આવી આવી આવી રે… ઉત્તરાયણ આવી

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આવી આવી આવી રે… ઉત્તરાયણ આવી,
તલસાંકળી, ચીકીને મમરાના લાડુ,
અને
ચટાકેદાર
ઊંધિયાની સોડમ સાથે લાવી.
આવ્યો સંક્રાંતિનો અવસર આ રૂડો,
સાચવીને
મિત્રો ! તહેવારનો તમે આનંદ લૂંટો.
સૂરજદાદાના ગુણકારી કિરણો સાથે લાવી,
આવી
આવી આવી રે… ઉત્તરાયણ આવી.
હિંદુ ધર્મમાં એક માસને બે ભાગમાં વહેંચવામાં
આવ્યો છે. એક છે સુદ પક્ષ અને બીજો છે વદ પક્ષ. એ જ રીતે વર્ષના પણ બે ભાગ
પાડવામાં આવ્યા છે. પહેલો છે ઉત્તરાયણ અને બીજો છે દક્ષિણાયન. આ
બંને અયન મળીને એક વર્ષ થાય છે. મકરસંક્રાંતિના દિવસે સૂર્ય થોડો ઉત્તરની તરફ ઢળે છે. આથી આ કાળ કે
સમયને ઉત્તરાયણ કહે છે.
હિંદુ ધર્મમાં મકરસંક્રાંતિને ઘણું મહત્વ
આપવામાં આવ્યું છે. વેદો અને પુરાણોમાં પણ આ દિવસનો ઉલ્લેખ જોવા મળે છે. દિવાળી, હોળી, શિવરાત્રી  અને અન્ય તહેવાર સાથે વિશેષ કથાઓ જોડાયેલી છે અને આ બધાં જ તહેવાર અંગ્રેજી મહિના અનુસાર ન આવતા હિંદુ
માસ અને તિથિ મુજબ આવે છે જ્યારે મકરસંક્રાંતિ એ એક ખગોળીય ઘટના છે અને
જેનાથી જડ અને ચેતનની દિશા અને દશા નક્કી થાય છે. આ તહેવાર એવો છે કે જે
અંગ્રેજી મહિના મુજબ ૧૪ જાન્યુઆરીએ આવે છે. ૧૪ જાન્યુઆરી પછી કમુરતાં
પૂરાં થઈને લગ્નસરાની મોસમ શરૂ થાય છે.
સૂર્યનો ધન રાશિમાંથી મકર રાશિમાં પ્રવેશ તથા
ઉત્તર તરફની ગતિને જ ઉત્તરાયણ કે મકરસંક્રાંતિ કહેવામાં આવે છે. મકરસંક્રાંતિના પર્વનું ધાર્મિક, સામાજિક અને વૈજ્ઞાનિક દૃષ્ટિએ ઘણું મહત્વ છે.
મકરસંક્રાંતિ સમગ્ર ભારતમાં ઊજવવામાં આવે છે. જોકે દરેક પ્રદેશમાં તેનું
અલગ-અલગ નામ છે અને ઉજવણીની રીતો પણ જુદી-જુદી છે.
આ વર્ષે આત્મીય વિદ્યા મંદિરના ધોરણ 5 ના
નાના-નાના ભૂલકાંઓને મકરસંક્રાંત્તિ(ઉત્તરાયણ)ના પર્વનું ધાર્મિક, સામાજિક અને
વૈજ્ઞાનિક દ્વષ્ટિનું મહત્વ સમજાવવામાં આવ્યું. તથા પતંગ ચગાવવાની વિવિધ કળાઓ વિશે
માહિતગાર કરવામાં આવ્યા. જેમ કે પતંગ ખરીદવા, માંજો પાવો, પતંગને કિન્ના બાંધવી,
પતંગને ઊંચે આકાશમાં ચગાવી ગુલાંટ મરાવવી, ઢીલ આપવી, ખેંચ મારવી અને બીજાના પતંગને
કાપવો વગેરે કળાઓ શીખવવામાં આવી. ત્યારબાદ પતંગ ચગાવતી વખતે રાખવમાં આવતી સાવચેતીઓ
જેમકે પતંગ ચગાવતાં પહેલા આંગળીઓને મેડીકેટેડ ટેપ લગાવવી જોઈએ, વીજળીના તારને દોરી
અડે નહિ એ રીતે પતંગ ચગાવવા, લીસી, ખરબચડી, તૂટેલી અને નબળી અગાસી/છત કે ધાબા પર ઊભા
ન રહેવું જોઈએ, જાહેર રસ્તા પર પતંગ પકડવા દોડવું ન જોઈએ, પતંગ ચગાવતી વખતે એ પણ
ધ્યાન રાખવું કે તમારો આનંદ તમારા માટે કે બીજાના માટે જોખમ ન બને વગેરે વિશે
વિશેષ ધ્યાન દોરવામાં આવ્યું હતું. આમ, બાળકોએ ખૂબ જ ઉત્સાહપૂર્વક  ભાગ લીધો અને પતંગ ચગાવવાની મજા માણી.
હેપ્પી ઉત્તરાયણ….

