Balavihar at Madhuvan
Note: All Balavihar classes will be conducted in-person.
On Sundays at Chinmaya Madhuvan
10:30 AM | 11:00 AM |
Invocation Swamiji leads the invocation chanting for all families together. (Guru Stotram, Invocation, Bhajans, Gita Chanting, Birthday Song |
11:00 AM | 12:00 PM | Study Class on Bhagavad Gita chapter 2 for all parents by Swamiji |
12:00 PM | 12:30 PM | Aarati |
The greatest boon given by Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda to the younger generation is Balavihar. Balavihar provides a spiritual and cultural orientation to children of the modern age. The rationale of the Balavihars as elucidated by Pujya Gurudev in the "March of the future" talk is summarized below:
- To train the children and inculcate in them a reverence for our ancient culture, and inspire them to live up to it with correct understanding.
- To create self-confidence to serve and act cheerfully.
- To generate a true affection in all contacts, inculcate personal discipline and a true spirit of leadership.
- To mould their capacity to express and assert their individuality. To bring out their dormant faculties and detect defects; cultivate and improve their creative abilities.
- To help children to develop a healthy resistance against temptations in the atmosphere in which they grow.
- To provide an atmosphere to grow with noble ideals, healthy emotions and physical discipline.
Need for Balavihar
From The Children's Point Of View The character-building of a nation must start from us, children. We are the trend-setters for future generations. It is we who will help establish a world of peace and harmony. In the absence of the Gurukula system and joint families, we are exposed to minimum of our valued culture. Add to that, our fast paced lives. We have no time for all this! Our elders seem to have lesser time for us.
Bal Vihar is the solution where loving sevakas / sevikas teach us what we ought to know, with the love of a parent, the doting of a grand-parent and the discipline of a teacher.
And best of all - we have fun together !
How Balavihar Works?
Bal Vihar is a group of children, meeting once a week, at a set venue, for 90 minutes, for the sole purpose of learning our precious culture, spiritual wisdom, and related values through books, stories, and games
Bal Vihar inculcates the values of Sanatana Dharma, as taught in our scriptures--Shrimad Bhagavad Geeta, Upanishads, Epics and Puranas-helping us to grow into responsible citizens of tomorrow. Balavihar classes for various age groups are conducted by trained sevaks and sevikas. These voluntary dedicated workers impart to children, the glory of our rich culture, aiming at character formation and reverence for our ancient heritage.
The high ideals and values from our great scriptures are taught in the form of stories, games, quizzes, crafts, bhajans, hymns, shlokas, skits, dances, etc. The current syllabus includes: Bala Ramayana, Bala Bhagavatam, Symbolism in Hinduism, Hanuman Chalisa, Why do We in Indian Culture and selected extracts from the Upanishads and the Bhagawad Geeta.
Balavihar Teacher Volunteers for year 2022-2023
Grade | Teacher's books | Student's books | Stotram | Teachers |
KG | The Alphabet Safari, Shishu Vihar | The Alphabet Safari | Invocation shlokas | Sasi Kumar & Jagadeesh Sundar |
I | Bala Ramayana Junior | Bala Ramayana, Tarangini -1 | Rama Stotram | Radha Pillai & Bhavana Gururaj |
II | Hanuman Superman Hanuman, BV book of Hanuman Chalisa | Superman Hanuman, Book of Hanuman Chalisa, Tarangini -2 | Hanuman Chalisa | Gayathri Raval & Kiran Shelat |
III | Bala Bhagavatam | Bala Bhagavatam 1&2, Tarangini -3 | Dashavataram | Chhaya Vasisht & Asha Ramachandran |
IV | Krishna Krishna Everywhere | Why Do we, Best Friend Forever, Incarnation of Lord Vishnu, Tarangini -4 | Geeta Dhyanam | Shilpi Kumar & Ram Venkat |
V | Symbolism in Hinduism | Art of God Symbolism, Tarangini -5 | Lingashtakam | Shruti Krishnamurthy & JP Misra |
VI | Ramayana Characters for Teachers | Amarchitra Katha, Ramayana characters for children, Tarangini -6 | Nama Ramayanam | Sonia Shah & Mihir Gandhi |
VII | Key to Success, Values in Bhagavad Gita for Teachers | Values in Bhagavad Gita for Children, Tarangini -7 | Madhurashtakam | Jaya Kumar & Arun Nair |
VIII | Yato Dharma Tato Jaya, Mahabharata Characters | Mahabharata Characters | Guru Paduka Stotram | Nandakumar & Prasad Ramnath |
IX | Hindu Culture, Hinduism FAQ | Hindu Culture, Hinduism FAQ | Margabandhu Stotram | Setoo Ghelani & Ram Iyer |
X | My Trek to Uttarkhand, Gita for Yuva | My Trek to Uttarkhand, Gita for Yuva | Bhaja Govindam | Parag Bhalerao & Biraja Patnaik |
XI&XII | Journey of a Master, Chinmaya Nama Vibhooti | Journey of a Master, Chinmaya Nama Vibhooti | Tapovan Shatakam | Deeptha Sukumar & Kartik Sivaraaman |
About Balavihar
- Bala Vihar is a cultural and spiritual educational program for students from PreK. to XII organized by grades.
- Bala Vinar Curriculum includes Ramayana, Bhagavata, Mahabharata, Symbolism in i Hinduism, Art of God symbolism, Hanuman Chalisa, Festivals of India, Values from Bhagavad Gita, Hindu Culture, other moral stories, Shloka chanting, singing Bhajans and how to do Pujas.
Celebration of all the major Hindu festivals. - Language classes, Carnatic Music, Bharatanatyam Dance, Tabla classes are also provided
- Bhagavad Gita study group for the parents conducted by Swami Siddhananda.
- Register online now at www.ChinmayaMadhuvan.org
Additional Resources