GRIT –‘Saying YES when your fear says NO’

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“Success is the name of failure turned inside out,
The silver shade of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit,
It’s when things seem worst,
That you must not quit”

NEVER QUIT, the message given by the imposing poem above reflects a very important value which the Suhradam House was privileged to celebrate: GRIT –‘Saying YES when your fear says NO’ from 10th to 15th Nov ‘14. The house members put in sincere efforts to help the students understand the core concept of a winning personality – GRIT.

On Monday, the value was introduced by respected Gautam Sir using a few illustrations about how grit helps in a student’s life. The message conveyed was that a student with grit is not the one who works really hard and eventually gives up after many trials he is the one that always stretches his limits and strives for improvement.

In addition to this, a few videos were shown about how all great achievers of the world had displayed that grit was the one of the most important characteristic responsible in helping them to achieve their goals.

Moreover, the interesting thing told to the students was that keeping grit is a choice. It’s an attitude. It’s not something that someone is born with, nor is it something that is given to them. In fact, grit can be developed through an optimistic mind set and coping with setbacks, disappointments and failures. This elucidation really strengthened the eagerness of students to attain GRIT.

On Tuesday, respected Anand Sir explicated the value Grit as “sticking with things or plans over a very long term until you master them”. To make this definition more meaningful, he provided students a real life example of Juliane Koepcke. She was a 17 years old girl when the aircraft in which she was travelling was destroyed by a storm and crashed in the jungle and she had fallen down about 10000 ft from the aircraft into the Amazon rain forests. Her struggle for survival really moved the students and it worked as a great motivational source for them due to the message and learning derived from the story.

On Wednesday, respected Archana Ma’am enlightened all about the value grit with the saying: “A smooth sea never made a skilful mariner.” She explained that winners always endure, they never quit. For instance, she said, “Athletes put in years of practice, and commitment for a few seconds or minutes of performance”. She also provided two highly inspiring incidents from the lives of Marvan Atapattu (Sri Lankan cricketer) and Chris Moon (a double amputee who has competed in a wide range of marathons and ultra-distance races). It helped the students really believe that “Characters cannot be developed in ease and quite. Only through trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved. Triumphs don’t come without effort.” It also left the students with a zealous heart full of desires to reach their goals.

Thursday brought its own charm in form of divine blessings from Param Pujya Swamishree, manifestation of GRIT Himself, when respected Prajval Sir helped students to learn the value from him. A video clip from one of his discourses at AVM was shown wherein He asked students to do three prayers whenever they visited the prayer hall:

  1. the ability to score above 70% marks in all the subjects,
  2. to have a company of good friends, and
  3. the ability to keep calm and never get angry in any situation.
Students were contented to get to know what to pray in order to achieve a very important value like grit and to become a fantastic performer in whatever they do in life.With the fabulous celebration of the Children’s Day, the journey of learning grit began with the value instilled in their heart which will surely help them become great achievers, fighters and the makers of history one day.
Submitted by: Nirali Ma’am

TED Talks week by Shivam House

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TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a global set of conferences run by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, under the slogan “Ideas Worth Spreading”. It offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world’s most inspired thinkers, and an opportunity to curious souls to engage with ideas and each other. They address a wide range of topics within the research and practice of science, culture and academic topics, often through storytelling. The speakers are given about 18 minutes to present their ideas in the most innovative and engaging ways they can. Speakers range from Malcolm Gladwell, Al Gore, Gordon Brown, Bill Gates, Mike Rowe, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and many Nobel Prize winners etc…Shivam House had the opportunity to explore and spread the awareness of some of the most happening and cutting edge technology of the world with all. The house stands by a strong belief that ideas can influence and inspire a change in attitudes, lives and finally, the world. Some of the videos shown to children were as mentioned below:

Children were astounded to see the videos and listened to the talks with utmost curiosity. Every day after listening to these talks they expressed their curiosity by asking a lot of questions to their teachers in the class. They were inspired and promised to explore the site ted.com to watch more videos and get more information of things happening around the world.