પ્રેરણા: ગૌતમ સર

Sporting Carnival at AVM – the 10th Annual Atmiya Athletic Meet

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After lots of anticipation, preparations and planning, the day came when the sporting carnival of the year began on the 25th of December 2013. The mega event kicked off with a grand opening ceremony. Students and teachers alike were preparing for this showpiece event separately from the regular preparations.

The opening ceremony
The performances in opening ceremony included gymnastic activities, dumbbell drills, ‘Suryanamaskar’ and ‘aasans’. All of these activities underlined the importance of such physical work and the enthusiasm amongst students for these traditional methods to keep themselves fit and healthy. To add glamour and vibrancy to the ceremony, special dancing and singing performances were kept. The choir group of the students of class 6, 7 and 8 sung a melodious song ‘Ashaein’ under the able guidance of Himanshu Sir and Jaimin Sir. The song encouraged students to aspire and do everything they can to achieve those aspirations. A scintillating dance performance was presented by the dancing group on a very popular song ‘Bhaag Milkha bhaag’, which encapsulated the spirit of the event. The dance was very creatively choreographed by Suhradam Sir.

For this very important event special guests were invited. P. Fuvaji and P. Suhrad Swamiji along with P. Ambrish Swamiji graced the event with their presence. Not only that, P. Fuvaji and P. Suhrad Swamiji addressed the students and encouraged students to perform up to their potential. They also applauded the efforts put in by the sports teachers. After the speeches from the guests, it was the turn of the Sports Captain Nirmalbhai to conduct the oath taking ceremony. The ceremony concluded with the principal Respected Vijay Sir officially declaring the 10th Annual Atmiya Athletic Meet open.

 

The entire event was divided into 6 sessions ending on 28th December with a prize distribution ceremony. Being the 10th Annual Athletic meet, the administration introduced new, sparkling and prestigious Runners Up and Winners trophies. The site of new trophies energized and motivated the students to do even more and make their house the first holders of these beautifully made trophies.

Track and Field events
From December 26th, all the events began as every single student from class 1 to 11 participated in one or the other event. In itself it was the biggest attraction as well as a matter of recognition for the sports team as all the students were presented with an opportunity to compete in front of the whole school. The motto of the event, ‘Winning is not everything but participation and the will to win is’, truly reflected in the attitude and enthusiasm of the students and teachers. All the students did their best to win some points and medals for their houses. Those who could not, certainly tried to encourage and cheer the participants from their houses. But the most satisfying thing was that all the students appreciated good performances from the students from all houses as they realized that at the end of it is a win for the school.

We aim above the mark to hit the mark
Considering this famous quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, the sports teachers printed and posted the current school and CBSE records for individual events on the respective track and field arena. The idea behind this was to encourage students to aim higher and maximize their potential. Not only were students encouraged to win the medals but were also pushed to break the current records to improve their individual performances. So many broken records in the 10th Annual Atmiya Athletic Meet is a testimony to the drive of the students to achieve and perform to the best of their abilities.

Contribution from Volunteers and Academic teachers
Such a massive event couldn’t have been possible without the dedicated contributions from the student volunteers, academic teachers and admin staff. Kalpesh Sir put together a very devoted team of 25-30 student volunteers who were the engines of the routine tasks such as managing the sports equipment for respective events and becoming the bridge between the officials, scorers and participants. The academic teachers and admin staff were also very keen to contribute immensely in the event. A special credit goes also to Kshitij Sir and Pushpak Sir who were the anchors for the whole event. They did not let such a hectic schedule of a long event come in the way and kept encouraging the students through the microphone. The kitchen department also played a very significant role, as throughout the days of this event, the refreshments and snacks were provided to the students on the field. The sincerity, availability and willingness to contribute from all the members of Atmiya family throughout the meet made the event even bigger success.

