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

AVM sings the glory of Gujarat!

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Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high……. 


Where the world has not been broken up into fragments…………When the great poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote these lines, hardly had he
thought that his words would take shape of reality in Gujarat. Gujarat,
the ‘Land of the Legends’ which leaves behind impressions with
footprints on the sands of time. Life is a Celebration for those who
live in Gujarat, a place where Gods chose to exist! Hence Sundaram House
unfolded the astounding features of ‘Garvi Gujarat’ in the first week
of this November.

Throughout this week, during morning
assemblies, members of Sundaram House showed informative presentations,
enchanting videos and explanatory speeches in order to make the students
aware of the rich heritage and unique culture of Gujarat.

On
Monday, to begin with, students were shown a video-clip about the
Gujarat Development Model, which explained and showed Gujarat as India’s
fastest developing state, stating Gujarat’s commendable achievements.
The next day, a captivating and much convincing PowerPoint presentation
was shown on the topic, ‘Contribution of Gujarat in the fields of
Science and Literature’. Students acknowledged the role of Vikram
Sarabhai and Pranav Mistry in the field of Science and Technology. On
the third day of this week, students were shown some videos related to
the contribution of Gujarat born leaders in the Freedom Struggle and
politics. Legendary personalities like Gandhiji, Sardar Patel and
Narendra Modi were praised for their inspiring lives.

On the
following day, students got the opportunity to watch a video clip which
showed Param Pujya Swamiji mentioning in his speech that Gujarat is a
pious and the most sanctified land as it has been the ‘chosen land’ by
saints, deities and religious Gurus of India.

The week was
concluded with highlights of other remarkable and fascinating features
of Gujarat, its cultural significance, historical places and temples and
architecture. Through speech and video, students were made aware about
the vast natural resources and its rich, cultural heritage which has
endeared Gujarat and Gujaratis even to the rest of the world.

Additionally,
in the assemblies of junior students, there was much fun with glimpses
of marvelous features of their motherland Gujarat. Each day of this
week, brought some valuable information to these little young minds.
They acknowledged much information and facts about food, music,
religion, custom, traditions of Gujarat. Most noticeably, the last day
was extremely fun-filled for them, as the junior group of Sundaram House
presented a scintillating Garba Dance.

Thus the students of
Atmiya Vidya Mandir realized and rediscovered the charm and charisma of
Gujarat, where the future is expected to have in store, days full of
peace, prosperity, wealth and immense beauty of culture, tradition and
nature.

Truly, let’s all sing together…JAY JAY JAY JAY GARVI GUJARAT!!!

सम्मान – आत्मीयता का प्रथम चरण

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होता हो… सम्राट वही, जिसके शीर्ष पर ताज है,

पर प्रतिष्ठा, पूंजी, पूर्णता का, सम्मान कब मोहताज है?

आज यह जगत जहाँ खड़ा है, वहाँ से एक और विश्वयुद्ध की हद, महत दूरी पर नहीं है। क्या आप बता पाएंगें कि, संसार में वैमनस्य का वर्धन क्यों हो रहा है ? क्यों द्वेष अपनी पराकाष्ठा पर है ? वैर क्यों इतना पोषण प्राप्त कर रहा है?

प्रश्नों की इस शृंखला के जिम्मेदार प्रत्युत्तर के रूप में, पूर्णरूपेण उच्छृंखल(बेलगाम) हो कर, सर उठाए जो खड़ा है, वो है – असम्मान।

रत्न मत ढूंढो, यहाँ तो दीपक जलते हैं, ये तो वो जगह है, जहाँ मानव ढलते हैं।।

समाज में भ्रातृत्व एवं आत्मीयता के पुनर्स्थापन हेतु कटिबद्ध, कामयाबी के दस वर्षों को पूर्ण करने जा रहे, योगी डीवइन सोसाइटी के एक उपक्रम – ‘आत्मीय विद्यामंदिर’, जो कि अपनी प्रार्थना सभा की एक विशेष शैली के लिए भी जाना जाता रहा है। विद्यालय के ‘सत्यम हाउस’ द्वारा निर्देशित सप्ताह ‘सम्मान – आत्मीयता का प्रथम चरण’ (Respect – First step of Atmiyata), गत कार्तिक मास के कृष्ण पक्ष की पंचमी से दशमी तक (13 से 18 अक्टूबर 2014) मनाया गया।


छह दिनों तक चले समय के इस दौर में सत्यम हाउस के छात्रों, शिक्षकों और सदस्यों का पूर्ण उत्साह और उमंग के साथ योगदान रहा। बताया गया कि वास्तव में सम्मान सभ्य समाज का एक आवश्यक अंग क्यों है? इसकी उपस्थिति से क्या लाभ है और अनुपस्थिति से क्या क्षति ?