Incidentally, it was a matter of honour for the house that 8th October, Wednesday, marked the 82nd anniversary of the Indian Air Force. On this day, all were introduced briefly to the history and achievements of this glorious establishment and some videos were shown that highlighted the contribution and might of the Indian Air Force.

Thus, students’ awareness, thinking capacity and imagination grew many folds.

Written by: Shivam House Team

Simple Life High Thinking

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Simple Life High Thinking નો અર્થ થાય છે કે “સાદુ જીવન, ઉચ્ચ વિચાર.”

સાદુ જીવન અને ઉચ્ચ વિચાર નામની સુક્તિનો અર્થ વ્યક્તિના વ્યક્તિત્વ અને ચરિત્રથી છે.સાદુ જીવન એટલે જરૂરિયાત મુજબની વસ્તુઓનો ઉપયોગ, અને ઉચ્ચ વિચાર એટલે ઉત્તમ વ્યવહાર. જ્યારે આપણા વિચાર ઉચ્ચ હોય ત્યારે એ વિચારોને આચારમાં ઉતારવાની કળા પણ હાંસલ કરવી પડે છે. અને એ વિચારો જ્યારે આચારમાં આવે છે ત્યારે આપણી જિંદગીમાંથી ઘણી બધી મુશ્કેલીઓ દૂર થતી જાય છે. તેથી આપણા વિચારોમાં ભીડ રહેતી નથી અને મન પર ઓછી ભીડને કારણે એનું વ્યવસ્થાપન સરળતાથી થઈ જાય છે અને આપણું જીવન સાદુ બને છે.

જે વ્યક્તિ સાદુ જીવન જીવે છે તે જરૂરિયાત મુજબ જ વસ્તુઓ રાખે છે. પરંતુ આજનો માનવી દેખાદેખી પ્રમાણે વસ્તુઓ રાખે છે. જો મારો પડોશી કાર લે તો મારી પાસે પણ કાર હોવી જ જોઈએ, જો પડોશીના ઘરમાં નવી ટેક્નોલોજી વાળું washing machine આવે તો મારે પણ લેવું જોઈએ, જો મારો મિત્ર iPad Air લે તો મારે તેની જરૂર ન હોવા છતાં લેવું જ જોઈએ. આમ, આ બધા ઉદાહરણો બતાવે છે કે મારું જીવન સાદુ નથી. સાદુ જીવન જીવનારા વ્યક્તિને કોઈપણ લોભ કે લાલચ પોતાની તરફ આકર્ષિત નથી કરી શકતું. તે પોતાના ઉચ્ચ વિચારોથી સંપૂર્ણ જગતમાં સન્માન પ્રાપ્ત કરી શકે છે.

સાદુ જીવન જીવવાથી જીવનમાં શાંતિ મળે છે. આવા વ્યક્તિના જીવનમાં કોઈ દેખાડો હોતો નથી. આવા વિચાર વાળા વ્યક્તિઓનું વ્યક્તિત્વ અને તેમનું ચરિત્ર એકદમ સાદુ હોય છે. તે હંમેશાં બીજાના હિત માટે વિચારતા હોય છે. તેમના જીવનમાં ખરાબ ભાવ માટે કોઈ જગ્યા નથી હોતી. તેમના જીવનમાં સ્વાર્થીપણું નહિ પણ જનહિતપણું છુપાયેલું હોય છે.

આપણા વિશ્વના ઈતિહાસમાં એવા કેટલાય મહાપુરુષોના નામ છે કે જેમણે પોતાના સ્વાર્થને ત્યાગીને હંમેશાં બીજાનું કલ્યાણ જ સર્વોપરી માન્યું છે. ગાંધીજી, ઈશ્વરચંદ્ન વિદ્યાસાગર, રવીન્દ્નનાથ ટાગોર, મધર ટેરેસા, ગુરુનાનક, ગૌતમ બુદ્ધ, સ્વામી વિવેકાનંદ, પરમ પૂજ્ય હરિપ્રસાદ મહારાજ, તથા બીજા ઘણા મહાપુરુષોએ એકદમ સીધુ સાદુ જીવન જીવીને માનવતાના વિકાસ માટેના કાર્યો કર્યાં છે. આ બધા સમ્પન્ન પરિવારોમાં પેદા થયા હતા, પરંતુ સંસારના ભૌતિક સુખ તેમને પોતાની તરફ ન ખેંચી શક્યા. આ તમામ મહાનુભાવોના જીવનમાં મુખ્ય ગુણ ‘સાદગી’ રહેલો છે.