The last hurrah
After the vigour of 4 sessions, it boiled down to the final session in which 10 final events were kept from the 5 student categories. The planning was done so carefully by the sports teachers so that in the ultimate session of the event, students, teachers and guests could witness the most exciting finals. 100 metres finals and 4×100 metres relays were a matter of great anticipation and excitement in this last session. A special relay event was organised for the class 12 students as they were busy in their studies for the upcoming Board exams. The performances from the young athletes in this final session, captured the imagination of the whole school as they stepped up their performances. Sheer determination and uplifted performances not only entertained everybody but they also broke some more records in the process.

And the winner is…..
After a very long fitness program, 2 week preparation camp for the students, planning and preparing the athletic arena from the teachers, competitive and enthusiastic participation and some record breaking performances later, we reached a moment where the recognition for all these efforts was due.

A special set up was prepared in the centre of the field for the prize distribution ceremony. The ceremony started as the medals and certificates to the winners were awarded by various teachers and guests. In such a massive event, few individuals always outshine the rest with their determination, persistent efforts and supreme performances. And it is only fair to recognize such individuals. To encourage such outliers, the Best Athlete trophy in each of the student category was presented to such students. The noise reached a new level as all of these students were equally appreciated by the students of all the houses.

Along with the winners, the efforts and sincerity of volunteers was also recognized. Special appreciation certificates were handed to these volunteers from respected Haresh Sir. Upon the request of Haresh Sir, a special photo was taken to commemorate the contribution of these young students who upheld a very core value of the school ‘seva’ (service).

All of these only added to the eagerness for the announcement of the winner house. Throughout the event it was very difficult to predict which house would win as athletes from all the houses had shown their worth in different categories as that kept their house in hunt to win the prestigious trophy. It was one of the closest fight in the recent years as only 6 points separated the houses occupying 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions. But reigning athletic meet champions Sundaram House won the competition second year in a row and Suhradam House finished second. Respected Govind Sir (Principal, Sarvanaman Vidya Mandir and Haresh Sir (Administrator, Atmiya Vidya Mandir) presented the trophies to the winner as the mega event came to an end. Vijay Sir then officially declared the 10th Annual Atmiya Athletic Meet closed as fireworks took the centre stage.

Although the event has ended but the echo and memories of this event will remain with everyone involved for a very long time. The administration of the school heartily congratulates all the students and the staff members for organizing such a fantastic and exhilarating event which can only enhance the experience at this wonderful institution.

Here are the highlights of the results:

Best Athletes
    Name                       House       Category    Points            Medals won
Hari Martin                   Satyam       Group A       30                    3 Golds
Mumukshu D Patel       Satyam       Group B       24       1 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze
Shrimed M Sangani    Suhradam    Group B       24       1 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze
Shubh J Patel              Shivam       Group C       30                   3 Golds
Darshan J Patel          Suhradam    Group D       30                   3 Golds
Mayank M Watwani    Sundaram    Group E       28             2 Golds and 1 Silver
               
(Note: The points from relay races are not considered for the adjudication of best athlete.)

                           House     Gold    Silver    Bronze    House Points
Winners          Sundaram     14         11          16               324
Runners Up     Suhradam     12          9            9                266

 Written by: The AVM Sports Team

Preparations for the biggest sports carnival of the year – the 10th Atmiya Annual Athletic Meet

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“There is no glory in practice, but without practice, there is no glory”. Keeping this quote in mind the sports teachers organised the sports calendar for 2013-14. Throughout the year, the students of AVM participate in various inter-house sports competitions, but the Annual Athletic Meet is by far the biggest sporting event of the year.

At the beginning of the year, a decision was taken to pay more attention to the fitness of the students. In line with that, after the summer vacation, a 15 day fitness camp was organised by the sports teachers so that the students can get back into a proper physical shape. To maintain fitness throughout the year, more time was allotted to the running, jogging, exercise drills, etc. It meant a bit lesser playing time for the students. But soon, the improved fitness helped students to improve their skills in their respective sports and helped them become better at it. Morning jogging and yoga was included in the physical fitness program as a part of the winter session in the school. Getting up early in a cold winter morning is never an easy task, but the students and sports teachers overcame the hurdle and followed the program with sincerity. All these efforts led to a better fitness of the students and hence expectation of a better performance in the athletic events.


