Spirituality ... from children's eyes

[vijay nikore]

For several years, my wife Neera ji and I have volunteered on Sundays to teach the children at Bal Vihar School run by Chinmaya Mission here in Atlanta, USA.

We teach Hindi; India..The Sacred Land; and India's Geography, History, and Political Landscape.

The idea is for children to feel at home with their heritage, away from "home".  

These children, only 11 years old, are full of energy. In fact, they energize us with their excitement and very thoughtful questions to which there is no end.

In every class, I make it a point to offer them some life lessons outside of our curriculum... helpful thoughts that they can carry with them for life after the school year is over. In addition, I give them some topic to contemplate on for five minutes, and for them to write their thoughts on it. One such topic recently was "Spirituality .. my thoughts".

 

Here are some examples of what these seers at their precious tender age of eleven spoke of Spirituality. Their responses have not been edited.

 

" Spirituality is a certain kind of characteristic that shows respect for culture of where you come from.

If you are spiritual, it means you don't only think about modern world, but you give yourself peace and tranquility while you are in the world "

 

" Spirituality is how you relate yourself to God, or how you feel about God. It is the one way you see God in your life."

 

" Spirituality is being in a peaceful zone. You are meditating always, if not physically, then mentally. You are  connecting with God in your mind."

 

" The meaning of spirituality is that it is the consciousness of one's eternal mind. This isn't limited or limiting. This expands our self-image."

 

Shall we say that the children now a days are profound ? What a great wealth of individuality they bring to the world !

(original and unpublished)

[Hari Prakash Dubey]

The effort of both of you is highly admirable. To reach a destination or to achieve our goal there are two basic requirements one is “Driving force” and other is “Guiding force”. Driving force is purely inner force and guiding force is what we get from our mentors like you.

Regards,

Hari Prakash Dubey

[vijay nikore]

Children are precious, they are the future. We have to invest in them, giving them our best. We have to invest ourselves in both ...those who are gifted, and the ones who are not as gifted. Children are my inspiration, and I really look forward to spending time with them.... their smiles, their expressions, their questions..!

Dear Hari Prakash ji, I thank you for visiting this post, and for your kind appreciation.

[Saurabh Pandey]

What a noble responsibility both of you have owned up !
The spirituality is not concerned with methods of performing pujas. Neither does it read complicated dogmas. In fact, spirituality ushers us in to a whole new world of simplicity and shraddha.  Even, never is or was it a subject for seers to elaborate its genre and gist.

Anandam !! Anandam, the way children in age group of eleven, in your presence, are sharing their views on this intricate subject !  

And, here, in our bhoomi of  karma and jnaan, youth are more interested in ’kiss of love’ to express their love and angst ! What have we done to them ! More are we devoid of realized points, more are we to diversions.

Salute to both of you, Respected Vijai Nikore jee, for all positive efforts and sacred involvements..

[vijay nikore]

Respected Saurabh ji,

My profuse gratitude to you for feeling the pulse of these children with your thoughts.

When I teach, I am not a teacher to them, I am a friend to them, one of them. We study together, laugh together, and some time I even set aside 10 minutes of game time, and we play together. .... we just concoct some game from our imagination.

To reinforce the study, I ask each student to tell 3 things  that he/she learned from the previous Sunday's class, and you cannot imagine how excited these children are to be the first to recite !

Thanks again for your kind appreciation. Regards.

Vijay Nikore

[Vindu Babu]

Respected sir,

So nice of you for this well write-up.

Rip-roaring children always have lots of prowess,need to lead. They boost-up us if we touch their hearts.

Sir your task in Bal-vihaar so admirable, i salute you both. Happy to know that these slight mouths are able to pour themselves on such high subject,which is not easy to understandand for the common people.Really their answers are so high and conspicuous .

I think this is a great achievement to prepare good human beings for the society, as you are doing,sir.

Blessings for these sweet children.

Thanks again and heartfelt regards.

-vindu