Practising ‘Chintana’ – A Prārthanā Varga Workshop Conducted by Deepā Murḍeshwar
On Sunday afternoon, 26 bright-eyed children poured in for an interactive session, ‘Chintana’, designed especially for our Prārthanā Varga by Deepā Murḍeshwar pāchī.
Date: Sunday, November 17th, 2019
Venue: Shrī Chitrāpur Mat̲h̲, BeṅgaῙūru)
Time: 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM
The workshop began with Sabhā Prārambha Prārthanā followed by Deepā pāchī introducing herself to the children. To set context, the kids were asked if they had performed Gurupū jana before. Some of the older children responded in the affirmative while some others said they were currently learning how to perform Gurupūjana. They were then informed about Prārthanā children performing Gurupūjana collectively during Bhrajitotsava at Santacruz where Pūjya Swāmījī addressed and blessed them during His Āshirvachana soon after.
A part of this interactive show-and-tell was an audio-visual treat – a 3-minute video clip from the Gurupūjana during Bhrajitotsava. The children were all eyes and ears, and they needed all the attention for the quick Q&A session that followed. As always, our children surprised us with some beautiful observations and answers.
Here are some gems from their interaction:
Q. What do we do in Gurupūjana?
A. “[We do] namaskāra to the Guru Pādukā, wipe them with a towel after snāna, and offer flowers.”
Q. How do you feel after doing Gurupūjana?
A. “It makes God, parents, and Swāmījī happy. [And] when they’re all happy, we also feel happy.”
Q. Performing Gurupūjana helps being mindful and focussed. So when you do Gurupūjana with full concentration, how does it help?
A. “When we do [Guru] pūjana with our mind and body, it helps us to study better, play better, draw better.”
Q. “When would you perform Gurupūjana?”
A. On birthdays or special days with the rest of the family.
When asked what we should be doing after Gurupūjana, the children spoke about staying quiet and praying. Deepā pāchī sweetly added that we must offer our Gurupūjana, pray that it is accepted, and then have the naivedya as prasāda. They also discussed how after learning Gurupūjana, they would now graduate from shloka-s to stotra-s and soon enough – mantra japa!
After some fulfilling ‘chintana’ on Gurupūjana, it was time to move on to some creative ‘chintana’. The children were divided into groups based on their age and each of them were given a few different pictures. They were tasked with observing the pictures and coming up with a response based on their perception. And how amazing it was for the Prārthanā teachers to witness something new about the kids! Everyone, including the 5-year-olds were so articulate as they spoke of sharing, helping, concern for 
animals and the environment, and other values. The senior group of children wrote down brilliant descriptions for the pictures and spoke really confidently, bringing up values like sportsmanship, good company, awareness about the environment and wildlife, motivation and
Would you love to get a glimpse of these brilliant minds? Well, read on!
Speaking about the session, Deepā pachī felt all the children responded very well and the values inculcated by their parents and Prārthanā Varga spoke volumes of the anugraha of our Guru and Guru Paramparā. We are ever-so-grateful to Deepā Murḍeshwar pachī for making ‘Chintana’ so easy to follow, and so enriching to practise.
May this light keep glowing on by the Grace of our beloved Guru and Guru Paramparā!
All pictures from the evening have been lovingly captured by Umā Trāsī, Sādhanā Kaikiṇī, and Sandhyā Nāyel ( Malleswaram Junior Prārthanā teacher)
Reported by Sandhyā Nāyel (Malleswaram Junior Prārthanā teacher)
Consulting Editor - Madhurā Haldipur