The preparation of this mega event started as soon as the inter-house football competition ended on 7th December 2013. The Sports department at AVM planned the event in such a way that all students can participate in their choicest events. To increase the medal winning opportunities for students, the participation of each student was limited to 3 events. This time around, the students were divided into different age categories and standards. Five groups were made so that the students could compete fairly. Here are the groups:
  • Group A: Class 1, 2
  • Group B: Class 3, 4
  • Group C: Under 13
  • Group D: Under 15
  • Group E: Under 17

Each group consisted various track and field events to suit the capabilities of the students. After the success of introducing the Javelin Throw event last year, the sports team added Triple Jump event for groups D and E.


To make sure the students understood the rules of various events and developed specific skills, a 2 week athletics camp was organised leading up to the athletic meet. They were given opportunities to practice their events regularly with inputs from the coaches. Emphasis was put on maximizing the potential and aiming for better performances. To motivate the students further, existing school records and CBSE zonal records were displayed so that students push themselves harder to achieve more.


For teachers, the challenge was not only to prepare the athletes for this marquee event, but also to prepare a very high class athletic track and field arena so that the students can enjoy the event to the fullest. Sports teachers took extra time out from their routine to set up a wonderful arena. A 200 Meters track was prepared for all the track events. Around the track, fields for Shot Put, Javelin Throw, Discus Throw, Long and Triple Jump, High Jump and Ball Throw were marked and prepared. A special walk way was created around the track and field arena so that students could move freely and enjoy their choicest events.

 

After some very meticulous planning and super preparation, the arena was set for the opening ceremony of the 10th Atmiya Annual Athletic Meet on 25th December.
More to follow.

Written by: Sports Team

The Wisdom and Teachings of Gunatitanand Swami ni Vaatu

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Gunatitanand Swamiji, the ideal devotee of Lord Swaminarayan, through His talks, has explained the glory of God in such simple and lucid language so as to appeal to any individual, regardless of their age or education.

He has talked to a great extent about the causes of our misery and sadness and about ways to liberate ourselves from that. He has highlighted that one of the biggest hindrances in acquiring the bliss of God and happiness is our mind. However, most of our life’s decisions are made by consulting our mind and hence cause us excitement or frustration. In our mind lies laziness, likes and dislikes, over-confidence, greed, uncertainty, tension, ignorance, lack of faith in self and God, fear of accomplishments: How it will happen? What will happen? Will it happen or not? Our mind engages us into all such nuisance and creates a distraction or divergence from doing what is required to be done at the present moment.

One of the core ideas of all the religions around the world is ‘We are not our mind. Our true identity is our soul.’ That is we are different from our mind. God resides in our soul and our soul harnesses the energy of Aksharbrahm. Gunatitanand Swamiji has explained this core concept through various examples in His talks which are very easy to understand. He has also explained how to take continuous fight with the mind and where one should engage the fickle mind to make it steady, peaceful, well-mannered and focused. Throughout the week various Swami ni vaato were explained in the assembly.

  • On the first day, “ત્રણ જણ  સુખીયા, એક તો મોટા સાધુ કહે તેમ કરે તે, તથા મન નું કહ્યું ના માને તે જ્ઞાની, તથા કઈ જોઈએ નહિ તે.” (somewhat translates to: “3 people are happy: one that does as per what a saint says; the wise one that does not listen to mind and the one that does not have any desires.”)
  • On the second day, “ડાહ્યો હોઈ તેને વઢે ત્યારે રાજી થાય અને મુર્ખો હોઈ તેને વખાણે ત્યારે રાજી થાય.” (“The one who is wise feels happy when scolded, and the one who is foolish feels happy when praised.”)
  • Third day, “ગાફલાઈ ટાળવાનું કારણ તો એ છે જે ખટકો રાખે તો ટળે ને બીજો ઉપાય તો કોઈ શિક્ષા કરે ત્યારે ટળે.” (“The way to get rid of carelessness is to remain vigilant and another way is if there is someone to guide or show right from wrong or scold, carelessness can be removed.”)
  • Fourth day, “મુંજવણ આવે તો કેમ કરવું? એ પ્રશ્ન પૂછ્યો, તેનો ઉત્તર કર્યો જે “સ્વામિનારાયણ સ્વામિનારાયણ …” ભજન કરવું તેથી મુંજવણ ટળી જાય.” (“‘When there is tension, what should be done?’, was the question asked. The response was: chant ‘Swaminarayan Swaminarayan’, doing which will relieve the tension.”)
  • Fifth day, “સત્ય, હિત અને પ્રિય એવું વચન બોલવું ને ઉપેક્ષા રહિત બોલવું પણ આગ્રહ થી વચન કહેવું નહિ.” (“Speak truth, for welfare and in a pleasant manner but not with contempt and also not with insistence.”)

