School Updates- Lord Ganesha Installation

SHARAVATHI SCHOOL UPDATE

Teacher's day celebration at school

Newly made Ganesha shrine in school

On the 5^th of September, all the teachers were felicitated in the Teacher’s day function held at the school. One of the Trustees, Mr Shivkumar outlined the importance of a teacher and how a primary teacher is parent at school. The lasting impression on the young minds can often be traced to their first few years at school. All the teachers were given gifts by the children on behalf of the management, and thanked for their selfless service and contribution to the development of the institution. Each class also distributed gifts to their class teachers.         

September was marked by festivity and gaiety as a new Ganesha idol was installed in a shrine on 17^th September. It was decided that in keeping with all institutions that are run by Swami there should be a Ganesha idol installed in the school as a symbol of wisdom, learning and removal of all obstacles.

Bathing Lord Ganesha in the tank

Artisans at work

At the Vinayaka idol installation on 17th September

The idol was donated by Shankarnarayan Consultancy. The shrine for Ganesha was made under the supervision and designing of Mr Somashekar who has also been an architect in many of the Ramakrishna Mission projects. The shrine has dimensions of about 6’x6’x 10’.  In a short span of 10 days the shrine was prepared in cement by the team of our construction workers and special masonry workers from Tiruvannamalai under the guidance of Mr Somashekar.    

On 15^th of September, Vinayaka was also carried to the nearby tank in Phase 1 for the ceremonial bath. A small incident revealing Swami’s omnipresence was also very evident at the same time. One of the trustees was of the opinion that Vinayaka should be bathed 3 times in the tank water. Just as we were about to immerse Ganesha in the tank, there was sudden showef of rain as if the heavens were bathing the Ganesha idol. The rain came and stopped in 5 minutes. When we brought out the Ganesha idol out of water, the rain immediately poured again and this happened three times as if in answer to our prayers. It was literally Swami giving the first 3 ceremonial baths to the Vinayaka idol and blessing the school.

Ganesha was installed with due ceremony and gaiety as part of Ganapathi homa( oblation to fire) done in the school on September 17^th . All the children and teachers were very excited about Vinayaka’s arrival in the school. The children sang devotional songs, bhajans and chanted prayers to Lord Ganesha. Some of the villagers and the alumni of the school were also keen participants in the function.

Felicitation of Teachers of Teacher's day

On Vinayaka Chaturthi- 19^th September , almost the entire village gathered at the school to offer their worship to the newly installed Vinayaka. The shrine work for Ganesha has been completed in cement and the painting will be done in the first week of November. We thank the students of the Sarvajith batch from Puttaparthi who came and participated in all this gaiety.

Meanwhile, the English sessions are also on for the teachers as we gear up to move on to an English medium school. Mrs  Vijayalakshmy Krishnan conducted the English classes for the teachers in the month of September. Mr Lakshminarayan Aithal – former Pricipal of Muddenhalli- held Satsang for the teachers on important topics like the importance of the teacher, better teaching methods and the importance of WATCH (Watch your Words, Actions, Thoughts, Character and Heart) as outlined by Swami.

We wish all the students the very best of luck for the semester examinations which will be completed on the 5^th of October and the children will be going for a vacation from 5^th -30^th of October. The last week of the vacations from 25^th -30^th October will see a workshop for the teachers and the children in different topics. The workshop is being planned currently and the details will be made available in the next edition of Venuganam.