સાદુ જીવન જીવવાથી ઉચ્ચ વિચારો પોતાની જાતે જ મનમાં પોતાનું ઘર બનાવી લે છે. જે વ્યક્તિના વિચારો ઉચ્ચ નથી હોતા તે પશુ સમાન છે. સાદગી પ્રિય વ્યક્તિ કઠોરમાં કઠોર વ્યક્તિના હ્નદયને પરિવર્તન કરવાની ક્ષમતા ધરાવતો હોય છે. આવો વ્યક્તિ જ સમાજ તથા રાષ્ટ્રનો નિર્માણકાર બને છે.

મહાત્મા ગાંધીએ કહ્યું છે કે “સદાચાર એટલે કે સારા આચરણમાં થોડી પણ ચૂક રહી જાય તો મને રડવું આવે છે.” આવા વિચાર વાળા વ્યક્તિ કેટલા આદર્શ હોય છે.

પરમ પૂજ્ય સ્વામીજી કહે છે કે, “યુવાનો મારું સર્વસ્વ છે.” કેટલો ઉચ્ચ વિચાર….!!!

સાદુ જીવન, ઉચ્ચ વિચારમાં વિશ્વાસ રાખવા વાળા સજ્જનોનું ચરિત્ર બધા લોકોને આનંદિત કરી દે છે.

તો આવા જ સજ્જન પુરુષોની ચર્ચા સુહ્નદમ હાઉસની ટીમે અઠવાડિક પ્રાર્થનાસભામાં કરી હતી. જેમાં પ્રથમ દિવસે પ્રેરક સરે PPTના માધ્યમથી વોરન બફેટનો મહિમા વર્ણવ્યો, ત્યારબાદ મંગળવારે પ્રભુમગ્ન સરના સાનિધ્ય હેઠળ ડૅા.ઈ.શ્રીધરન વિશે માહિતી આપી, ત્યારપછી બુધવારના રોજ આનંદ સરની પ્રેરણા હેઠળ શ્રી નરેન્દ્નભાઈ મોદીના દેશ માટેના ઉચ્ચ વિચારો વર્ણવ્યા, તથા ત્યારબાદ શનિવારના રોજ અર્ચના મેડમે અઝીમ પ્રેમજીના જીવનમાં રહેલી સરળતા અને ઉચ્ચ વિચારો વિશે આત્મીય વિદ્યા મંદિરના વિદ્યાર્થીઓને માહિતગાર કર્યા.

આમ, શિક્ષકોના માર્ગદર્શન હેઠળ, સુહ્લદમ હાઉસની ટીમે વિડિઓ, પ્રસ્તુતિઓ અને ભાષણો દ્વારા દૈનિક પ્રાર્થનાસભામાં Simple Life High Thinking ઉપર ચર્ચા કરી બાળકોમાં મૂલ્યશિક્ષણ શીખવવાનો એક નમ્ર પ્રયાસ કર્યો હતો.

આજના આ ભાગાદોડી વાળા જીવનમાં સમાજનું જીવનદર્શન તથા જીવન સ્તર બદલાઈ રહ્યું છે. આજે કૃત્રિમતાએ આપણને પૂરી રીતે જકડી રાખ્યા છે. આપણી આંતરિક ઉન્નતિ તરફ કોઈ ધ્યાન નથી આપતું. આપણે બીજાની નજરમાં તો મહાન બનવાની કોશિશ કરીએ છીએ પરંતુ પોતાની જ નજરોમાં આપણે પડી જઈએ છીએ. આપણો અહમ આપણને ખોટું કાર્ય કરાવે છે. જેના કારણે આપણું નૈતિક પતન થઈ જાય છે. પરંતુ આપણા માટે તે શ્રેષ્ઠ હશે કે, આપણે પણ આવા મહાપુરુષોના જીવનમાંથી, પ્રેરણા લઈને બાહ્ય દેખાડાથી બચીએ, તથા સરળ જીવન જીવવાની સાથે સાથે ઉચ્ચ વિચાર રાખીએ.

