I started volunteering as a teacher in mid June 2011 for an enlightenment-based children programme called eN-Vidyalaya (it means knowledge of inner space) which is a compassion-based tuition developed by an enlightened master, Paramahamsa Nithyananda. In this 2-hour weekend programme, the aim is to equip children with practical life solutions and better understanding about themselves so that they can excel in the outer world while remaining centered and blissful in their inner space.
In one of the lessons, we did an experiment with the children about positive versus negative energies we expressed and its effect on the plants. This experiment was inspired by the famous Japanese doctor-cum-writer of the best-seller book “Messages From Water, Dr Masaru Emoto, who claims that human consciousness has an effect on the molecular structure of water. I highly recommend anyone on planet earth to read this extraordinary book.
To begin, the children were given 2 plastic containers with a bunch of green beans and cotton pads. The task was to grow the beans sprouts in 2 separate containers, one marked with ”Love” & the other container marked with “Anger”. Each day they were to talk to the green beans. The container with “Love”, they had to say all sorts of positive things, direct their positive energy toward it and talk to it with love and compassion. On the other hand, for the container marked with “Anger”, they had to direct anger and talk to it negatively, even to shout at it. After one week, they brought their 2 containers of beans sprouts with much enthusiasm and showed me the visible difference in terms of how the growth of the beans sprouts. See photographs below. One could visibly see the “Love” beans sprouts grew healthily taller with luscious leaves whereas the beans sprouts in “Anger” containers had stunted growth or some died prematurely with dried leaves.
What we learnt about this simple experiment that we can apply in our lives:
- Effects of Positive/Negative energy. We found that the positive energy of love made the plants grow whereas the negative energy of anger caused the plants to wither or even stunt its growth. Positive energy gives us strength while negative energy makes us sick. Positive energies such as love, compassion, trust, gratitude, forgiveness and peace can affect people around us. For our children of this century, the more we express positive energies, the more they will grow up to be beautiful beings with a blissful inner space.
- Think twice before using negative words. We have to think twice when we express negative energy in terms of thoughts, words and actions to people and plants around us. In fact, one of the eN-Vidyalaya children’s mother came to share with me an incident after the experiment. One occasion, she got angry with her 4- years-old daughter. The girl told her mother not to be angry as she did not want to be like the “Anger” plants! She was immediately put back in awareness.
- Children grasped the truth & live it. Children, by their very nature, they are born with innocence, wisdom and joy. Unlike adults, they are not yet conditioned by the society. The moment they learn about a truth, they simply live it. For adults, our mind continues to analyze, resist and judge it before we are willing to live it. Imagine. If children are exposed to such practical life solutions at a young age, their inner space will be filled with love and compassion.
- Awareness is important. This experiment had helped me to become aware of my tendency to flare up whenever the issue of my son’s lazy behaviour gets on my nerves. Now, I would witness the anger energy as outsider and direct the energy to do something about it – such as how to inspire him, how to make it creatively interesting to engage him, or simply use humour to laugh at myself. My son knows how to crack me up to diffuse the tension. When a profound truth hits me at my being level, I become aware of my anger mental pattern. In fact, biologists tell us that repeated behaviour actually rewires the brain. Our neural networks of brain grooves get formed with repeated behavioural patterns – this means, anger breeds anger or love breeds love. The choice remains a conscious awareness on our part.
- Love is healing energy. Love is concentrated caring energy which can bring tremendous healing to others including plants, trees and our planet earth. Love is an energy that gives happiness to all people. Love is also a language all the living things understand. When we express love, we become a channel for healing energy. Love is the only thing that increases as we give to others. At the core of our being, we are love. So whenever anger arises, be aware to choose love. Then the world will be such a loving place to be.