April 6, 2014

Today in class we learned about Maha Vakyas, which means the great declarations. The four Maha Vakyas are:


1)  Prajnanam Brahma  - Rg Veda (Aitareyopanisd)
2) Tat Tvam Asi - Sama Veda (Chandogya Upanisad)
3) Ayam-atma Brahma - Atharva Veda (Mandukyopanisad)
4) Aham Brahmasmi - Yajur Veda (Brhadaranya Upanisad)


Prajnanam Brahma means consciousness is Brahman
Tat Tvam si means that art thou.
Ayam atma brahma means this Self is Brahman
Aham Brahmasmi means I am Brahman


We learned that Brahman  is derived from the Sanskrit word Br which means big. 


We discussed about the importance of focus and how we can bring the focus a certain object if we look for it.


- Neeharika

March 9, 2014

On March 9th, the class was immersed in polishing the ideas for our presentation of 9th grade Balavihar. As an unorthodox group of intelligent children, we have decided to make a short movie portraying guunas and how our actions affect us. At the beginning of class, Amit Uncle came in to critique our ideas for the presentation. Using the suggestions from him, along with the class, a small group of play writers revised the movie to be more coherent and easier to understand. Luckily, our intelligent group of students have strong opinions and voice them to better the movie. It is "crunch time" and our class is Just focused on finishing this ambitious plan of a movie for the presentation.

- Rahul Pemmaraju

March 2, 2014

In class on Sunday March 2nd, the students reflected on any questions that they had come across. These questions were pertaining to doing the right thing and choosing between dharma and adharma  Since many students might face big decisions to make in their high school lives. One student asked Radha aunty why God would listen to her prayers and help her, when there were more people suffering from more serious things such as leukemia or other types of cancers. Radha aunty answered saying that maybe God had given her those thoughts, telling the student that maybe she could do something to help those people suffering. Then the students talked of any doubts that they might have had or roadblocks they might have hit about their beliefs during the course of their lives. The difference between faith and belief was debated. Finally an agreement was reached that  our beliefs are things that we are thoroughly convinced of. Usually (but not always) they are ideas, concepts that we gather through acquiring information and experience. Because of that, our beliefs can change over time as we gain more knowledge and experience more things throughout our lives. However faith includes our beliefs, but it is bigger than that. Faith is defined as BELIEF qualified by Knowledge. Faith requires action. If it doesn’t move us to do something or say something – actually take some kind of action – it’s not really faith.

- Disha Hegde

February 23, 2014

Today in class we discussed the skit. The scriptwriters are Mahima, Ameya, Nivedita and Ananya. The directors are Disha and Bhargav. The video recorders are Deepshika and Sashank. The story line the scriptwrites came up with is based off of 3 Idiots.

For the skit casting will be done next week.

The characters are:

• Rancho
• Raj
• Tamaz
• Bacteria
• Shreya
• Shruti
• Shivani
• Hippie Counselor
• Girls(extras)
• Students(extras)
• MC’s (2)

Along with discussing the skit everyone made cards for St. Jude’s patients as well. We wrote get well cards that will be posted to them. Remember to keep on collecting money! We have about 200 dollars so far.

Check out the beautiful cards our class made for the patients of St. Jude's

Finally, we talked about the importance of charity, which ties in to our St. Jude’s project. It is important to give with sincerity, love and effort. You should also give in plenty and with an open heart. If you give 10 dollars today you will get 1000 dollars tomorrow.When giving be modest. Don’t do it for your name at the top of the college or so everyone will know what you did. The most important of all is to donate with sympathy and donate with feeling for someone else. The goal for this week is to think of people who have helped you in the past and try to start a gratitude diary. Write one thing you are thankful for everyday in the gratitude diary.

--Deepshika Muruganathan