Happy Maha Shivaratri!
The month of March started with great anticipation as we were eagerly awaiting the celebration of Maha Shivaratri. The theme for the month was very aptly: Kindness. Lord Shiva is also known by the names “Bhola Shankar or Bholenath” meaning Lord Shiva is very kind, innocent and pure and always generous with granting the wishes of his devotees.
On Mar 7th, general assembly started by singing birthday song for February birthdays. Following that, we watched a video showing the story of how King Bhagiratha brought Mother Ganga down to earth to wash away the sins of his ancestors. Lord Shiva was then brought in to control the tremendous flow of Mother Ganga as she raged down the mountains. Lord Shiva in his sheer kindness held Mother Ganga in his dreadlocks. What we learnt from this story is to also hold Ganga on our heads. Ganga here represents purity of thoughts and it taught us that purity of mind and thoughts can also liberate us from our sins. We learnt that liberation could be as simple as apologizing for our mistakes. After the video, sevak Maddy introduced all the attendees to his new friend, Sunny, a puppet. Sunny was a joyous addition to our Balavihar family. He reminded us of our homework of doing an act of kindness. He also led us into playing a game where we had to shake our hands every time, we heard him say “Om Namah Shivaya” and “Shambho Mahadeva”. He was such a pleasure and brought smiles and laughter to our general assembly. We also talked about taking up a vow or Sankalpa to practice a good habit for a week and/or avoid a bad habit for a week. The session ended with the tenth-grade class leading us for the Chinmaya mission pledge.
Mar 14th general assembly was a Maha Shivaratri special and what an amazing program it was. It was 1.5 hours of learning, fun, and devotion all the while reveling in Lord Shiva’s infinite glory. The program commenced with the musical presentation by Balavihar Swaranjali team. It was a beautiful compilation of instrumentals and vocals merged into a delightful audio-visual presentation of hymn in devotion to Lord Shiva. The Swaranjali team consisting of children and sevaks had excelled in creating this performance. Lord Shiva’s presence was tangible in the melodies rendered by the playing of the instruments and voices of the talented children. This was followed by sevak Jayshree explaining us the meaning of “Maha Shiva”. “Shiva” means auspicious, gracious and “Maha” means great. We learnt that this festival signifies our journey to become like Lord Shiva. We then learnt about why, what, where and when of the festival of Maha Shivaratri. Wonderful, informative and creative presentations shared by our own Balavihar students beautifully explained the significance of the celebrations of Maha Shivaratri. You can see the presentation by clicking here.
Now that everyone had learnt about the stories of where and how Maha Shivaratri is celebrated, it was time for a fun game led by Balavihar student. We had to guess the picture that was slowly developing as the student was running his mouse over the pixelated image. This “guess that picture” game was an instant hit among children and adults alike. The game reminded us again what our scriptures emphasize over and over again, the truth is right here, right now, we just need to develop the right vision to “see” it. After having stimulated our minds, it was then time for some physical activity. It was time for us to remember Lord Shiva in his Tandava form as Nataraja. Sevak Priya led us on a session of yogic postures. We learnt about the story of Lord Nataraja. In a small village in ancient India, many sages used to practice black magic with an intention to control the gods. Lord Shiva who did not like this came to the village as a handsome beggar, Bhikshadana. He became the center of attraction of the wives of the sages and was followed by them. When the sages came to know of this, they were disheartened. They started using black magic and tried to destroy him by various methods. Instead they were demolished by Bhikshadana, he killed the tigers that were sent to destroy him and adorned his body with its skin, he wrapped the serpents around his head and arms as ornaments. Finally, the sages created a demon to get rid of Lord Shiva as Bhikshadana. In a fit of rage, the Lord started performing the Tandava dance, a powerful, vibrant, rhythmic dance on top of this little demonic creature thereby crushing the demon of ignorance. Lord Shiva in the Tandava pose is known as Nataraja. The posture indicates the stillness of the body and control of mind. After listening to this lovely story, all the students and adults were ready to get into action. The yogic postures/asanas taught by sevak Priya were invigorating and refreshing as we moved into the next item in the lineup. One of the famous stories of Lord Shiva is the story of his famous child devotee Markandeya. The skit performed by Balavihar sevaks and students took our breath away. The depiction of how Markandeya with his pure, focused devotion was able to save himself from the Lord of death, Yamaraja captivated us one and all. Lord Shiva was very pleased and in his utmost kindness, grants Markandeya the boon of immortality. The story reminded us how with devotion, faith and surrender, we can rise above our fears and sorrow and face life courageously (You can see the skit here).
It was most appropriate after watching and listening to a devotional story, we sing and immerse ourselves in the name of the Lord. Swaranjali singers led the group in singing of bhajans. We could feel the presence of Bhagavan Shiva in the words and melodies of all the Bhaktas, big and small. The chanting session infused us with inspiration to share the Sankalpas that some people had taken up in the open mic session. Children and sevaks shared their successes and challenges in completing the sankalpas and in turn inspired others to take up challenges of their own, all with the one and only goal of Self-development. As the Maha Shivaratri program came to its conclusion, an important lesson on the mantra “Om Namah Shivaya” was shared by a Balavihar student. We learnt how Shiva is not just a form or deity, it represents the unchanging, eternal reality that resides with all of us. Om is made up of three syllables, A, u and m which represent three states of waking, sleeping and dreaming. Shivaya represents that which is not changing (not body, mind, intelligence), the reality which is common to all creatures. Om Namah Shivaya tells us that we are all composed of same essential material though we may have different forms, habits and cultures. It teaches us to accept other as they are. By chanting the mantra “Om Namah Shivaya” as japa, we take one step closer to cleansing ourselves of our ego and reach closer to our true nature. (You can see the video here) The program ended by all attendees chanting “Om Namah Shivaya”11 times. This was indeed a Maha Shivaratri!
On the last general assembly session for March on Mar 21st, we were reminded of the theme of Kindness and how small acts of kindness can be seen all around us. Lord Shiva or Bholenath, is so kind that he takes on the dangers upon himself so as to protect us, the mankind. Kindness is within us; we only need to invoke it at all times. We watched a video of short stories of how kindness is universal, and no act of kindness goes unrewarded. What goes around comes back around thus forming a circle of kindness and empathy. Lord Shiva is also called Pashupathinath, Lord of all creatures. He reminds us to be kind to animals, nature and all objects of creation. This was followed by a fun game where we had to convert negativity into positivity…through words. Sevak Sharmila led the game where we had to change the words with negative meaning (Eg: HATE) into positive meaning words (Eg: CARE, LOVE, etc) by changing only one letter at a time. The audience were excited to play the game, just imagine how exciting it would be to actually change the emotion of HATE into LOVE within our own selves. If we all did that, our community, society, country truly would be a heaven on earth!