A child for our times

Julia Roberts, the famous Hollywood actress with the million-dollar smile, had a twin wish. And in November 2004, God, with a little help from men in white coats, answered her prayer. It is rumoured that Ms Roberts decided that she wanted a boy and a girl when she went in for the in vitro fertilization and became a first-time mom at age 38. Phinnaeus Walter Moder and Hazel Patricia Moder are the living proofs of a wish fulfillment. Other couples, albeit less famous, too are making a pilgrimage to the Mecca in the US for having a child of their preferred sex. (Indian couples, more likely than not, would be wanting a male). Can ‘designer babies’ be far? From that particular shade of eye colour to the blondness of hair to the sex of the baby, with bagsful of money on this end, the rainbow is available at the other.

Parents don’t just want the best for their child but they want the best child that they could get, ethics apart.

In India, this quest is taking a route to the ancient roots. People are ‘rediscovering’ and ‘relearning’ about garbha sanskar. The age-old tradition of ‘garbha sanskar’ is finding new converts, among them doctors and would-be-parents. Many Indian doctors and organisations are digging out dusty Ayurveda tomes and offering designer babies through garbah sanskar. What’s more, this is a prescription without intrusive medical intervention.

Sanskar is a word that is as old as the Indian civilization itself, a complex term meaning good and moral values, manners and etiquettes all rolled into one, imparted by the parents, the elders. Simply put then, garbha sanskar, one of the sanskars, is the pre-natal training of the foetus in the womb via interaction. Its practitioners explain it is the conditioning of the unborn child’s brain with positive energy and educational inputs to which it is extremely receptive.

But the big question: Can a baby really learn when it is yet to be born? Is this an old wives’ tale or science fiction? Skeptics would call it unscientific and a fad. But revolutionary research in biology in the West now has irrefutable proof, which supports garbha sanskar and it may yet get the ‘found true in US’ (or the West) tag!

For believers like Dr Mangala Ghisad, a practicing obstetrician and gynecologist in Nagpur, whether you name it modern science or ancient knowledge, it is kosher.

The tall doctor with a reassuring voice says, “It is one of our sanskars that we ought to impart to our kids. Period.” Her passion is obvious from the fact that she counsels all her mothers-to-be and also holds free training classes at her clinic.

“I was convinced about it three or four years ago at a camp organized by Manashakti in Lonavla, the hill station near Mumbai. In our rush-hour lifestyle, we’ve lost the importance of living in the moment. And the worst affected are our kids who are exposed to too much of violence, stress and competition. They suffer from its physical and psychological effects.”

“Garbha sanskar shows the parents’ decision to do things differently. Better bonding, health and IQ are bonuses. I decided to experiment at my clinic in Nagpur and do my bit for the society”, she states.

Interestingly, the ancient Indian science of Ayurveda, which is an important medical practice in the country, explicitly elaborates the process of garbha sanskar. As Dr S L Khalale, a senior Ayurveda practitioner and professor at an Ayurvedic college at Nagpur, informs us: “Ayurveda describes the overall management of pregnancy under Garbhini Vyakaran, which includes rules concerning diet, mental and physical activities, behavioural norms (in common parlance ahar, vihar, achar and vichar) and instructions for the parents on reading material, subjects of discussion, music and mantras, meditation, autosuggestion, self-hypnosis, and visualization.”

“You would be astonished at the holistic nature of Ayurveda for establishing a dialogue with the foetus,” says Dr Khalale, who has spent good amount of time studying the literature available. He is known for his diagnostic skills, and is a master at formulation of Ayurvedic medicine.

Though there is no comprehensive data available on the garbha-sanskar users, doctors and experts confirm the increasing numbers, though all do not follow it in its entirety. The interest it is generating among the would-be mothers and fathers is spreading mainly in the cities.

So what does garbha sanskar actually entail? An activity concerned with onerous task of molding a child, so that he/she becomes not only healthy and brilliant but also a conscientious citizen, the process itself is cost effective and relatively simple.

