A Friendly Note to Teachers & Parents

This website is intended for children, parents, teachers and anyone else who wants to use the wisdom of stories from the East to help teach virtues and values (and even some history!) at home or in the classroom.

Before history was written, civilisation passed on its core beliefs and values by telling and retelling stories from generation to generation. India has an ancient tradition of storytelling dating back thousands of years. The great epics The Mahabarata and Ramayana are replete with lessons of valour, honour and inspiration.

With the ancient Greeks, stories were used for the specific purpose of the moral and spiritual education of children. Plato believed that children should gain deep and lasting knowledge of the “true”, the “good” and the “beautiful” in order for them to lead a full adult life and become responsible citizens. He advocated stories as the primary mode for teaching these virtues. From Plato onward, a long line of seminal educators, including Jean Jacques Rousseau, Bronson Alcott, Marie Montessori, and Rudolf Steiner have made stories and storytelling part of their educational programs.

This Eastern Tales website is offered in the same spirit. Drawing from a wide variety of sources, – from ancient Indian lore to the culture of today- Sri Chinmoy encompasses the vast spectrum of human experience with his Eastern Tales stories. Their richness and depth provide a fertile field to entertain and teach children and the young at heart.

Eastern Tales is organized according to types of stories and story themes as well as chronicles of famous figures. Each tale has a lesson to teach about becoming a human being of integrity, caring, courage, and knowledge. Teachers and parents may want to focus on a theme, an individual or the whole gamut of tales over a period of time. With Eastern Tales, the fruits of human wisdom are made available in an accessible and entertaining format as old as culture itself.

-Andrew Kutt

Headmaster and Founder, The Oneness-Family School

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