Educating the Character ~ Part 1
Since the dawn of civilization in human life, the primary goal of imparting knowledge was to guide the new generations towards the betterment of society and educate them with the necessary qualities required to achieve that goal. They learned through Smaranam (Listening), Mananam (Reflection), Nidhidhyasanam (Meditation). Listening itself was through being near the Guru (Teacher) and was the beginning of Upanishad. There are many Upanishads ~ more than 100, some say or claim it to be a number close to 108. About 1500 years ago, Shankaracharya, chose to comment upon 12 of them and today those twelve Upanishads are studied by those, who wish to sincerely learn about ‘Vedanta’ ~ The end of all knowledge. At Victorious Kidss Educares, we couple these principles and as was advised by Swami Vivekananda ~ towards education for the children of 21 Century ~ to couple Western Education of IB coupled with Vedanta. The stress and importance is towards, first building a good loyal, committed, truthful character ~ who has developed the will power, concentration ~ to learn and be able to apply in the real world?
Why Early Childhood Development is Important?
“The potential possibilities of any child are the most
intriguing and stimulating in all creations.”
The potential for giftedness or a high level of intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual development begins very early in a child’s life. In ancient India and subsequently, in the modern Western World, the time to begin, exchanging, feeding data awareness has started from the moment, a ‘mother realizes ~ that she is going to be a ‘mother’. Recent research confirms that the first six (6) years are essential and extremely important for the development of the child’s brain (Glenn Doman ~ How to Multiply Your Baby’s Intelligence).
World famous Buckminster Fuller states that, “All children are born genius and we spend the first 6 years of their life de-geniusing them.” ~ Within which, the first two years are the most critical ~ (British Psychologist, Tony Buzan). Tony Buzan goes on to say that, “At the moment a child is born it’s already truly brilliant. It picks up languages, much better than a doctor of philosophy in any subject, in only two years. And it is a master at it by three or four”. Read More
Princess of Kashi
Once upon a time, in the court, of an ancient kingdom, adjacent to the then capital of India ~ Kashi (Today’s Varanasi or Banaras), a dramatic play performance was staged. The King and the Queen had organized this very special function, and required a pretty little girl of age ~ around 5 years, to play the role of ‘Princess of Kashi’. They could not find an appropriate girl for the role. So, the Queen came up with an idea of dressing up her little son Prince, who was about same age of five (5) years of age to enact the role of ~’Princess of Kashi’. The court as stances and maids in assistance, dressed up the Prince for the role, very well and he looked so cute and beautiful that the Queen asked for a portrait to be painted of him, ~ as he looked in that costume. The painting was completed and titled ‘Princess of Kashi’ with an appropriate date marked on it and stored away, in the palace’s basement store room.
Now, almost 15 years later, the Prince was all grown up, an adult, being trained to take over as the ‘Yuvraaj’ of the kingdom. One day while exploring the old stores of the palace, he accidentally discovered that painting. He was so mesmerized, hypnotized and enthralled by the beautiful Princess in that painting, he wanted to get married to her. Based on the date, he figured out that she would be of the same age as him and without a second thought; the Prince decided that he would not marry, anyone else, other than the ‘Princess of Kashi’. But feeling a bit shy, he could not tell anyone or share with his parents! He felt so moved, that he thought he would die, if he did not marry this princess. He felt lost and everyone could notice that something was unusual and wrong with the future ‘Yuvraaj’ of the kingdom. Worried King and Queen, talked and were equally unhappy, not knowing and realising,’what could they do to bring about some smile in their only son’s face? Read More
New Year Resolution ~ Being Who We Really Are
For this New Year, we all need to come out of our comfort zone. We are just like a marble when dropped in a bowl, it whirls around unstably, but eventually after some time, it settles down. Once it settles down, it is very difficult to move it again. One is required to come out of that ‘comfort zone’. That would be ‘to live, to perform and to excel, in one’s life ~ attain whatever we wish?’. Vedanta tells us, we need to develop three basic skills to do well in life and attain ~ ‘Human Excellence’ ~ become an outstanding personality.
January 1st is called ‘Kalpataru day’, the day of Sri Ramakrishna’s becoming the “Wish Tree” and granting boons to whomsoever, came along, praying for his blessings ~ towards ‘~ “Self-realization”. Each and every one were blessed. But we need to comprehend that, ‘Kalpataru Day’, is not just a day, but it should be every day, starting from, 1st of January.
In 1886, while being unwell, Paramahansa Ramakrishna chose to leave his body, but before that he stepped out of his spiritual place for a walk. He met his disciplines, became overwhelmed with spiritual benediction and each of them received appropriate blessings. Each one of them experienced an ineffable bliss. One of them in the crowd asked Thakur (a popular short name for (Bhagawan Paramahansa Ramakrishna), “Bless me so that I may see, experience God everywhere”. Thakur did bless him, “May the consciousness dawn upon you ~ Tumhara Chaitanya Ho”. He started seeing God in everything, everywhere, in everything, in the tree, in all living beings, even in the animals, chariots, etc. Read More
Let go of the Banana
Once upon a time, there was a farmer. This farmer was bothered by a monkey, on a daily basis. The monkey, from the trees, would come down, through the window, come in to the little house of the farmer and steal the bananas kept in a jar, when the farmer was not at home and away with his farming job. Read More
Why should we send our kids to an IB School?
Why IB? What is IB?
The world our kids are going to face ~ when they grow up, is changing rapidly. To be truly successful in life, our kids need to be truthful, joyful and must have excellent character. Building these qualities in the students is possible through coupling the concepts of our Vedantic wisdom with the philosophy of IB. At the same time, we also want our kids to achieve material and financial success. The amalgamation of IB pedagogy and Vedantic teachings will, as we experience from our current kids, sure that your child is successful and will, in all aspects of life, be successful.
Today the knowledge that we learn in schools and colleges gets out-dated very in the very next (every) two to three years. All of this knowledge is, anyways, available, instantly and freely. Learning and memorizing more and more content is hardly of any use these days. To succeed in the current rapidly changing world, we need individuals who can think critically and creatively and can find solutions to problems faced by the society, nation and the world. We need to reflect if our traditional content based schooling system, which focuses only on examination and marks, (is actually) preparing our kids for this future. Are schools teaching for the conceptual understanding and building 21st century skills, or are they just focused on completing the content and competing for the top grade or percentage.
What actually matters for the 21st century children!? It is not the grades, standardized testing or teacher evaluation that matter at the end of the day. It is their character and inner strength! It is what William Butler Yeats, 1865-1939, Irish poet, says, ‘Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire’.
Being an atheist, a non-believer, a sceptic ~ is as per Vedanta one who does not believe in his own self. Believing in yourself is believing in God.
Krishna, as per Hindu Mythology, the God himself, becomes the chariot driver for Arjuna, when he sees Arjuna quitting. Krishna persuaded Arjuna, that he should stick to his duty as a warrior and engage the enemy. The Bhagavad Gita is presented as a conversation between Arjuna and Krishna, a man and his friend. In this case, as claimed in the Hindu mythology, the God Himself. Arjuna, as per the ancient heroic epic ‘Mahabharata’, is depicting people in this Samsara ~ live ~ like us ~ a seeker and a knower. The message in Bhagavad Gita is that ~ ‘In our day to day life, God himself is always there, to guide us, to protect us, to help us; only we have to surrender to Him unconditionally and trust Him’. The message in this Hindu book depicting a guide line for all of us, “Divinize the life itself’. Read More
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