સંગીત નાદબ્રહ્મ સાધના

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नमस्ते शारदे देवि सरस्वती मतिप्रदे।।
वस त्वं मम जिह्वाग्रे सर्वविद्याप्रदा भव ।।

સંગીત એક સાધના છે. જેમ ઋષિમુની તપ, ધ્યાન અને જપ કરી ભગવાનનું મનન ચિંતન કરી ઈશ્વરની પ્રાપ્તિ કરે છે. તેમ સંગીત વિષયમાં હ્લદયથી સાધના કરી ભગવાનની પ્રાપ્તિ કરવાની હોય છે.

સામવેદ ગ્રંથની અંદર સંગીત કલાનો ઉલ્લેખ કરવામાં આવ્યો છે. તથા 64 કલામાંથી સંગીત કલાને સર્વશ્રેષ્ઠ કલા બતાવવામાં આવી છે. આપણી સંસ્કૃતી માં સંગીતના માધ્યમથી ભગવાનને પ્રાપ્ત કરનાર શ્રી નરસિંહ મહેતા, મીરાંબાઈ તથા ભક્ત જલારામ બાપા આવા મહાન સંતો ભક્તિ કરતાં કરતાં ભગવાનમય થઈ ગયા. અને આજે પોતે પણ ભગવાનના અંશ ગણાય છે.

સંગીત એ એક એવું માધ્યમ છે કે જેનાથી સીધી અને સરળતાથી ભગવાન પ્રાપ્તિ થાય છે. આપણે હ્લદયથી ભગવાનનું ભજન કરવા માટે સંગીતનું માધ્યમ લઈ ગાયન અને વાદન સાથે જો ભગવાનનું ભજન કરીએ તો ભગવાનના હ્લદય સુધી એ પહોંચે જ છે અને તેનું ઉચિત ફળ આપે જ છે.

આવી જ રીતે આપણા આત્મીય વિદ્યા મંદિર પરિવારમાં સૌ (વિદ્યાર્થી) સાધક ભૂલકુઓએ સંગીત તથા નાદબ્રહ્મની ઉપાસના (ગાયન અને વાદન) કરી પ્રભુને તથા ગુરૂમહારાજને હ્લદયથી રાજી કર્યા છે. તથા સંગીતના સ્વર અને નાદથી આત્મીય વાતાવરણમાં એક સુંદર સુગંધ વધુ પ્રસરાવી છે.

જેમાં,

કક્ષા 1 થી 3:
1 થી 3 ના ભૂલકુંઓ દ્વારા “Rhyme singing, Solo singing, Group singing” પ્રસ્તુત કરવામાં આવ્યું હતું. જેમાં નાના નાના ભૂલકુંઓએ ગાયનને સ્વર-લય-તાલ તથા હાવ-ભાવ સાથે સુંદર પ્રસ્તુતિ કરી હતી. જેમાં સુંદર તાલ અને લયના આધારે મનમોહક પ્રસ્તુતિ રહી હતી. આ પ્રસ્તુતિને આધારે સ્વરકારી, લયકારી તથા સંગીત શીખવા માટે ઉપયોગી થતી તમામ બાબત સાથે તેમનામાં રહેલી એક સુષુપ્ત કલા બહાર આવીને ઉત્તમ પ્રસ્તુતિ રહી હતી.

કક્ષા 4 થી 6:
4 થી 6 ના ભૂલકુઓને સંગીતની કૃતિ હતી “IDENTIFICATION OF AN INSTRUMENT” એટલે કે કોમ્પ્યુટર અને સાઉન્ડ સીસ્ટમના માધ્યમથી શાસ્ત્રીય વાધ્ય જેમ કે તબલા, હાર્મોનિયમ, જલતરંગ, મોહનવીણા, રબાબ, પખાવજ, સંતુર, વાંસળી, સારંગી, વીણા, શહનાઈ, રુદ્નવીણા, ગીટાર, ઢોલક, ડ્રમસેટ આવા વાધ્યની સંગતી તથા એકાંકી વાદન વગાડવામાં આવ્યું હતું અને તે સાંભળી ભૂલકુઓએ કયું વાધ્યવાદન થાય છે તથા તે વાધ્યને કયા કલાકાર તેની સુંદર પ્રસ્તુતિ કરે છે તે સાંભળીને બતાવવાનું હતું. તેનાથી ભૂલકુનું શાસ્ત્રીય સંગીત પ્રત્યે રુચિ જાગે તથા આવા વાધ્યને સાંભળીને તેમને શીખવાની પ્રેરણા પ્રાપ્ત થાય.