The sixth day, Saturday, was the creatively assembly. In the creative assembly students of Shivam House had presented an entertaining and enlightening drama titled, ‘લુચ્ચું નાલાયક લબાડ મન’ (“The cunning, unworthy, roguish Mind”). The core idea of drama was based on Swami ni vaat, “કેટલાક ને મન રમાડે છે અને કેટલાક મન ને રમાડે છે.” (“The mind tricks many while many trick their minds”) Through this drama it was conveyed to the children that we need to take persistent fight with our fickle mind. Our mind is like a cunning fox, a skilful trickster. It does not allow us to focus and diverges us from the task at hand. It puts us into difficulty and itself remains away from it. Becoming resolute to never do as our mind says and firm determination to follow the commands of parents, teachers and guru are the only two ways to conquer our fickle mind and make it steady, peaceful, well-mannered and focused. In this assembly, ALL the Shivam House students from Std 3 to Std 7 had participated. Shivam House extends special gratitude to the students of Std 8 and Std 10 for sparing their valuable time in stage set up and Vinayakbhai (Std 8) for his contribution in setting up the music system for daily practice. Furthermore, the House extends special gratitude to Vallabh Mama, Samarthya Ma’am, Ritesh Sir and Devang Sir for their valuable contributions in stage set up.

Lastly, it was a lesson not just for the students but also for the elders. Very often our mind does not allow us to do the right things for many selfish reasons. In those times it becomes very difficult to fight with the mind and make it do the right things. At that time we must have someone in our life who can tell us outright what to do and what not to do and insist us on doing the right things. We must recall the commands of our guru, and pray to God to give us the strength and determination to fight with the devil mind.

By Teachers of Shivam House

There are NO shortcuts…

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The world is increasingly “shrinking”. Availability of resources to acquire knowledge and procurement of things are a lot easier than the past. Shopping, entertainment, communication etc. have become faster and easier because of the technological advances. Although these technological advances have made the process of learning and understanding easier, the competition has also grown many folds. One has to be the best in his field of interest to become successful and touch the horizons. One needs to put in persistent efforts to become the best. Thus in the process of development of an individual or in the formative age there is no technology that can replace hard work. In other words there are no short cuts to success and happiness.

The Shivam House students and teachers explored this very important aspect in the daily morning assemblies during the week immediately following the beginning of the post-Diwali break. This report is a compilation of the various ideas shared during this very inspirational week.

Today, people are in such hurry to get success, that, they impatiently take any shortcuts that come across their way and bypass the process of acquiring skill. Momentarily we feel happy but unfortunately after taking such short cuts the task goes beyond our abilities and comfort levels. So, the key to any long-term success is to take the necessary steps to acquire the skills and steadily progress towards the goal.

Right from childhood, those children who work hard constantly and have regularly increased the practice hours at different stages in life are the ones to be the most successful and create history. But if the students take short cut then they have to face lots of consequences. The pile of concepts not learnt, or skill not acquired during the formative years becomes too difficult to cope up and finally as they move to the higher standards, more and more hours of studies would be required to acquire what is missed. Increase in stress, tension and becoming ignorant of learning are some ill effects of short cuts. Following are a few from the long list of successful people who have persistently put efforts:

  1. Mozart, for example, famously started writing music at the age of six. Mozart had started composing when he was 6 and the earliest of Mozart’s composition that is now regarded as a masterwork was not composed until he was twenty-one: by that time Mozart had already been composing concerts for ten years.
  2. India’s Grand Master Vishwananthan Anand started playing chess when he was 6 years old and he became the India’s first Grandmaster at the age of 18. He won the first World championship at the age of 31. So it took him 12 years to earn the Grand Master Title and then another 13 to become the World Chess Champion.
  3. Bill Joy an American Computer Scientist co-founder of Sun-Micro Systems in 1982 just at the age of 28. He started programming at a very early age, just after graduating from high school. The programs that he wrote in Unix are used till date as the base of programming in assembly line language.

