A Summer Camp for Children to a Treasure Trove of Ancient Wisdom

HYDERABAD:
Heartfulness Education Trust, the education wing of Heartfulness Institute, has launched the Gitopadesh program for students to bring alive the ancient teachings of the Bhagwad Gita for students. Gitopadesh by Heartfulness is a virtual course aimed towards enabling children to learn Sanskrit through shlokas from the Bhagwad Gita and imbibe valuable life lessons from its teachings. The course will teach the students 120 slokas mapped to 20 relatable themes from 18 chapters of the Gita. It is a 6-month certification course for students from the age group of 5 to 15 years. Gitopadesh was launched by Kamlesh D Patel (Daaji), Global Guide of Heartfulness, Nitish Bharadwaj, a well-known actor; and former parliamentarian graced the inaugural event as the Guest of Honor.

Heartfulness Education Trust has launched Gitopadesh to enthuse children about Sanskrit and our ancient manuscripts. Heartfulness, through Gitopadesh, is not only providing access to the treasure-trove of manuscripts but also bringing alive our ancient traditions and wisdom for the benefit of our future generations.

Commenting on the launch, Kamlesh D Patel (Daaji), Global Guide of Heartfulness, said, “Our ancient traditions and scriptures are timeless in their teachings. Whether it is learning to practice Yoga, meditation, learning Sanskrit as a language, or studying our ancient scriptures like the Bhagwad Gita. While we are fortunate to have such a vast knowledge hidden in our ancient practices and scriptures, they have been lost in time and practiced by very few. With this platform we are making knowledge accessible and comprehensible for our future generation. By engaging their minds in learning Sanskrit, we hope to create an interest to learn more from our scriptures and adopt their teachings.”

The course includes 20 themes from 18 chapters of the Gita, such as exploring your inner potential, mastering your faculties, habit formation, moderation, attitude towards food, and others that help students to build a strong foundation.

The themes are selected keeping in mind the young age of the participants to ensure easy grasping of topics. The course will be conducted in 75-minute classes, thrice a week over six months. Highly qualified Proctors (Heartfulness faculty) will conduct the sessions and be the point of contact for parents to provide on-ground support. The proctors will assist students with queries and doubts. To ensure that students assimilate the course teachings and foster creativity among participants, Gitopadesh also has quizzes and poster-making assignments.

Heartfulness Education Trust has designed Gitopadesh in a way that each participant grasps the teachings, including the correct pronunciation of the shlokas. Each class will teach shloka from a particular theme, such as habit-forming. The master trainer will recite the shloka, followed by a word-to-word explanation of the shloka and its meaning. The master trainer will also narrate stories from the scriptures to make students understand the shloka. The session will then have a breakout time where students can recite the shlokas and practice. Students will recite the shlokas to the master trainer and will receive feedback on their pronunciation. After each session, students will take short quizzes and create posters to represent their learnings from the sessions.

Along with Gitopadesh, Heartfulness Education Trust is also offering other children’s programs such as – Brighter Minds, which imparts cognitive brain training to children; and Vedic Math, a program teaching the ancient mathematics system of India.