Festive Friday : Annkut Utsav at AVM
Atmiya Vidya Mandir is a distinctive Temple of Learning as it is blessed and led by the divine vision of His Divine Holiness Param Pujya Hariprasad Swamiji. One of His simple yet profound ideals is “જીંદગી આનંદ માટે છે, મરવા માટે નથી”. Consequently, one can find here an amalgamation of education, festivity and culture.
Every Friday is celebrated as a ‘Festive Friday’. This is the time, pupils experience joy of celebrating different festivals in their true spirit. The sole objective of celebrating Indian festivals is to promote and preserve Indian culture in the hearts of young angels of future India.
Once again Atmiya Family gathered and made the evening of 30th November colourful, festive & devotional by celebrating Bhoolku Annkut; a festival of devotion. About 125 eatables including fruits, chocolates, biscuits, snacks, refreshments, beverages, sweets & meals with beautiful garnishing were offered to Thakorji in decorative baskets, bowls and plates. Annkut was arranged on small steps as well as semi-circular platform adorned with flowers and rangoli patterns.
Celebration commenced with a small prayer and an introduction describing the glory of the day by two young hosts, followed by an inspiring speech delivered by the principal Dr. Vijay Patel. He shared the incident of how Lord Krishna was pleased with the handful rice offered by His beloved childhood companion poor Sudama and blessed him with a beautiful palace in return. He added, in a like manner, God always counts our devotion and blesses us with inner peace and spiritual wealth.
The occasion ended with ‘thaal’ and ‘aarati’. All the elders performed aarati, artistically made with flowers and lamps. Finally, all departed with prayers expressing their gratitude, had Annkut darshan & prasad capturing the memory of the auspicious moment in their hearts forever.
Saumya Ma’am
ચાલો, થઈએ ગુણાતીત જેવા
It is rightly said, “Focus is the key to success.” ‘Focus’ in Gujarati means ‘એકાગ્રતા’. At Atmiya Vidya Mandir, we organize creative assemblies to help the children become aware of the hurdles of student life and how to overcome them. On Friday, 26th October 2018, Satyam House enacted a small drama titled “ચાલો, થઈએ ગુણાતીત જેવા”, demonstrating how to avoid distractions and focus on the task assigned. Two prasangs were performed, one from the life of Gunatitanandswamiji and one from Param Pujya Swamishree’s life.
The story was about a young boy named Sapanbhai, who could not memorize even small definitions like that of Osmosis and could not complete any homework in scheduled time. Frustrated, and being scolded and counselled by his friends, he goes to sleep. In his dreams he meets his house master who tells him a prasang of Gunatitanandswamiji. He tells him how focused Gunatitanandswamiji was as he was unaware of the monkeys that disrupted the decorum of the spiritual gathering conducted by Muktanandswamiji. When questioned how He could remain so focused, Gunatitanandswamiji humbly replied that it was not in His capacity to do so, but He kept praying to Maharaj to grant Him such focus. As a result, Maharaj blesses Him with immense strength to avoid distraction and stay focussed.
The next day in the morning, when the house master came to wake up children, Sapanbhai shared his dream with him. Upon severe insistence from Sapanbhai, he explains how to become ‘એકાગ્ર’ through a small prasang from our dearest Swamishree’s life. He shared how Swamiji remained focused in reading Vachanamrut, while the flight was delayed on the airport. He went to say that the A.C. in the flight was not working, the technicians and the flight staff were constantly moving around and the passengers were all filled with anxiety. But in such annoying and frustrating situation Swamishree was very calm and composed, He was completely focussed in reading Vachanamrut and remained oblivious to what was happening around Him. It was after 5 hours of delay that the flight was again ready to take off.
When Ashok Uncle, Swamishree’s secretary, asked Him of His such tremendous focus, Swamishree very naturally replied, “એ લોકો એમનું કામ કરે આપણે આપણું કરવાનું”.
Thus, through this short play, we all learnt that while we are seated in the class, we must avoid all sorts of distractions that can break our focus. We learnt that while we are seated in the class, we must not fidget with pen and pencil, not look out of the window or in the corridor, not bother about who is going and who is coming, not bother about who is doing what work, but remain focused on our own study and on what the teacher is teaching in the class.
Gunatitanandswamiji and Swamishree’s lives are an epitome of ‘એકાગ્રતા’. Children became committed to practice to remain focused in class. They also learnt that when their focus is broken, they would recall and remember these two prasangs and pray to God to give strength to become focussed like Gunatitanandswamiji.
Prabhudarshan Sir
Navratri-Dashera 2018 Celebrations
Swoosh went the rocket of Ram swiftly into the chest of the evil Ravan, leaving the effigy in flames depicting the victory of good over evil. Yes, it was the grand festival of Dashera.
Centuries ago, it was on this day that Lord Ram had killed the devil Ravan and freed the innocent people from his cruel acts.
At present, this festival is celebrated by burning the dummy of Ravan, which resembles the victory of dharm over adharm.
At Atmiya Vidya Mandir too, this festival was enjoyed in a splendid way. The atmosphere was spiritually charged, almost everything took on a spiritual hue when honourable Vijay Sir took the microphone and delivered a great insight into the significance of this festival. He mentioned that a man is defined by his deed and that ‘Saralta’ is the most vital attribute a man must possess.
Later in the evening, all the students had a cheerful time playing garba. The aromatic Manchurian and yummy Ice-Cream were memorable.
Finally, all the students went to bed with a year’s homework of ‘Saralta’.
Reported by: Manan Mehta (Class 10)