History also presents to us numerous examples of achievers whose achievements were due to the fierce struggle they did in life and had the attitude of never give. For example, Tenzing Norgay could achieve world fame, only after making dozens of unsuccessful efforts at conquering the Mt. Everest. Our country India would never have achieved independence by taking shortcut. It was the battle of 200 years by our freedom fighters. Let me share with you an interesting secret about the Chinese bamboo. A tree that grows really tall — to a height of over eighty feet. It takes around five years and three months to grow to its full height. But here is the interesting bit. For the first five years of planting the seed, we see nothing, absolutely nothing. Except perhaps a little shoot springing out of the bulb and struggling to grow.

And then, in the next 90 days, it shoots up to a towering eighty feet. That is, for the first 60 months, all the growth is invisible, below the surface. The Chinese bamboo’s roots create a complex network. It is these strong roots that, when fully developed, helps the trees to grow to a very big height. In the next three months it literally takes off and becomes as tall as eight feet.

Often, too often, we do all the hard work and when we are perhaps just a step away from success, we walk away. Trouble is we seldom know that we are only a step away, just a step away from realizing our dreams. In this era of instant coffee and fast food, get-rich-quick schemes and lose-weight-quickly medicines perhaps we all need to take a pause and take a lesson from the Chinese Bamboo. Patience and persistent hard work has its rewards. Nothing happens in a magical way. Persistence always pays. Success in all our endeavours is what we all want, but most of us forget that the road to success is not always sprinkled with roses, it could be thorny and very long!

We may possess the talent but hard work helps us to nurture the talent and make us unconsciously competent by imbibing the skill. Hard work has changed the fortunes of mankind. If we delve deeper into the life of stars like Ratan Tata, Dr. Abdul Kalam, Narendra Modi, Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Jordan, Lata Mangeshkar, Pandit Zakir Hussain, Amitabh Bachchan, Marvan Attapatu, etc. we will realize that they are unconsciously competent in their fields of expertise. They were able to achieve this because of their persistent hard work.

The question is, are we ready to put in persistent efforts required to achieve success. 

Written by: Rashmi Ma’am

ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING

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“People may hear your words, but they feel your Attitude”

To facilitate the need to understand and develop the right attitude in the life of the students, Suhradam House got the privilege to celebrate the value: Attitude is everything in the very first week of wintry December. All the members elucidated the value throughout the week with the motive to help the students realize and develop the attitudes an AVM student should possess. The week comprised of many inspirational speeches, captivating PowerPoint presentations and also fascinating stories superbly presented by the teachers and students.

On the first day, the attitude “to be Atmiya with everyone” was well explained with the qualities of a student who is Atmiya with everyone: like forgives and forgets others’ mistakes, respects and loves everyone dearly, is all sincere in prayer and doing pooja. In a nutshell, he shares harmonious relationship with the self and others.

On the second day, the importance of positive Attitude and the sutra given by P.P.Swamishree to be “ever positive and never negative” were discussed. Furthermore, it was explained that being positive means to look at virtues of others and try to imbibe them in yourself, appreciate the classmates for their good deeds and encourage everyone together to follow rules and regulations of the school religiously, without giving any excuse and just showing the results.

On the third day, the attitude of “being sincere in studies” was shared as one of the most important values a student must have. It was presented through a captivating PPT prepared with the help of the guidelines given by P.P.Swamishree from His discourses to AVM students. Students could understand the importance of sheer hard work, sincere prayer, concentration in class, daily revision and being regular in doing work. Moreover, it was repeatedly emphasised to ask questions to the teachers until the doubts are cleared.

On the fourth day, the attitude of “Respect for everyone” was brought to light. It was discussed that being respectful is to behave politely and humbly with everyone, never criticizing anyone, never giving back answers to elders, and also being friendly with fellow beings. The attitude of acceptance was also highlighted here.

The fifth day contained fascinating stories on another aspect of attitude “using language (vaani) aptly”, shared in speeches delivered by the Suhradam House students. They shared that AVM students should use respectful language while dealing with individuals belonging to any age group and call all the fellow beings addressing them as “bhai”. The importance of speaking only the truth, very politely and avoiding ill-mannered interruptions while others are talking was also shared. More emphasis was laid on the use of English language all the time with use of the golden words like sorry, thank you excuse me, please, etc.

