32015 AnnuAl FundrAising dinner – For BAAlAvidyAAlAyA Project

Sri Gurubhyo namaHHariH OM

shaMbhave namaH

Perspectives and Thoughts on Baalavidyaalaya at SSVT(Children’s and Youth’s Education Center)

Vasu Murthy

“Na hi Jnaanena sadrushaM pavitramihavidyate” -There is nothing that is as auspicious as knowledge- Bhagavad Gita

Note: This article contains some Blue Sky thinking of ideas and thoughts that are intended to generate some options for the Baalavidyaalaya. These don’t represent formal decisions by SSVT Management.

Educational Activities at SSVT:

SSVT has grown up to be a premier religious and educational institution in the DC area. Its focus and activities for religious services is well known. SSVT has also been focused on educational activities. Classes on Bhagavad Gita, Bhagavatha, Upanishads, Yoga take place on a regular basis. Talks by spiritual leaders and thinkers on Hinduism have taken place at the temple. Temple holds bhajans and religious satsangs by different groups. SSVT holds free SAT classes for students. SSVT has supported the educational activities of Hindu American Foundation by having the first ever Training on Hinduism for Teachers on the East Coast in the Temple recently. We can see that SSVT supports a variety of educational activities and these activities have been growing in number.

Basic Steps of Hindu Education system:

Hindu education system consists of three steps:

Shravana (Listening): First part of the education consists of listening to a lecture from a teacher or reading a book /video etc.

Manana (Thinking): Here the student analyzing, questioning, reasoning and validating information gleaned from the previous step. This is essential to gain full understanding of the truth of what one has learnt.

Nidhidhyaasana (meditation/contemplation): Third step which is unique to Hindu system of learning, consists of meditation on the truth of knowledge learnt by the first two steps.

Western system of education uses the first two steps. There is no nidhidhyaasana in the Western system of education. Nidhidhyaasana will take one to the ultimate goal, which is realization of oneself. This activity is the one that takes Education from a book learning or knowledge acquisition activity to a life transforming activity.

Baalavidyaalaya Project will have to support all three activities.

Growth and Expansion:

Until now, all the educational activities have been taking place with existing temple facilities. While existing facilities are good, all these activities need dedicated space. Dedicated space with modern facilities focused on education and other related activities can help expand the activities further.

Vision:

Baalavidyaalaya will be a a multi-purpose facility that will provide state-of-the-art facilities for education, youth activities, yoga and meditation center and talks by visiting Achaaryas and Gurus. With this facility, children and youth education will take center stage. The building will house a multi-media library with books appropriate for Children and Youth education. Children and Youth will learn about Hinduism in an easy to learn way. Technology will be used as an aid in learning about Hinduism, comparative study of other religions and other cultural aspects of India.

This facility will make Children’s and Youth education one of the important activities of SSVT. Facility gives SSVT an opportunity to expand the education activities at SSVT. In the course of time, SSVT could become a world renowned center for education of Hinduism and comparative study of other religions. SSVT can work in partnership with other religious and cultural institutions in US and else where to achieve these objectives. These activities will bring about greater understanding, peace and harmony in the world.

Physical Structure:

Proposed physical structure of Baalavidyaalaya consists of a two storey structure. There are multiple rooms in both floors. These rooms are built with flexible partitions that can be removed/rearranged to create spaces for different set of activities in a short amount of time. There will be a library and a meditation center /Prayer hall to enable quiet contemplation that is an integral part of Hindu Education and spiritual studies. Physical structure enables multiple set of education activities in parallel.

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Perspectives and Thoughts on Baalavidyaalaya at SSVT

2015 AnnuAl FundrAising dinner – For BAAlAvidyAAlAyA Project

Sri Siva Vishnu Temple

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Perspectives and Thoughts on Baalavidyaalaya at SSVT

2015 AnnuAl FundrAising dinner – For BAAlAvidyAAlAyA Project

Sri Siva Vishnu Temple

Figure 1: Proposed architectural plans and elevation of the Baalavidyaalaya

Baalavidyaalaya as an educational platform:

Baalavidyaalaya can be considered as an educational infrastructure. On top of the infrastructure many services can be provided. Some of the services can be provided by the temple, some other services can be provided by the partner organizations. This has been represented visually in Figure 2. The analogy will be the smart phone and apps configuration. Baalavidyaalaya is the smart phone and the services delivered are the apps.

