Children are the future of tomorrow, and the activities of the Ashram are oriented towards building their character and personalities. The Ashram organizes various children’s programs such as Bal Vihar, Bal Shibir and Gita Mukhpatha Kasoti where children get opportunity to participate in educational and physical activities leading to their emotional and personal well-being.
Children’s Activities
Children’s Activities
Bal Vihar is a program for the children between 7 to 13 years age, meant to cultivate spiritual values in children so that they appreciate and live a value-based life. The program has been delivered since last 22 years at Maninagar, and is led and co-ordinated by Ms. Sejalben Dave. The classes for this program are organized once every week and are free of any charges. Children are familiarized with our Vedic culture and taught the significance of our culture creating an understanding of what is puja, what are the advantages of puja, the significance of puja in one’s life, and the various rituals involved. Children thoroughly enjoy the stories signifying morals and values, narration of the life of Mahatmas and other great personalities, narration of Ramayana, Śrīmad Bhāgavata, and stories of Mahabharata, which are told during the class. Apart from this, children are taught yoga, ślokas, stotras, bhajans and dhuns. Whether it is celebrations of the religious festivals, or sports activities giving sufficient play time, children enjoy these activities whole-heartedly, and regularly attend these classes.
Bal Shibir , is a 3-day residential camp organized at the Ashram every year, under the guidance and care of Pujya Swamiji. The camp activities range from Prabhātaferī to Yogāsanā, value based education by Pujya Swamiji himself as well as other teachers, classes, music/singing, chanting of stotras, Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā Ślokas, playing, art and craft, and other activities, as well as competitions. Children look forward to attending these camps and every year large group of children enthusiastically participate in this camp.
The Gita Mukhpatha Kasoti or the test for recital of the Verses of the Gītā, is organized to cultivate an appreciation and respect in children for Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā and Sanskrit language. Children studying in Standard 3 to 9 are invited to participate and compete in this activity. The Gita Mukhpatha Kasoti is a competition organized to cultivate in children the correct Sanskrit pronunciation and chanting of the Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā Ślokas. The Ashram’s volunteers personally go to different schools and teach the students correct Sanskrit pronunciation and phonetics for the chanting of Ślokas from the selected Adhyāya (chapter) of Śrīmad Bhagavad Gītā. The competition is organized at the level of the school, and children ranking 1 to 3 are selected for the final competition which is held at the Ashram. A large number of school children enthusiastically take part in this competition and take along with them life’s most precious, valuable lessons and Saṁskāra.
Every child should have the right to literacy and education, and to fulfill his or her dreams, but not all children are fortunate enough! ‘Adwait’, a collaboration of Adhyatma Vidya Mandir and Shree H K Adhyaru Charitable Trust, one of the past undertakings during 2019-2020 was conducted to reach out to the children of slum areas in Thaltej. The program was led by Ms. Parthivi Adhyaru Shah at the Tattvatirtha Ashram. Through this undertaking, the children of slum areas who are deprived of their right to education, and who have to struggle for their identity and basic rights day in and out, were equipped with basic literacy as well as enriched with extracurricular activities targeted to develop their personality. The vision of ‘Adwait’ was to back up these children to the extent possible, from the basic education to employment until they could sustain themselves. This undertaking proved to be yet another way of reaching out through selfless service to spread the joy in these childrens’ lives.
