SKM Updates

School Examinations:  Between March 20^th and 28^th the children of Sharavathi Higher Primary School had their final examinations. The children prayed to Goddess Saraswathi – the epitome of knowledge and wisdom in the first week of March.  The examination test papers had been screened to ensure that the children are tested more on the basis of skills and basic information than focusing on rote learning. Besides basic subject information, the children were also assessed on oral skills so that it helps teachers to identify improvement areas. 

New English Medium school coming up shortly:

The school committee came up with its recommendations which were presented in the trust meeting.  The Trust will be coming up with a new English medium school soon. The new school will also provide completely free education to the children. The model of schooling will be largely skill based wherein children move from class to class based on skills developed. Also the classrooms will be specially designed to encourage collaborative and experiential learning. The trust firmly believes that the children should be provided with the best opportunities for self-development.  Applications are sought for English medium teachers willing to help the school to grow from its nascent stage. This is a very exciting and involving role and only genuinely interested candidates need apply. The right applicant will be suitably compensated with added benefits.

Currently the building is in architectural drawings stage. Alternative building technologies which may be cost effective and durable are being explored.  It is expected that once drawings are finalized, the construction will be completed within 12-16 weeks.

Summer Vacation at SKM:

 

It is summer time and the children have gone for the vacations. Even as the children have gone home for a vacation, the SKM team is now actively engaged in identifying suitable children to be enrolled in SKM from next year. The team is also invites applications for a  warden on paid basis. The major duties of the warden will involve supervising the children, helping them with their homework and co-curricular activities. Knowledge of computers, record maintenance and driving skills will be bonuses on this job.

We look forward to all your active involvement and participation in this God given opportunity. We also welcome you to come and visit the site and participate in the activities of Sai Krushna Mandir. We pray that Swami’s grace will crown our genuine intentions and He will continue to guide and bless the children and residents to live in a happy home and grow to his ideals.

 

Atmajyothi

by Shri Lakshminarayan Aithal 

 “O अर्जुन ,  this  itself  is  lust,  this  itself  is  anger;  this  is  born  from  the  passion – quality;  it  has  insatiable  appetite,  this  is  the  great  sinner;  this  itself  is  man’s  enemy  which  impels  him  to  commit  sin.”  Not  only  that,  the  composer  of  the स्मृतिs  tells :-

यच्च कामसुखं लोके यच्च दिव्यं महत्सुखम् । तृष्णाक्षयसुखस्यैते नार्हतः षोडशीं कलाम् ।।

मो. ध. 174-46.

    ‘The  happiness  obtained  by  the  enjoyment  of  lust  in  this  world,  the  great  happiness  experienced  in  the  heaven  by  performing  the  meritorious  and  religious  rites;  and  the  happiness  obtained  by  eradicating  the  first  two  happiness;  the  one  sixteenth  part  of  the  third  one  cannot  be  equated  even  to  the  sum  total  of  the  first  two  ones.’  Then,  how  does  the  one  who  desires  the   desires  obtain  Peace ?

कामबन्धनमेवेदं नान्यदस्तीह बन्धनम् । कामबन्धनमुक्तो हि ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते ।।

मो. ध. 251-7 [कामबन्धनमेवैकम्]

My Best Friend- Swami

by Ms. Sreenidhi Sivakumar

"Amma! I tied a friendship band for her yesterday and today, she took another girl's side when she was copying. I asked her and she told me to shut up!", saying thus I started crying. It was 1st August 2003 and I was in grade two then. My mother just did not know how to console me. She said,"Swami is your best friend. Just become friends with Him and speak to Him everyday. You won't have the need to have friends at school" As a kid of 7, I did not take my mother's words seriously.

Then. Fast forward to the year I am in grade 5, now a kid of 10. I had lots of disappointments from my friends. The so called 'gang' we had was now broken for a girl came from no where and grabbed all my friends to form her gang! That's exactly the way I spoke to my mother then. She, all through these years kept reminding me that Swami is my best friend and no one else. I never took it seriously. What happened now was too much for me to take! I had a heated fight with my friends that day, the 18th February 2006. I came home running and crying. It was two days before my final exams. This time too my mom told the same thing so patiently, sure enough that I will take it seriously. Those were the days we used to live in a single bedroom flat and since we had the Sai Centre at my home, the second room was completely dedicated to Swami. The four of us lived in the first room. I normally used to study in Swami's room and that day I locked myself in that room and cried uncontrollably and eventually dozed off.

