It is as untrue as it can be to say that child begins learning from the moment he is born ! It appears like he learns a lot , a lot before ! May be in womb, may be even earlier ! We as human beings have very little knowledge on this subject. As per a Hindu saint we met - he claimed - what the child learns in 9 months in womb is far more than what he will learn in 90 years in the world.
Ofcourse - information , worldly skills are more evidently learnt after coming in world but as far as his tendencies ,subconcious behavior , behavior , inner state is considered , he claims that it is more influenced by the 9 months in womb. Hence the entire concept of "Garbh Sanskar" in Vedic culture.
We don't know the truth. However ,we did believe that child is a soul in journey. It has a past and a future - beyond what we will see of him/her in present life. Hence, it does makes sense to work on Garbh Sanskar ! Well, we did not want to overdo it but just ensure those 9 months are pleasant for mother, father , entire family and hence hope that it'll be pleasant for the child inside. So that's what we did ...
Some of the things we did were -
1.) Agnihotra : We (me and priyamvada) - practiced agnihotra almost regularly for 9 months at sunrise and sunset.
2.) Live closer to nature : We tried to spend most of the time in farm, village - country side. We shifted to city - Bhopal only in last trimester.
3.) Eat natural - organic : Food is what makes the child's body and mind ! hence we were little concious to eat organic, natural food and avoid artificial / fast foods. Though no rules here ...Priyamvada did felt like having Pizza ...and we had it too ! Millets, fruits, Coconut water, dry fruits, honey and milk of Indian breed cow was few regulars.
4.) Follow Celibacy : We both stick to celibacy for entire 9 months. While there were multiple arguments about it both ways - we simply did it because nature made sex for procreation and there was no natural reason for having sex if one was already pregnany. We did get intimate and cozy though...this was our lovemaking...and often we were aware of the child between us.
5.) Ramayana - Bhagwat Geeta : Priyamvada used to read Ramayana every day, I used to chant Bhagvat geeta Shlokas. We both will often do it together also.
6.) Regular rituals : Regular rituals like prayers, lighting ghee diya , maintaining cleanliness were done.
7.) Meeting holy souls : Though we did not know many , few people we knew in our life who were more sorted in life than us - we used to visit them , meet them , talk to them on topics of dharma.
8.) Taking to child : We used to talk a lot to child...named him/her already....and feel his/her presence already in our family.
9.) Avoiding Rashness : We did not watch any movie in theatre during these 9 months due to loudness of the music and negative emotions it might induce in us, we avoiding going to places that were loud and sudden sounds were possible like bus stand ,railway station etc..If we had to go, we tried to be in best possible spot in the area. Visits to malls, restaurants, shows were limited. Television was watched but only limited and very selected programs like comedy shows !
10.) Using Mantras : We used to chant OM and Gayatri mantra together. These were known to bring positive vibes.
These were key things I could recollect ! I guess they've had some impact on learning of Devagya.
We can never vow that these will have only positive impacts on learning of Devagya...after all we only know parts of truth...perhaps some of these might have negative impacts ...some may have positive undesirable or negative desirable impacts...who knows ! But we did what our heart felt content with....that's the situation of all us ...with limited knowledge we act...often we are wrong but yet we have no other option...!
Nevertheless...we hope that these have positive impacts oh his learning or at least no-impact...all we wish is that our child's journey of this lifetime and future is smoother and in line with nature's direction...