કક્ષા ૭ થી ૮:
૭ થી ૮ ના ભૂલકુને સંગીતની કૃતિમાં સુંદર ચાર લાઈનના આધ્યાત્મિક શબ્દો આપવામાં આવ્યા હતા જેમાં આ ભૂલકુઓએ તેમની આવડત પ્રમાણે ગ્રુપમાં તે ચાર લાઈનના શબ્દોને સુંદર કમ્પોઝ કરી જેમાં કોઈ ગીત ગઝલ કે ભજનના શબ્દોનો ઉપયોગ કર્યા વગર તેમને તેમની જાતે શબ્દોની સ્વર-રચના બનાવીને સુંદર પ્રસ્તુતિ કરી વાતાવરણમાં સંગીતના સુરો લહેરાવ્યા હતા.

કક્ષા ૯ થી ૧૦:
૯ થી ૧૦ ના ભૂલકુ સંગીત કૃતિ માં તેમની સંગીત સાધના તથા તેમનો લગાવ ખૂબજ આનંદીત અને સર્વ આત્મીય પરિવારને પોતાની તરફ આકર્ષે તેવો હતો.

આ કક્ષાના ભૂલકુ માટે સૌપ્રથમ ૫ મિનીટ સુધી ૨ વાધ્ય પર ૪ માત્રાની લય ને ધ્યાનમાં રાખી નાદ બ્રહ્મની ઉપાસના દ્વારા વાદન કરવાનું હતું. મુખ્ય ૪ માત્રાને ધ્યાનમાં રાખી તેમાં તેના પ્રકાર ઉમેરીને વાદનને આગળ વધારવાનું હતું. આ વાદનમાં તેમની લયને સાથે સંગતિ કરતા તેમના સાથી ભૂલકુની લય અને માત્રા એક સાથે આવે છે કે નહી તે ધ્યાનમાં રાખવાનું અને તેના પ્રકાર એક પછી એક સાથે વાદન કરવાના હતા. બીજા ભાગમાં તેમના ગુરુ દ્વારા મુખથી બોલવામાં આવેલા “બોલ” ને તે જ લયમાં તથા જુદી જુદી લયકારી દ્વારા વાદન કરવામાં આવ્યું. જેમ તેમના ગુરુ બોલ બોલે તે જ સમયમાં લય સાથે બીજા આવર્તનમાં તે જ લય અને લયકારી સાથે વાદન પ્રસ્તુત કર્યું હતું.

ત્યારબાદ ગુરુજી કોઈ એક વાદ્ય પર ૪ માત્રા ની લય સાથે લયકારી અને જુદી જુદી તિહાઈ સાથે વાદન કરે અને તે જ સમયમાં ભૂલકુએ બીજા આવર્તનમાં તેની નકલ કરી સુંદર જુગલબંદી પ્રસ્તુત કરી હતી.

આ ભાગમાં ભુલકુની આવડત, તેની સંગીત પ્રત્યેની લાગણી, તેની સાધના તથા ગુરુ શિષ્યની સુંદર જુગલબંદી (સાથ-સંગત) જોવા મળી હતી.

આમ કરવાથી દરેક ભૂલકુમાં રહેલ સંગીતની ઉપયોગી એવી તાલ લય અને સ્વરનું જ્ઞાન બહાર આવ્યું અને આત્મીય પરિવારમાં નાદ-બ્રહ્મની ઉપાસના કરનાર ભૂલકુમાં વધારો થયો અને શિક્ષક, ભૂલકુ, અને સમસ્ત આત્મીય પરિવાર સ્વામીજીના ભૂલકુ રાજી થયા ને આ જોઈ અમને થયું કે જરૂર આ સંગીત નાદ બ્રહ્મ ઉપાસના ગુરુ મહારાજ સુધી પહોચીને ગુરુ મહરાજને ભગવાન રાજી રાજી થયા …