This highly educative week ended with the attitude of “keeping company of good friends” as it is known to everyone that a person is known by the company he keeps. Students were guided not only to have good friends among themselves but also to have one such teacher as a true friend, to whom they can approach easily for any problem which will help to keep themselves on the right track in any adverse situation.

With the persistent efforts of Suhradam House members, the week ended with a positive spirit developed in the students as they made amendments in their attitude. Thus, Suhradam House feels proud and honoured to commence the journey of developing the right Attitude within all of us.

Submitted by: Harsh Gondaliya (Class 10-A)

Sundaram House enlivens the saga of King Vikramaditya

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The prayer hall at Atmiya Vidya Mandir on Saturday morning, during the creative assembly session on 7th of December, 2013, reverberated with usual applause and zestful response of the students as they witnessed the drama on the life and message of one of the greatest Indian kings, King Vikramaditya. It was an edifying presentation by Sundaram House members.

The narrative of this creative assembly rests on the inspiring life of King Vikramaditya. The Sundaram House students (Dharmit Mistry, Paavan Shah, Sahjik Trambadiya, Mantavya Ambaliya, Deep J Patel, Uttkarsh Patel) role-played the characters of the drama and relived a few incidences from King Vikramaditya’s life which demonstrated how much just, kind and religious a king he was! They presented the accounts of Vikramaditya’s incomparable sense of justice and his unparalleled quality of being benevolent. This creative assembly presented him as the king of the era who has created the glorious history of Hindus and would be an incessant source of inspiration. Every incident in the life of this great hero is a witness to his brilliant capability which he wisely invested for the welfare and prosperity of others.

 

 
The most enchanting part of the drama was the unique and historical throne of King Vikramaditya which had 32 figurines placed on it and the way they came alive to say the inspiring story of King Vikramaditya. The students performed a small skit on the incident of King Bhoj (role played by Yash Jariwala) who unearthed Vikramaditya’s magnificent throne, many centuries after the latter’s death, and decided to sit on it. But each time he set foot on it, a statue carved on its side came alive (role played by Aayush R, Shivang Patel, Manan Thakkar and Nisarg V) and told him a story of Vikramaditya’s kindness. The statues warned King Bhoj that he should sit on the throne only if he could match Vikramaditya in his deeds. The selected incidences from his life delve into the intricacies of cultural assimilation and shed light on how his unflinching faith in God made him a hero of the era.

Sundaram House celebrated the entire week by elucidating different inspiring qualities of this great king and shedding light on his overarching personality. The regular morning assemblies by Sundaram House members highlighted King Vikramaditya as a role model who was characterized by a commitment to justice and kindness. Students were explained through presentations, videos, documentary and special talks and speeches that a true leader and a successful person should live a life like that of king Vikramaditya.

Thus, the students recognized the relevance of the tales of King Vikramaditya in their lives today and the worth of adopting qualities of fair-judgement, sagacity, valour and charity.

પ્રજ્ઞા પ્રવૃત્તિ

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સમગ્ર જીવનસૃષ્ટિનો એકમાત્ર જીવનાધાર વરસાદ છે. માણસને જીવવા માટે શ્વાસ પછી બીજું કોઈ મોટું પરિબળ હોય તો તે પાણી છે ! એ પછી અનાજ. ખાધા વગર માણસ પાંચ-પંદર દિવસ ચલાવી શકે પરંતુ પાણી વગર બિલકુલ ન ચાલે !

વેદકાળમાં ઋષિમુનિઓ રાજાને આશીર્વાદ આપતી વખતે સૌથી પહેલા એમ કહેતા કે, કાલે વર્ષતુ પર્જન્ય: અર્થાત, ‘તમારા રાજ્યમાં યોગ્ય સમયે વરસાદ થાઓ.’ વર્ષના આઠ માસ સુધી આકાશી અગનગોળાઓ તપાવ્યા પછી ધીમી ધારે અને ચોમાસાની ઋતુ પૂરબહારમાં ખીલે ત્યારે અનરાધાર વરસતા વરસાદનું મહત્વ વરસાદ ન પડે ત્યારે જ સમજાતું હોય છે.

