The members of Dharma Rakshak Network would like to join with the other voices that are speaking up against corporal punishment. We firmly believe that beating children is teaching them violence. 'Violence begets violence.' At present, we are reaping the fruits of teaching violence in our society when we see today young children are committing violent crimes.
In Santana Dharma, we know that children are pure souls. Their minds/thinking/behaviour are fashioned and conditioned by the surroundings they are brought up in and what they are exposed to even before birth. One shining example is Bhakta Prahalada who was the son of a demon. When she was pregnant with Prahalada, the mother was in an ashram and the unborn child heard/learnt/was exposed to spirituality/God. When Prahalada was born he was already full of knowledge about God. We can condition the minds of our children even before birth and we condition their minds when they are young. We send children to school to gain knowledge and when we promote/condone violence in schools we are teaching them violence.
There are ways to discipline a child without having to inflict bodily pain and suffering upon someone too small to stand up for their own rights or even know that they have rights. It is time to outlaw corporal punishment in our schools immediately.