જય સ્વામીનારાયણ.

લેખક: ગૌતમ સર

GURUTSAV 2014: A National Level Essay Writing Competition

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“Everyone who remembers education remembers his teachers, not methods and techniques. The teacher is the heart of the educational system.” ~ Sidney Hook.

To highlight and make the students of our country understand and share the importance of their teachers in their lives. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India, announced ‘Gurutsav 2014‘ a national level essay competition for the students of our country, conducted on 1st of September, 2014.

An overwhelming total of 1,18,622 entries in 23 languages from 35 states and Union territories were received by MHRD from students across the country. The competition was held in an online/offline mode. The topics were announced half an hour before the scheduled start time of the competition. The competition was organized in three categories i.e. for classes 1st to 5th, 6th to 8th and 9th to 12th. All the participants from our school spoke and wrote about their teachers in the English language.The topic given to the 1st category was – “The day my teacher gave me a good remark ……. ”

From Atmiya Vidya Mandir, seven students’ were registered for the competition in the 1st category. These students were allotted one hour from the announcement of the topic, to record their feelings when they got a good remark from their teacher in a two minute audio recording. Two students from grade five, two from grade four, and three from grade three participated in this group. Students’ got their topic at 9.40 am and they were given 30 minutes to prepare on the given topic. After which, with assistance of their teachers, students’ responses were recorded and sent successfully by 10:40 am.

One inspiring observation made by the teachers during the competition was that, one student remembered even the date and month the remark was given to him by his teacher. All students spoke filled with confidence about the remarks that they had got and how it brought changes in them. The competition was designed to encourage young students to voice their opinions about their teacher. The little kids participated enthusiastically in this competition.

The topic that was announced for the second category was “The year when I got a new teacher……” The word limit in this category was 500 words and the time allotted was one hour from the announcement of the topic. Students showed their passion for the competition and typed to their best, recollecting their past reminiscences about their new teacher. The students were not allowed to use reference books or the Internet for the competition. Four students from grade 6, four from grade 7, and six from grade 8 were registered for the competition. They were very excited for the competition and one could see the joy on their faces recollecting their memoirs about their teacher and penning them down. It turned out to be a challenge for the students as on one hand they were so very eager to keep writing about their experiences and on the other they had to conclude it in the given time frame.

From the high school section, a total of 25 students registered for the competition: three from grade 9, five from grade 10, eight from grade 11, and nine from grade 12. Their topic was – “I can never forget the particular teacher because.…..” The students in this category had to write a 1000 word essay in one and a half hours. In the first half hour of the competition, it was difficult to miss the expression of deep thought and contemplation on the faces of the participants and their body language. Thinking and taking notes in the book. Occasionally, the thoughts also brought a smile on their faces. Once they started writing their thoughts in the word processor they never looked back, engrossed, going back in time mentally and remembering how their teachers had helped them and made a positive impact on their life.

Finally, out of the total 1,18,622 entries, only 148 students were declared winners across all categories at the national level. Out of that, only 5 were declared winners from the state of Gujarat. One in junior category, two from middle school and two from high school. Out of the five winners selected from Gujarat only one participant was selected from the city of Surat.

We are very happy to announce that from the high school category, Jaybhai Bariya, a student of 11th Science from our school was declared a winner by the MHRD. His winning essay can be found here. A felicitation ceremony was organized in the school auditorium on 9th of September. Principal Mr Anthony of J. H. Ambani School was the chief guest of the function. He awarded Master Jay Bariya with a certificate, a book gift and a cash prize of Rs. 5,000 sent by MHRD, India. Mr Anthony on this occasion also shared his experience with the students of the school, highlighting the importance that teachers play in the life of the students.

The competition gave an excellent opportunity to the students, to remember the involvement and inspiration their teachers provide to them day in and day out.

Reported by: Renuka Ma’am