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BeṅgaĪūru Prārthanā Varga Janma Divasa Shibir 2019

Photo credits: Smitā Baljekar, Ujjwal Mooḍbidrī, Beenā Savkūr, Sādhanā Kāikiṇī, Sandhyā Nāyel, Umā Trāsī, Bhavānī Nāyel

Reported by Bhavānī Nāyel, Teacher, Malleswaram Junior Prārthanā Varga, BeṅgaĪūru

आरोहणम्

At last, the countdown was over! 9th June 2019, the day of our Prārthanā Varga Shibir"आरोहणम्", to celebrate the Janma Divasa of Our Parama Guru - Pūjya Parijñānāshram Swāmījī III at Shrī Chitrāpur Math, BeṅgaĪūru, had finally dawned!

A beautiful raṅgolī of vegetables was made by Prārthanā teachers, keeping the theme of the shibir "आरोग्यं संस्कृतं च" in mind. On a brass plate, Beenā Savkūr created an artistic arrangement of small purple brinjals, carrots and ladyfingers, Umā Savūr added small tomatoes and ekpānne sourced from her garden, Sudhā UĪĪāl's homegrown teṇḍlyā āṅkre added a beautiful flourish, and french beans adorned by Bhavānī Nāyel completed the lovely raṅgolī . Finally, an exquisite brass lamp with Lord Gaṇesha was placed at the centre of the arrangement. The vegetables were later taken home for cooking, thus avoiding any wastage.

Pañjīkaraṇam (Registration)

Around 9:30 am, excited children happily flocked to the registration counter where Prārthanā teachers Jyoti UĪĪāl and Sudhā UĪĪāl welcomed them. Upon registration, each child was given a paper armband and sent into the Shrī Ānandāshram Sabhāgṛha.

Each armband featured a fruit, vegetable or flower, printed on it (by Smitā Baljekar). The children donned their artistic caps, colouring their bare prints with the colour assigned to them on the armband. Then, they were asked to write the name of their designated colour on their armband in Sanskrit before slipping it on. The children were divided into groups based on their colour, with each group helmed by a different teacher. The groups formed were रक्त- वर्णः red (led by Beenā Savkūr), पीत-वर्णः yellow (led by Umā Trāsī and Sudhā UĪĪāl), श्वेत-वर्णः white (led by Umā Savūr), कौसुम्भ-वर्णः orange (led by Sandhyā Nāyel), कपिश-वर्णः brown (led by Sudhā Kārnāḍ) and हरित-वर्णः green (led by Smitā Baljekar).

Prārthanā

Sabhā Prārambha Prārthanā was recited by all the Prārthanā teachers, students, guest Prārthanā teachers and resource persons.

After this, Umā Trāsī warmly welcomed all present to ‘Ārohaṇam’. She explained its meaning, the theme of the shibir "आरोग्यं संस्कृतं च" and then introduced our guest Prārthanā teachers Padmā Beṭrabeṭ (New Jersey Prārthanā Varga), Prem Gulvāḍy and Gaurī Gulvāḍy (both from Chicago Prārthanā Varga).

Umā pāchī also welcomed our resource persons, yoga teacher Ashwinī Kaikiṇī and her student Pallavī, and invited them to conduct Yogābhyāsa.

Yogābhyāsa

Ashwini first introduced the meaning of "Yoga" to the children. She held the children's attention with her captivating style of teaching! The children thoroughly enjoyed the warm-ups and the yogāsana-s taught to them by Ashwinī and demonstrated by her student! The Yogābhyāsa session concluded with the relaxing Shavāsana wherein Ashwinī transported them to a beautiful and surreal place in their mind's eye. I'm sure the children are already looking forward to their next Yogābhyāsa session with Ashwinī, as are the teachers!

Upāhāra/Pānakam

After Yogābhyāsa the children were treated to refreshing Nimbū-Pudīna Pīnakam in the Math Bhojanālaya by Prārthanā teachers Smitā NaimpaĪĪy, Mañjulā Jamālābād and Bhavānī Nāyel.

Stavanam: Shrī ParijñānāshramTrayodashī

Sandhyā Nāyel presented a beautiful Powerpoint presentation on the divine Shrī Parijñānāshram Trayodashī. After each verse was recited by everyone, Sandhyā explained the verse with the help of photos of Parama Pūjya Shrīmat Parijñānāshram Swāmījī III on the screen which made it easy for the children to understand. The children listened with rapt attention and observed the photos on the screen with great interest. In the following Prārthanā varga, the children recalled many details from the Trayodashī presentation. (Special thanks to Aniruddha Baljekar, who helped in the screen and projector setup for the presentation).

Pathatu Saṁskṛtam

Sudhā Kārnāḍ taught Sanskrit numbers 1-10 in an interesting way- counting forward, backwards and dodging too! The children learnt the Sanskrit numbers 1-10 really well and in an enjoyable way!