         આ સંગીત નાદ બ્રહ્મ ઉપાસનામાં વિજયસર, સ્વયમ મેડમ, આશિષસર તથા આત્મીય પરિવારના શિક્ષક ગણ આને સમસ્ત આત્મીય પરિવારનો ખૂબ ખૂબ સહકાર રહ્યો ને આ બધો શ્રેય સ્વામીજી અને આત્મીય પરિવારના તમામ સભ્યોને હું આપું છું. હું હ્રદય પૂર્વક સર્વ આત્મીય પરિવારનો આભાર માંનુ છું.

-જૈમીન સર

Interpersonal Intelligence Competition 2013-14

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With the evolution of science and society the methods and tools for teaching and learning have also evolved in past many years. Education and knowledge has increased many folds and the competition in various fields is fierce. But the main goal of education is still the same and all educators want to help their students to succeed in school, college, career and social life. In today’s fast pacing world it is very important to know what our children are good at and to find out which innate talent they possess. As we all look different and have unique personalities and temperaments, we also have different profiles of intelligences. Each one of us is born with a unique talent and intelligence and one cannot compare and say that one’s talent or intelligence is better than the other. To nurture this intelligence and transform it into a skill which will benefit the child to face life’s ordeals is very important.

To cater to the individual needs of student and to nurture the unique intelligence they possess, teachers at Atmiya Vidya Mandir have made a humble effort to design and organize many inter-house competitions throughout the year based on the theory of Multiple Intelligence given by Howard Gardner of Harvard University (USA).

 

 
On 23rd November, 2013 AVM had organized one such inter-house competition based on ‘Interpersonal Intelligence’. Few key aspects of interpersonal intelligence are: those who have strong interpersonal intelligence are good in understanding and interacting with other people verbally as well as non-verbally. They are good in working as a team and can positively resolve the conflict in the group.

Considering above mentioned realities this competition was organized grade wise and house wise. All the participants had been given different themes/tasks as per their grades. They had to work as a team and unleash their creativity to finish the given task in limited time.

The grade wise themes/competitions were as follows:

For Grade 1 to 3: Making Animals with Clay

In this competition all the participants were given the task to prepare their favorite animal from clay. 24 students from grades 1 to 3 had participated (2 students per Grade from each house). All the participants made the clay model of different animals like Elephant, Giraffe, Mickey Mouse, Tortoise, Dinosaur, Donald duck etc.

For Grade 4: Model making from Lego blocks
In this competition there were total 8 participants (2 students from each house). All the participants were given the task to make a model from the given Lego blocks in the given time. For this task they had to work as a team and come up with the idea to design the model and ultimately create that model. All the participants gave wings to their imagination and made varieties of models like Model of a Town, Model of Castle, and Model of Garden etc. It was exciting to note that the children were able to put in small little details in their models.

For Grade 5 and 6: Card Castle Making
In this competition there were total 16 participants (2 students per Grade from each house). For this competition participants had to make a castle from a given deck of cards and the castle with longest height will win. All the participants enjoyed making castle from the playing cards as a team. Their team work, patience and accuracy were tested here.

For Grade 7 and 8: Poster Making
In this competition there were total 16 participants (2 students per Grade from each house). The theme for this poster making competition was “Recipe of Success: Hard work + Earnest Prayer + Company of Good Friends”. Participant had to brainstorm and come up with the flow about how they can project this theme on a given chart paper. They were given time limit of one and half hour. All the teams came up with very creative ways to represent their ideas.

Throughout this competition participants from each grade levels worked as a team and learned to respect other’s ideas. It was a good experience for them to learn how to resolve their conflicts in a constructive way. For teachers it was a delightful treat to see their budding stars in action. Overall the competition was successful in providing the platform to students to unleash their creativity and practice their interpersonal skills. Both the students and teachers had thoroughly enjoyed it.