“सम्मान व्यक्ति का नहीं, व्यक्तित्व का होता है”

‘सम्मान’ विषय पर आधारित इस तरह के कथन, नई-पुरानी सभी तरह की कहानियाँ, कविताएं, प्रेरक-प्रसंग एवं चलचित्र प्रस्तुत किए गए। अच्छे कार्य की प्रशंसा होनी ही चाहिए, फिर चाहे वो किसी कुख्यात व्यक्ति द्वारा ही क्यों न किया गया हो, वह व्यक्ति फिर से ऐसा कुछ अच्छा करने को प्रेरित होगा। और इस तरह से उसका जीवन सामान्यता की ओर अग्रसर होगा। किसी को सम्मान देने के लिए प्रौढ़ता, प्रतिष्ठा और पद आवश्यक नहीं बल्कि योग्यता, प्रतिभा और सुजनता होनी चाहिए।

सत्यम हाउस ने इस बात पर भी विशेष बल दिया कि सम्मान केवल सजीवों का ही नहीं बल्कि भावनाओं, संवेदनाओं और उम्मीदों का भी होना चाहिए। आपसी सम्मान से समाज में सोहार्द का पनपना और उससे समय, धन, ऊर्जा का सदुपयोग होना स्वाभाविक प्रक्रिया है। समाज विकास के पथ पर अग्रसर होता है। सम्मान, आज के समय की मांग है।

हाउस द्वारा किए गए सम्मान के महिमा-मंडन को प्रशंसको द्वारा सराहा तो खूब गया, किंतु इस विनम्र प्रयास का मूल्यांकन तो आधारित होगा, प्रशंसको के वर्तन में आने वाले परिवर्तन पर।

लेखक:  पुष्पक सर

‘दशहरा अर्थात कम से कम दस अवगुणों को हरना’

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दिनांक 03, अक्तूबर 2014 को आत्मीय विद्यामंदिर के प्राटंगण में दशहरा का त्योहार मनाया गया। शाम सात बजे तक पाठशाला के सारे छात्र फूटबोल मैदान पर एकत्र हो चुके थे।
सुरज अपना कर्तव्य इस स्थान पर पूरा कर पृथ्वी के किसी और छोर पर गमन कर चुका था एवं लगभग 30 फीट ऊँचा हमारे अवगुण रूप रावण का पुतला चंद्र की चंद्रिका में चमक रहा था। आत्मीय विद्यामंदिर के हिन्दी शिक्षक श्री.मुकेशभाई जोशी ने दशहरा के उत्सव की महिमा बताते हुए कहा कि दशहरा अर्थात इस दिन हमें निश्चय करके कम से कम एक दुर्गुण की आहुति इस अग्नि में देनी है, जिससे आगे का विद्यार्थी-जीवन कार्यकलाप उत्तम छात्र एवं उत्तम नागरिक बनने की तरफ अग्रसर हो।
आत्मीय विद्यामंदिर की प्रणाली—किसी भी कार्य की शुरुआत प्रार्थना-पूजा से होनी चाहिए—इसका वहन करते हुए प्राचार्य श्री विजय सर, आचार्य श्री आशीष सर, महेन्द्र बापा, अर्जुन मामा, अन्य शिक्षक गण, हाउस मास्टर, दिदिज़, संपूर्ण छात्रगण ने भगवान की पूजा अर्चना की। तत्पश्चात स्पोर्ट्स शिक्षक श्री रितेश सर के सहयोग से आधुनिक रोकेट तीर का उपयोग कर रावण का दहन किया। छात्रों का मन उत्सव से आनंदित था।
सभी छात्र अपने अंवगुण एक चिट्ठी में लिखकर लाए थे। श्री रितेश सर ने सभी छात्रों से वो चिट्ठियाँ एकत्र की एवं उसे रावण के दहन में उस आहुति को छात्रों की और से समर्पित की।
यह उत्सव लगभग साँयकाल 7:30 बजे तक चला। पश्चात सभी छात्रों ने शिक्षकगण एवं प्राटंगण में उपस्थित सभी जन सहित भोजनालय की और प्रस्थान किया।
हिन्दी शिक्षक
मुकेशभाई जोशी