Krīḍā (Games)

This was followed by a game conducted by Sudhā Kārnāḍ and Sādhanā Kaikiṇī. The children sang a Sanskrit song written by Sādhana, titled "शिबिरः अस्ति धाव धाव धाव, क्रीडा चलति क्रीड क्रीड क्रीड, पुष्पाणि सन्ति चिनु चिनु चिनु", while simultaneously running until a number was called out in Sanskrit! After the number was called out, the children had to pick a flower and then form a group of as many members as the number called out. The children that were unable to form a group of the desired number had to sit down and join in the singing! The kids had loads of fun and learnt Sanskrit numbers as well!

Pañchālikā-pāthanam (Puppet Play)

Sādhanā Kaikiṇī held this session using cute animal hand puppets like धेनुः(cow), मेषः (sheep), शशक: (rabbit), उलूक:(owl), व्याघ्र: (tiger) and चित्रोष्ट्रः(giraffe). Sādhanā wrote some Sanskrit verbs on the board. A sheet of paper with the name of the animal puppet & nouns related to that particular animal were written in Sanskrit on a sheet of paper and given to each group of children to make sentences with!

Each group came to the mike and each group member spoke one sentence with the help of nouns and verbs provided to them about the animal puppet that they were holding in their hand. Each child passed on the puppet after they had finished speaking to the next child whose turn it was to speak in their group. It was a fun way of learning Sanskrit for the children and surely they had a wonderful learning experience!!

Bhojanam

After all the fun learning it was time for the children to fuel themselves. Prārthanā teachers were ready in the Bhojanshālā to serve them a delicious menu of āmras, purī, baṭāṭe bhājī, pulāo, rāitā and curd rice. The children relished the meal immensely and returned for seconds!

Vishesha-vādyam

After a sumptuous lunch, the children got back to their groups in the Shrī Ānandāshram Sabhāgṛha for some art & craft activity. Beenā Savkūr had prepared for each group a tray with some sponge, bubble wrap and ladyfinger pieces, to dip in the paints & colour the semicircular paper plate given to them. Once the paint had dried some of the teachers helped to punch three holes at the dots marked at the edge of the paper plate. A metal wire was inserted along with a tiny bell through each of the three holes & twisted around it. Voila, the tambourines were ready! The children kept them on the stage as their offering to Parama Pūjya Parijñānāshram Swāmījī.

Bāla-gītam

The children watched Sanskrit song animation videos on screen thanks to Smitā Baljekar (& Aniruddh Baljekar).The songs captivated the attention of the children. The first song was about the different animals seen on a farm and the sounds they make. Prārthanā teacher Bhavānī Nāyel showed some actions for this song.

The second song was about going to the market where they saw different vegetables, fruits and flowers. The children happily recollected the Sanskrit names of animals, vegetables, fruits and flowers when asked by Smitā after watching the videos.

Paushṭika-pātha-pachanam cha

As soon as Dietician and Prārthanā parent Ārtī Balse started her talk on healthy eating we were informed that our Parama Pūjya Sadyojāt Shaṅkarāshram Swāmījī was going to arrive at the Math. All of us rushed outside the Math elated and waited for Parama Pūjya Swāmījī to arrive. Bhajana-s were sung by the children and the teachers with great fervour. We felt blessed to get the divine darshana of Parama Pūjya Swāmījī. Swāmījī sat and spoke to us inside the Math and enquired about the Shibir activities and then sang the bhajana, "Jaya jaya Devi dayalahari…", with the laity joyfully repeating. After this, to our joy, Parama Pūjya Swāmījī kindly agreed for the cake to be cut in His presence.

Sambhojanam (Cake Cutting)

The lamp was already lit in front of Parama Pūjya Parijñānāshram Swāmījī's photo frame.

The Shrī Parijñānāshram Trayodashī was recited by all present. After the recitation was over, the youngest of the Prārthanā children Eshwarī Kaikiṇī and Aarohī Basrūr cut the cake along with the eldest Prārthanā child Shreyas Basrūr.

The delicious banana, dry fruit and semolina cake made by Smt. Umā Hosaṅgḍī was offered as Naivedyam along with Yuvatī Ashwinī DumbĪekar's yummy chocolate cupcakes.

Paushṭika-pātha-pachanam cha (Continued)

After the cake cutting, Dietician & Prārthanā Varga parent Ārti Balse continued with her talk on healthy eating habits which the children enjoyed immensely!

This was followed by Beenā Savkūr's no-fire, cool cooking. The children enjoyed applying the deliciously flavoured homemade hung curd made by her on one side of a cream cracker biscuit. They arranged on it a carrot smiley, a kernel of corn as the nose and two slices of olive as the eyes to make a smiley face!

Next, the children were each given a satay stick, through which they had to pass cubes of musk melon and watermelon, a piece of cheese and a cherry too (sevā of chopping fruits performed by Sāināth Savkūr). The children enjoyed making and eating both the healthy yet yummy treats. They had the mouthwatering fruit treat to their heart's content! They were asked to bring their own plates from home in which they ate their evening snacks and carried home the leftover prasad in their snack box.

After finishing their evening snacks, the children and teachers recited the Sabhā-Samāpti-Prārthanā and returned home feeling immensely blessed!.