Hari Om Parents,
Today was our final class and we were happy to see full attendance. We began with the opening prayers.
We did a brief review of the various topics covered this year – which dealt with Hindu culture. Though it is difficult to cover the vast topic of Hindu culture in one year in its entirety, we agreed we got a taste of our Hindu Culture, its vastness, its depth and its richness. We need to continue to learn and read more about our culture.
Since it was our final class, we thought it would be beneficial for our students to recall and summarize what they have learned all these weeks.
We asked everyone to share one concept, or lesson, or quote, from the curriculum, that has stayed with them and why. It could be any particular thing that has struck them because they agreed with it, or disagreed with it, liked it, or doubted it.
All students shared their opinions/memories. Here are some examples:
# better understanding about the concept of Prayer, its importance and the 16 steps prescribed for puja/prayer, which was new to them and importance of prayer.
# topic of charity opened their minds about charity, when and where to give and how noble it is to practice charity.
# imbibing the right values like Truth, Ahimsa, Kindness, Gratitude etc., is important for good inner growth and performing right actions.
# Chinmaya Mission Pledge - they have better understanding of the underlying meaning or message in every sentence that they never paid any attention to before when they recited.
# concepts of Prarabdha and Purushartha, was something that stuck with one student
# explanation on the four varnas helped them understand their role in society.
For our next exercise we split them into three breakout rooms. We gave them one of the topics / concepts they learnt this year. One student from each group had to present the topic to the class – imagining that they are explaining it to someone who does not attend Balavihar / is not a Hindu. Basically, to someone who is not familiar with the concept or the context. They had to
a. First, think about (or discuss) the concept. What have they themselves understood about it? What text or context does it come from? Why is it important? Why do they agree (or disagree) with it? How does it impact young people's lives today?
b. They were given 10 minutes for this, so they can brainstorm the concept as a group, and then figure out how to present the topic and select one person to do the presentation.
Group 1 discussed Prarabdha and Purushartha
Group 2 discussed Charity
Both of the presentations were nice – showing that the students understood the core concepts of these topics.
We asked the students for feedback on how the classes were conducted and for suggestions to do differently. Generally the responses were very positive, which was a pleasant surprise for us, as it was a virtual class the whole year. Finally students were reminded that no matter how much they hear about values etc unless they start practicing them they will not see benefits in their life. Hearing that sugar is sweet will not make us understand about sweetness – only when we taste it we will know what sweetness is – similarly we all have to practice what we have learnt to know / experience the real benefit. May Pujya Gurudev continue to guide us all.
We ended the class with closing prayers. It was a great pleasure for us teaching your children this year in Balavihar, we definitely have benefited, hopefully they will continue to practice what they learnt. Thank you for your cooperation all through the year. We wish you and the students a happy summer break. Be safe and healthy. Hope to see you all in person in September!!!
Pranam,
Rukmani Sriram
Devender Akula
