40. It should be a natural state,” she adds. Her son follows a five minute deep breathing and short ‘thank you’ round every morning, which he has learned in his teachings. “He is less reactive now. He pauses before responding when something doesn’t go his way.”