Joining the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan!

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All religions insist on cleanliness before worship. This clearly conveys the significance of cleanliness, both internal and external, in our daily lives. These aspects of cleanliness have their own ways of being achieved and both need to be strived for proactively.
With great courage and foresight, the external cleanliness matter has been taken up at a national level in the form of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Mission) by the Government of India. This campaign was officially launched on 2nd October 2014 at Rajghat, New Delhi with the mission to clean up the streets, societies and villages of the country. Immediately after the launch, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself wielded a broom and swept a parking area at Mandir Marg Police Station followed by pavement in Valmiki Basti, a colony of sanitation workers, at Mandir Marg, near Connaught Place, New Delhi.
Being a future nurturing institution of India, Atmiya Vidya Mandir too played an active role by taking part in this cleanliness drive. Students of various classes participated in this event to clean up the entire school campus. It was an enriching experience for the students wherein they felt the joy of serving selflessly and also some sort of discomfort to work in the afternoon time. This not only helped them appreciate the efforts of school hospitality team who work for them day in and day out but also made them realize the value of dignity and respect that all types of work carry. The campaign went beyond the school classrooms till the school security cabins. Even the teachers took initiative to clean the areas surrounding their residences i.e. the staff quarters with the same spirit!
The event was also used to create an awareness that as a citizen, we need to contribute to our society in all possible aspects. Clean India is a responsibility of all the Indians. Inspired by the statement of our Honourable Prime Minister ‘ना में गन्दगी करूँगा, ना में गन्दगी करने दूंगा’ (I would not litter and won’t allow anyone to do so), every student decided to take the initiative to clean up if they found any litter in their surroundings.
Together, let us all sincerely and enthusiastically work towards achieving this very fundamental goal of a Swachh Bharat.
Written by: Rashmi Ma’am

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

Jal Jhilani Ekadashi 2014: Letting the Almighty to drive our lives

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India is blessed with the delightful celebrations, not only fun-filling in life but also spiritually inspiring. Each festival has its own space and significance in India.One amongst many such festivals, was celebrated at Atmiya Vidya Mandir on 5th September, 2014. Resembling the purification process of body, mind and soul, it is named as Jal Jhilani Ekadashi, one of the most auspicious festival of Hinduism. The celebration took place at school’s swimming pool, wherein the whole school was present, from every elderly person to the youngest one.
The Honourable Principal Sir addressed the students on the occasion and explained the purpose and essence of the celebration. He also explained the spiritual aspect of the celebration and the way one should get his mind and heart engross in it. Few of the messages from his speech are as below.
1. One should bestow full trust in God and Guru and never doubt their ability
2. Offer the complete charge of life to God without any reservations
3. Let God decide the destiny and enlighten the path of lifeAfter the speech, Thakorji’s Aarti was performed by all the elderly members of our school. Then came the most awaited moment, Thakorji’s Nouka Vihar. One by one, each class students enjoyed the ride of rowing and sailing the boat carrying Thakorji in the water.

Finally, the celebration ended by all enjoying the customary prasad of Cucumber. With this we end, but celebrations never end at Atmiya Vidya Mandir and there still are many more to come on the way.