Grade wise winners of the Interpersonal Intelligence Competition are as follows:


For Grade 1 to 3: Making Animals with Clay: Shivam House

  • Rishil Savaliya (Std.1)
  • Veer Modi (Std.1)
  • Harinaman Gandhi (Std.2)
  • Harsh Patel (Std.2)
  • Jagrat Patel (Std. 3A)
  • Devan Patel (Std.3B)

For Grade 4: Model making from  blocks: Satyam House

  • Parth K. Patel (4A)
  • Parth N. Patel (4B)

For Grade 5 and 6: Card Castle Making: Shivam House

  • Shiv Patel (5A)
  • Manthan Patel (5B)
  • Vasav Shukla (6A)
  • Tarak Jadvani (6B)

For Grade 7 and 8: Poster Making: 

Satyam House

  • Smit Lad (7A)
  • Dharmin Patel (7B)
  • Jagrat Gada (8A)
  • Joy Patel (8B)

Sundaram House

  • Rutvik Fudhanawala (7A)
  • Parth Jasoliya (7B)
  • Dev K. Patel (8A)
  • Mantavya Ambaliya (8B)

Overall Result
1st Position    Shivam House
2nd Position    Satyam House
3rd Position    Sundaram House
4th Position    Suhradam House

Compiled by: Priyavadan Sir

Kinaesthetic Intelligence Competition 2013-14

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To provide an opportunity to all those students who possess a dominant, innate kinaesthetic ability, a team of teachers at AVM planned for an Interhouse Kinaesthetic Intelligence Competition to be conducted in October ’13. Different activities were designed for different age groups of students.

 

Group A: Std 1, 2, 3

  • Activity: Dance Competition (planned and executed by Suhradam Sir)
  • Number of students per House:- 09
  • Significance:- A kinaesthetically intelligent child would thrive in an opportunity to learn by acting things out and through movements (using their motor skills). A dance competition turns out to be one such opportunity for the little kids. Dancers exhibit highly developed bodily/kinaesthetic intelligence. So a dance competition gives the students an opportunity to use their body in a variety of skilled ways for expressive purposes.
  • Skills tested: – Motor movement of hands, fingers and legs; Sense of rhythm, Facial expression, Team work.
  • Result:- 1st Satyam & Suhradam (78 Points); 2nd Shivam (74 Points); 3rd Sundaram (73 Points)

Group B: Std 4, 5, 6

  • Activities: (planned and executed by Sarvajit Sir, Mrugesh Sir and Pujeetbhai)
    • “Hula hoops” for Std 4
      • 2 students per house
      • Skills tested:- Speed, Flexibility, Team work
    • “Satodiyu” for Std 5
      • 4 students per house
      • Skills tested:- Focus, Hand-eye coordination
    • “Juggling” for Std 6
      • 2 students per house
      • Skills tested:- Accuracy, Concentration, Team work
  • Result:- 1st Satyam (118 Points); 2nd Suhradam (110 Points); 3rd Sundaram (105 Points)

Group C: Std 7, 8

  • Activity: “30 seconds Field Goal” and “Bounce and Shoot” (planned and executed by the school basketball coach Bankim Sir)
  • Number of students per House:- 4
  • Skills tested:- Agility, Perfection, Hand-eye coordination, Judgement, Balancing body
  • Result:- 1st Sundaram (48 Points); 2nd Shivam (46 Points); 3rd Satyam & Suhradam (26 Points)

Group D: Std 9, 10

  • Activity: Improvisation (planned and executed by Suhradam Sir)
  • Number of students per House:- 6
  • Significance:-
    • Drama is one such art form which can convey human emotions at their best.
    • Improvisation gives an opportunity to the students to express their views on different topics like current social issues very effectively through their acting skills.
  • Skills tested: – Gestures & postures, Facial expressions, Dialogue delivery and Justification of given topic.
  • Topics for Improvisation:-
    • Education In India (Satyam House)
    • Corruption & Politics (Suhradam House)
    • Every Drop Counts (Water crisis) (Shivam House)
    • Idea of India or Ideal India (What can we do???) (Sundaram House)
  • Result:- 1st Sundaram (88 Points); 2nd Suhradam (84 Points); 3rd Shivam (83 Points) 

Overall Result:
First:      Sundaram House 84 points
Second:  Shivam House     80 points
Third:     Satyam House     78 points
Fourth:   Suhradam House 77 points

Practice Makes Perfect

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Morning assembly is one of the most important parts of the daily schedule in a school student‘s life. Values build up character. Value-based assemblies help children learn values that are important to build character and live a peaceful life.