Buddha's Message to the World

Excerpts from Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda 

 

Source : http://www.ramakrishnavivekananda.info/vivekananda/volume_8/lectures_and_discourses/buddhas_message.htm

Buddhism is historically the most important religion — historically, not philosophically — because it was the most tremendous religious movement that the world ever saw, the most gigantic spiritual wave ever to burst upon human society. There is no civilisation on which its effect has not been felt in some way or other.
The followers of Buddha were most enthusiastic and very missionary in spirit. They were the first among the adherents of various religions not to remain content with the limited sphere of their Mother Church. They spread far and wide. They travelled east and west, north and south. They reached into darkest Tibet; they went into Persia, Asia Minor; they went into Russia, Poland, and many other countries of the Western world. They went into China, Korea, Japan; they went into Burma, Siam, the East Indies, and beyond. When Alexander the Great, through his military conquests, brought the Mediterranean world in contact with India, the wisdom of India at once found a channel through which to spread over vast portions of Asia and Europe. Buddhist priests went out teaching among the different nations; and as they taught, superstition and priestcraft began to vanish like mist before the sun.

From Team Venugaanam

We are delighted to bring you the 32nd edition of Venugaanam this March with our wishes for Maha Shivarathri.  We follow the precious discourse of our beloved SWAMI with the SKM updates for the month of Feb.

In Atmajyothi, we further continue sharing the knowledge on devotion as indicated in Naradha Bhakti Sutras. Here we discuss the various aspects of the devotion.

In his article, Prakash talks about the freshness and joy that one can get out of a morning walk.

Bhargav’s article about “The special rescue mission” precedes the final article about “Fanaticism” which was an excerpt taken from the complete works of SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Divine Discourse

A Divine Discourses by Bhagawan Shri Sathya Sai Baba on – 17-02-1985 

SHIVARATHRI is a day when one tries to establish friendship between the mind and God.

Shivarathri makes one aware of the fact that the same Divinity is all-pervasive, that It is to be found everywhere. In our daily experiences, there are a number of instances which reveal the existence of Divinity in every person. Consider a cinema; on the screen we see rivers in flood, engulfing all the surrounding land. Even though the scene is filled with flood waters the screen does not get wet by even a drop of water. At another time, on the same screen we see volcanoes erupting with tongues of flame, but the screen is not burnt. The screen which provides the basis for all these pictures is not affected by any of them. Likewise in the life of man, good or bad, joy or sorrow, birth or death, will be coming and going, but they do not affect the Atma In the cinema of life, the screen is the Atma It is Shiva, it is Sankara, it is Divinity. When one understands this principle, one will be able to understand, enjoy and find fulfilment in life. Sankara (Easwara) refers to the one who is endowed with all types of Aiswarya (wealth). The types of wealth that we enjoy in the worldly sense are not what we mean by Aiswarya. Everything in the phenomenal world, every person, every bit of matter that you see, has this principle of Aiswarya in it. This Aiswarya is nothing other than Easwara. In other words, the entire phenomenal world is made up of Easwara. This has also been described as Sathaamaatra Chaitanya (Pure Consciousness). This principle of Chaitanya cannot be directly seen; it exists unseen. It is eternal, it is permanent, it is all-pervasive.

SKM Updates

Even as March sets in, there are happy tidings for the children of Sai Krushna Mandir and the Sharavathi school.
 

Development of Play Area/ Vegetable garden: The front portion of Sai Krushna Mandir has been witnessing intense activity in the last few days. A vegetable garden and some fruit trees are being planned to cater to the requirement of the inmates.  The ground has been levelled, the pits dug for tree plantation and fertile soil obtained for the vegetable garden.

A small play area is also being constructed, which will include a slide, see-saw, swing and other play items for children. The play area is likely to be ready before the children come back for the new academic session in May.

Atmajyoti

Sri Laxmi Narayan Aithal

 







The one who has become the Form of Brahman becoming pleased in the inner-organ (अन्तःकरण) gives up distress and desire as well. Being equal in all living beings, he achieves My Supreme Devotion. By the Devotion, knowing the extent of My Glory and that of My Own Form - merges in Me alone through that Knowledge of Reality. Thus, the Lord has spoken.

यज्ज्ञात्वा मत्तो भवति स्तब्धो भवत्यात्मारामो भवति ।। 6 ।।

6.The one who has understood that Devotion becomes intoxicated, becomes motionless and becomes delighted in his own Self.

मत्तो भवति