 

 
 
અષાઢમાં જો મેઘમલ્હાર જામે તો નદીનાળા છલકાવી દે અને કોશે જાય તો ચાંગળુ પાણીએ ન મળે, શ્રાવણમાં જો મેઘો મંડાય તો ખેતર-ખળાને ધાન્યના ઢગલે ઢગલા છલકાવી દે અને જો રૂઠે તો કોઠીનું તળીયું ય દેખાય.

ચોમાસું બેસે ત્યારથી જ ગ્રામજનોની નજર આભ સામે મંડાયેલી રહે છે. ભાદરવામાં કડાકા-ભડાકા સાથે તૂટી પડે એવા વરસાદની આશા ઠગારી નીવડે ત્યારે મૂંગા જાનવરોને ઘાસચારો અને પીવાનું પાણી મળી રહે તેટલા વરસાદની અપેક્ષા રાખે, અને એ પણ વ્યર્થ જાય ત્યારે વરસાદને વિનવવા જાત-જાતના અને ભાત-ભાતના વૈજ્ઞાનિક પ્રયોગો, ઉપાયો કે પરંપરાગત વિધિઓનો આશરો લે છે.

ધાર્મિક આસ્થા ધરાવતા લોકો આવા સમયે પર્જન્યયજ્ઞો કે અખંડધૂનનું આયોજન કરે છે, તો કૃષિ વૈજ્ઞાનિકો વળી કૃત્રિમ વર્ષાના પ્રયોગો કરે છે. ગ્રામ્ય વિસ્તારનો ભોળો, અબુધ, અશિક્ષિત આમઆદમી પણ પોતાની રીતે વરસાદ માગવાના પરંપરાગત પ્રયત્નો કરતો હોય છે.

ઉત્તર ગુજરાતમાં વરસાદને રીઝવવા માટે આવા અલ્પશિક્ષિત, પછાતવર્ગ દ્વારા થતો પ્રયત્ન એટલે ઢૂંઢિયા બાપજી. આ વિસ્તારમાં સમયસર વરસાદ ન આવે ત્યારે ખાસ કરીને દેવીપૂજક કોમની સ્ત્રીઓ કાળી, ચીકણી માટીની એક મૂર્તિ બનાવીને તેને જાત જાતના વાઘા-શણગાર પહેરાવી એક બાજોઠ ઉપર પધરાવે છે. જેને તેઓ ઢૂંઢિયા બાપજી તરીકે ઓળખે છે. એક સ્ત્રી આ બાજોઠને માથે ઉંચકીને ઢોલ-શરણાઈ સાથે ગામના મહોલ્લે-મહોલ્લે ફરે છે. વરસાદને આર્જવભરી વિનંતી કરતી એ સ્ત્રી મેહુલા તરીક ઓળખાતા ગીતો ગાય છે. અને બીજી સ્ત્રીઓ તે ઝીલે છે. સ્ત્રીઓ ઘેર-ઘેર ફરે ત્યારે તે ઘરની સ્ત્રીઓ બાજોઠ પર બિરાજમાન મૂર્તિ ઉપર લોટો ભરીને પાણી રેડે છે અને અનાજનું યથાશક્તિ દાન કરે છે. પાણીથી ભીંજાયેલી એ સ્ત્રી ગાતી ગાતી આગળ વધે છે. અને પછી ગામની સીમમાં નદી કે તળાવ કાંઠે પેલી મૂર્તિનું વિસર્જન કરે છે. ગામમાંથી એકઠું થયેલું અનાજ પંખીના ચણ માટે વપરાય છે. આમ કરવાથી વરસાદ વરસે છે, એવી આ ગ્રામજનોની માન્યતા છે.

શ્રધ્ધા-અંધશ્રધ્ધાને ઘડીભર કોરાણે મૂકીને સામાન્ય જન દ્વારા પણ કુદરતી સંકટ ટાળવા થતો, આ પરંપરાગત પ્રયત્ન આપણી સંસ્કૃતિનું દર્શન કરાવી જાય છે.

આત્મીય વિદ્યા મંદિરના ધોરણ 5 ના નાના-નાના ભૂલકાઓને આ લુપ્ત થતી સંસ્કૃતિનું દર્શન પ્રજ્ઞા પ્રવૃત્તિ દ્વારા કરાવવામાં આવ્યું હતું.

 
પ્રેરણા: ગૌતમ સર