There are three kinds of services represented in the figure. First one is the most important one .

Figure 2: Baalavidyaalaya Education Platform

Educational Services Delivered by SSVT:

These are Children’s educational programs, such as Aakaar (Education classes for young children), SAT classes and other educational programs for children and youth. SSVT has an opportunity to expand the number and scope of classes with the new facility. Education also includes adults.

SSVT Acharyas play a role in the educational services. Priests can take classes on teaching Veda sooktas, simple worship at home etc. SSVT has had expert Resident-Acharyas from outside who were physically present at the temple to teach various spiritual books and topics. With modern technology Resident-Acharyas can be virtual and deliver the teachings from around the world.

Any education for the children and youth should be focused on utilizing the next gen technology of Internet, Social media, online delivery and all the technology mechanisms of today. Challenge for us is to utilize the new technology while retaining the essence of Hinduism. This needs a fine balance that should be preserved. A samskrita subhaashita (proverb) says that “not everything old is bad, nor everything new is good. For some people, reverse may hold true. It is an optimal combination of old and the new will represent the greatest good”

Educational Services Delivered by Partner Organizations:

Second category is the Services delivered by Partner organizations. Example of this is the training program

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Perspectives and Thoughts on Baalavidyaalaya at SSVT

2015 AnnuAl FundrAising dinner – For BAAlAvidyAAlAyA Project

Sri Siva Vishnu Temple

Hindu WisdomThe great teacher Prajapati said: “The Self is pure, free from decay and death, free from hunger and thirst, and free from sorrow. The Self desires nothing that is not good, wills nothing that is not good. Seek and realize the Self! Those who seek and realize the Self fulfill all their desires and attain the goal supreme.”

-Chandogya Upanishad

on India and Hinduism for school educators delivered by Hindu American Foundation recently at SSVT. Extending this concept further, having a dedicated space for education activities will facilitate launching a summer program on Hinduism, earning college credits, taught by eminent academicians affiliated with US universities.

Another concept that has been discussed is the creation of an SSVT Education Foundation as a subsidiary of SSVT , but operating with a level of autonomy to focus on education area and able to mobile resources and operate independently in the education area.

All these ideas need to be explored further. Having Baalavidyaalaya infrastructure facilitates launching of these proposals.

Educational Services with paaThashaalas (Traditional schools of learning):

Third category is a more creative and difficult one to implement. This category represents efforts to support and partner with traditional paaThashaalas (traditional schools of learning) in India with an objective to help them as well partner with them to bring the Hindu philosophy and to present the outstanding philosophical literature in a modern context. This item may need support of other individuals

and organizations interested in doing philanthropy in this area. This idea is a Blue Sky Thinking approach that will need much more thinking and refining to go towards the implementation phase.

Some of the ideas in this category are enabling learning of Hinduism and its sacred texts from qualified teachers in US and India using virtual classrooms and Skype. Virtual classrooms enable teachers from any location to teach students everywhere. Partnering with appropriate institutions and teachers in India and US to deliver courses in SSVT and across US is a possible scenario. This may be opportunity for SSVT to work with the Council of Hindu Temples to work together to create this infrastructure.

Summary:

This article represents some ideas and sugggestions on the kinds of possibilities that can come of Baalavidyaalaya educational facilities. Some of the ideas are practical and some of the ideas are more of a Blue Sky thinking category. Our sincere prayers to Bhagavan to let this new facilities create a renaissance of a variety of educational activities at SSVT.

Sri KrishnarpaNamastuVasu Murthy is a SSVT volunteer interested in study of Hinduism, Indian Philosophy, Yoga and Spirituality. He has an interest in making them relevant for the younger generation.