Reported by: Rashmi Ma’am

Spiritual Intelligence Competition – Soaring with the Wings of Wisdom

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Every child born in the world is a new thought of God, an ever fresh and radiant possibility. The sole purpose of education is to provide the child a conducive environment to glow fully. At Atmiya Vidya Mandir, a child gets ample opportunity to think intensively using his intelligence to shape the character full of values and virtues. For that, various house wise multiple intelligence competitions are planned throughout the year. In this series, a never before seen event, the Spiritual Intelligence Competition was held on 30th August, 2014, in four different groups.Group A: (Std. I to III)

  • Spiritual Intelligence is necessary for discernment, in making choices that contribute to psychological well-being and value driven society. By keeping that in mind, the theme ‘My Choice’ was selected for grades I to III under the proficient guidance of respected Ashish Sir and Binu Ma’am.
  • For grades I, II and III, one student from each house was selected, thus total 12 students participated in this competition.
  • For grade I, participants were given few pictures of “Do’s” and “Don’ts” of good habits. Students segregated and pasted the pictures of good habits in the given diya shaped chart paper.
  • For grade II, participants were given different things to arrange according to their choice and priority. They were also given a board game of ‘Virtues and Vices’, in which they pasted tags of virtue at the place of ladder and tags of vice at the mouth of snake. It represented that in order to win and achieve success; virtue plays a major role like a ladder while vice brings them down like the bite of a snake. The outcome of this event was very inspirational for all the grownups too!
  • For grade III, participants ticked the correct option for given situation. They recited ‘Gunatitanand Swami ni Vato’, shares their friends’ virtues and wrote – how they would offer help to their friends in times of need. They also wrote their pledges on bouquet to please P.P. Swamishree, their parents and teachers.
Group B: (Std. IV to VI)

  • Spiritual intelligence calls for multiple ways of knowing and for the integration of the inner life of mind and spirit with the outer life of work in the world. It can be cultivated through questing, inquiry and practice. To fulfil the same idea, respected Saumya Ma’am and Shreejichintan Ma’am organized a quiz in the school auditorium.
  • There were four groups namely Manan, Chintan, Nididhyas and Sakshatkar consisting of five participants from each house.
  • The first round was ‘Ever positive never negative’, in which participants shared their positive perception from the given thing and the person. The second round was named as ‘Atmkhoj’ in which reflective questions were asked to the participants based on life values presented through the creative assemblies, scriptures and daily prayers. ‘Sanskar Suvas’ was the third round in which participants were asked to talk about some sanskars such as vinay sanskar, yatra sanskar, nitya pooja sanskar and sanskar at home.
  • Students sang prayer in the fourth round. Then participants shared their views and messages from the video shown to them. The viewers and judges were amazed to witness the spectacular insights possessed by the young scholars. Their performance was the evidence, how rightly their body, mind and soul have been nurtured at the right age.

Group C: (Std. VII & VIII)

  • Spiritual Intelligence experiences wisdom, compassion, integrity, joy, love, creativity and peace which are necessary for individual and collective transformation. It also refers to various skills and abilities that empower one to live in harmony with the highest values and move unswerving towards the life goals. To fulfil the same, Prabhumagna Sir and Mrugesh Sir arranged the competition for this group.
  • For grade VII and VIII, two participants from each house, thus total 16 students participated enthusiastically.
  • Students were shown a video of a creative assembly ‘Kadhi dudhpak mein na fasao, accha jivan dhyey banao’. Then they were provided the sheet of application based questions in which they wrote their opinions, views, reactions and responses for the given situations. Indeed the competition was interesting.

Group D: (Std. IX & X)
Lord Swaminarayan mentioned in Vachnamrut Gadhada Pratham 16 that a wise person is one who identifies the flaws within himself and thoughtfully eradicates them. In order to put it into practice, the students of grade IX and X were given an introspective activity, wherein they identified and pondered the current challenges on the way to their progress and tried to find the probable solutions from the lives of enlightened souls under the competent guidance of Priyavadan Sir and Chirag Sir.
For grade IX and X, two participants from each house, thus total 16 students participated in this competition. They were given four prasangs. As a team of two students they finalized four main challenges and applied their understanding from the given prasangs and wrote their reflections. Through this competition, they identified their problems and found ways to deal with the same that further helped them to become more optimistic in life. So we can say that spirituality is about being able to see what’s wrong with ourselves, accepting the idea that we can change, and then showing willingness for actual transformation in our lives.

The competition results’ summary is as per below:

Throughout the entire competition, all the participants attested that ‘Knowing oneself is the beginning of all wisdom.’