Thus, Satyam House conducted the assemblies for the week of Dec.16 to Dec.21, 2013 with the value Practice Makes Perfect. The underlying theme was that proper & repeated action results in perfection.

This value is very significant for the students as it can help to perform better in academics, excel in sports or master any art such as dance, music, drawing and painting, etc.

The following was witnessed in the assemblies during this week:

Thought For the Day:
This forms a very insightful feature of the morning assembly. What great people think about the value is conveyed to the children. Pleasant morning, fresh mind and peaceful atmosphere makes it an ideal time for them to spare room in their thought process for the value. One of the thoughts conveyed during the week was: “Chance favours the prepared mind.”

Introduction:
On Monday, the Primary Section kids were very privileged because the value was introduced by the Principal Dr. Vijay Patel through a ‘vaat’ from “Swami Ni Vaato” and an interesting story.

At the same time, in the senior assembly, Kshitij Sir introduced it through a scientific research conveying how special type of brain tissue called Myelin, plays a key role in helping us to gain mastery over the skill and how regular practice rewires our brain. The assembly continued with a discussion of examples of two great personalities, Ludwig van Beethoven [the great music composer and pianist] and Karoly [handicapped pistol shooter who won gold medals in two successive Olympic Games].

AVM Young Talent Show: [under the guidance of Sharmil Ma’am]
Three students of AVM with outstanding performance in different fields were interviewed by the Show Host, Naman Banka of Std 7.


Young Talents:

  • Amit Chaudhary (Std 9) in Running
  • Niramay Tanna (Std 10) in Mathematics
  • Love Patel (Std 11 Commerce) in IT

All of them were clear-sighted that daily practice without fail, blended with God’s company and blessings helped them a lot in pursuit of excellence and still their journey is on. The SHOW helped students know the significance of practice in their day to day life.

The Music Maestro:
Jaimin Sir, the school’s tabla guru, shared his experience throughout his journey towards mastering the art of playing tabla. He highlighted that the painful struggle and the thrill of the journey led to happiness after each step forward from what he was in the beginning, only because of PRACTICE.

A live performance by him filled the environment with some beautiful rhythms that shall stay in the children’s minds inspiring them.

Hindi Assembly:
Paying respect to our National Language, assemblies are also often conducted in Hindi. Pushpak Sir conveyed the importance of ‘Practice’ through a self-composed poem:

सौ-सौ बार में एक ही कोशिश, कभी किसी ने की होगी,
तब जा के एक बार में उसने, दो-दो दक्षता हासिल की होगी।
पहले भी किसी ने ऐसे ही, अभ्यास की कही कहानी होगी,
आगे यहाँ से आपको भी, ये पद्धति पे पद्धति चलानी होगी।।

Practice polishes the inborn talent of a person. Arjun and Eklavya, who acquired perfection through their tireless practice in archery, are not unfamiliar to us.

Videos:
Young or old, everyone enjoys exploring information through audio-visual presentations and they also leave a prominent effect on our minds. Inspiring videos related to the fields of music, art, sports, academics, adventures, etc. were shown which left the spectators spellbound. Glimpses of the movie Bhag Milkha Bhag; a girl practising for the World Math Day and other sports were selected by Rekha Ma’am for discussion in the Gujarati Assembly.

Activity in the Junior Assembly:
An activity was conducted to show comparison between two groups of students, the one who practices certain skills on everyday basis and the one who never practices. It was concluded that the group of students who practise daily performed better than those who never did so, even for the actions which seem very simple.

Its effect?
It was a pleasant surprise to find that the tiny tots of grade I and II had brought the value into practice.


Grade IV students of handwriting class noticed improvement in their hand writing when they compared it with their writing on the first day of the class.

Annual Athlete Meet: Inspired by the value, some of the participants put efforts at their level best on practising for various events to win medals for their respective houses.

With such inspiring examples that followed this week of value-based assemblies, Satyam House was eager and ready for the next.

Written by: Sunita Ma’am

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