What does it mean to be a good father ?

"And be a good father."

     --Pythagoras

   And in your own turn, the circle is complete. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A GOOD FATHER? Don't enforce anything on your child. Give your love, give your understanding, but always make it clear that THE CHOICE IS THE CHILD'S. If he wants to follow it, he can follow -- but he is following his choice. If he wants not to follow, he is free not to follow; again he is following his choice.

    Make everything clear to the child. You love him, so give your experience to him -- but don't enforce it. Don't command. Let him understand. LET UNDERSTANDING BE THE ONLY LAW. And let him follow his understanding.

    Now you can understand. THE FATHER SHOULD BE JUST A HELPER. The father should not mold the child in a certain pattern that he wants. He should not use the child for his own ambitions. He should love the child, make him strong, make him more alert -- so that he can search his own ways in life. Make him more and more independent.

    THE GOOD FATHER DOES NOT CRIPPLE THE CHILD, does not force the child to depend on him. And if there is a good father, naturally the son will be good -- because he will not be enforced into any slavery, and he will not have to react either.

    And if you have been a good son, in your own turn, one day you will become a father. And you will be a good father.

    This is the family atmosphere, the space in which we live. This space has to be of intimacy, of love, of grace. Only then meditation will be easier, and spiritual growth will be enhanced.

OSHO
Philosophia Perennis
Vol 1, Ch #1: The Greatest Luxury
am in Buddha Hall