Purists say the process of garbha sanskar starts much before conception. It should begin with the wish and loving thoughts of having a child. ‘Pregnancy should be by choice and not by chance,’ extols Ayurveda’s supraja janan theory, literally meaning birth of a good citizen.

In short pregnancy should be planned. For, even the thoughts of the parents, especially the mother, it is believed, are potent in shaping the progeny. The literature available on the subject says that the couple should undergo what is described as a cleansing period for approximately three months. It calls for an abstinence from non-vegetarian and spicy food and alcoholic beverages, this – as steps towards making the parents’ body and mind healthier leading to healthy gametes. Yoga and being in good company (satsang), of people or music, too is highly recommended. Once the baby is conceived, mother’s diet and exercise are stressed upon, apart from the ambience around her. Listening to good music, reading good books but avoiding things related to violence and harshness is advised.

Explains a sprightly seventy-five year old grandma of two, Kusum Ghodhe, “In our time the pregnant women were given certain do and don’t and we followed them. They were usually linked with God. We were not aware that it was part of garbha sanskar. Obviously there was a science behind these things. The younger generation pooh-poohs all this as ritualistic,” she laments. “But rituals too have certain reasons. Reasons of ancient wisdom, which modern science is able to prove only now.”

Scientists and experts recommend music therapy, the more known part of garbha sankar, after the fourth month when the baby develops its ears and sensory capacities. Talking to the baby in the womb is also highly recommended. Music is believed to calm the baby as well as help in spatial and motor development.

The former Vice Chancellor of the Mumbai University and an award-winning paediatric surgeon, Dr Snehalata Deshmukh, prescribes a daily dose of music to the pregnant women coming to her for consultations, besides diet and exercises. Dr Deshmukh one of the few obstetricians who recommend music therapy does not claim any medical breakthroughs. “I am just rediscovering old concepts,” she insists. “I read about it in the samhitas (text of the Vedas) written by Wagbhat—an 18th century research scholar—and decided to research it myself,” said Dr Deshmukh. In the seven years of her research—she has counseled more than 350 mothers—Dr Deshmukh found that two Indian classical music ragas, Yaman and Kedar, are most favoured by the unborn babies.

“We have evidence that the child responds positively to classical music, especially instrumental music such as the santoor and sitar. It has been observed that children whose mothers listened to music when they were pregnant not jut recognised the music but also mellowed whenever it was played to them,” says Dr Deshmukh.

This is in keeping with international findings.

A programme by the BBC titled ‘Child of Our Time’ is studying 20 millennium babies for 20 years to find whether we are born or made. In its sixth year, it has found incredible results that show that the baby learns a lot in the womb and the environment plays an important role in its learning. Dr Alexandra Lamont, a researcher, a musician and a lecturer in the Psychology of Music at Keele University, who worked with these millennium babies, concluded that most of the babies in the experiment subconsciously remembered things they were only exposed to in the womb - or during their first year of life. And these forgotten childhood experiences can have a tangible, physical effect decades later.

No discussion on garbha sanskar can be complete without Abhimanyu. He is believed to be the most illustrious and ancient mention of garbha sanskar or its effectiveness.

As the lore goes, on the 13th day of the great battle of Mahabharata, Abhimanyu entered the chakravyuh, fought valiantly and unable to get out of the strategic arrangement of the enemy warriors, was killed. But the question was why could he not come out and more importantly how did he enter the chakravyuh, when it was common knowledge, as the tale goes, that only Arjuna and Krishna were proficient in the art chakravyuh?

According to the epic of Mahabharata, Abhimanyu’s uncle Krishna had narrated the technique of chakravyuh to Subhadra, his sister while she was carrying Abhimanyu. However she fell asleep when he came to the part of exiting the chakravyuh. That is how a 16-year-old Abhimanyu became immortal and poster boy for garbha sanskar.