Welcome Note and Introduction:
A warm welcome to all of you for the upcoming Bala Vihar year. Raghav Srinivasan and I (Rashmi Kashi) will be teaching this class. We are very excited to start the new academic year with our new as well as returning students!
Our JCHYKs class comprises students from 10th, 11th and 12th grades together. Hence, our curriculum is also a 3-year plan. They will be learning the topics from the Bhagavadgeeta over the 3-year course cycle. To accomplish that, we divide the Bhagavadgeeta into 3 shaTkam-s (6-chapter blocks). Hence, the curriculum for this year is Bhagavadgeeta Chapters 1 through 6. To support these topics, we will be referencing topics from Guruji Tejomayananda ji's 'Vision of Gita' as well as Gurudev Chinmayananda ji's 'Self Unfoldment'! (We will be learning the rest of the Geeta chapters in the subsequent academic cycles).
By the time they graduate, ALL our students will not only be familiar with all the chapters in The Geeta but will also be able to relate to, as well as look into the practical applicability of the teachings!! We discuss in-depth how to see the day-to-day aspects of our life through Arjuna's eyes. This course will teach the students 'how to think' rather than tell them 'what to think!' In times of conflict, right-thinking will enable them to make the right decisions!!
The benefit of going through this curriculum can especially be seen when our children graduate and go off to college. We have seen our students displaying exemplary resilience and getting adjusted to difficult situations with utmost ease. As young adults, they find it easy to stay on track without much struggle.
With that introduction, we heartily welcome our students to our 2021-22 academic year.
Update for the first week:
Hari om everyone,
It was a great first day of class!
We started with learning 2nd half (Verses 39 to 72) of the 2nd chapter of bhagavadgeeta (which is assigned for everyone to learn this year). We learned 3 verses. We will chant bhagavadgeeta every class from the first day to the last day of Bala Vihar.
We acclimatized to each other with an amusing ice-breaker game. All our students answered a customized poll online. They answered a bunch of questions that helped us to know them a little better. The poll clearly showed that they are a bunch of fun kids who have varied interests, backgrounds, personalities and expectations as well!! :) They were eager to know when we are going to start in Bala Vihar in-person. We miss seeing them in-person too... We will continue online at least until December and Swamiji will re-evaluate and guide us at that time.
We then played a Kahoot game to brush up on our Mahaabhaarata trivia. We were quite impressed with how well the students remembered the small details from the epic!
We set the stage for our curriculum for the year and discussed Zoom classroom etiquette as below.
We asked them how long they think Bala Vihar is going to benefit them. Most said till 12th grade. We didn't seem to agree with them though! To establish that, we learnt about bamboo cultivation. We learnt that when bamboo is first planted, it doesn't show much growth for the first few years. But once established, it starts shooting up to be very tall, very quickly!! We likened this to our growth during our younger years in Bala Vihar. It may not seem to show much above ground. But the roots are establishing strongly and firmly under the soil. Similarly, we are learning virtues and shaping our character in our student years. These will be our grounding principles. Suddenly, upon stepping out into the world and going to college, the strength of character and grit will show above. This is the promise Gurudev's vision has made and the proof is in the pudding. Our students always turn out to be very resilient and grounded due to the many years of learning and contemplation in the right direction!!!
We did have time to just discuss a small story from Mahabhaarata (Karna and his Shakti astra) before wrapping up the class with a shanti mantra. We joined the main Zoom room for aarati and pledge.
See you next week.
Regards,
Rashmi and Raghav.