Shivam House Week – Born to prosper...

Following the benchmark of excellence set by the Satyam House students, it was only obvious to keep up with the standards set and that was exactly what was witnessed during the Shivam House Week!

The week started off with the auspicious event of Rathyatra. Hetbhai (Class 8) explained the true meaning of Rathyatra. He explained that:
• the soul is Rathi - owner of the `chariot' which is the body,
• the intellect is the Sarathi - driver,
• the mind is the rein,
• the senses are the horses,
• the Panch Vishayas - material objects of the five senses – are the fields of pasture for the horses.
• the person whose Sarathi - intellect - is wise, whose mind fully controls the senses, can traverse Samsaar to reach the desired goal - the Lord's abode.

He further informed that on this auspicious day, as per the tradition, the deities of Jagannath Mandir (Orissa) are installed into a huge rath and devotees pull it through the streets. The local king used to serve by humbly sweeping the road ahead with a golden broom.

The softboard theme was also chosen as Unity by the house. One softboard had a divine glow of the spiritual meaning of Unity – that of the mann, buddhi, chitt and aham. It gave out a clear message that the oneness of these four faculties was very essential for any success in life.

The other softboard had a dynamic flow highlighting the contributions in different areas by the people of the North, East, West and South zones of India. Everyday of the week had a different flavour based on these zones. Against the timeline of events, the increasingly reducing maps of India were displayed and the young onlookers were appealed to do something about stopping the disintegration, solution being to forget the differences and to UNITE!

Unity was the theme for the Saturday Creative Assembly. Due to the school picnic to Chhab Chhaba Chhab, it was kept on Monday instead of Saturday. The Juniors performed a very lively dance-drama based on the fact that if we work together we can do anything and everything. The story was “hola upaad” in which a hunter catches some birds in his net. The students depicted the struggling of the birds and their flying off with the net being united.
The Seniors performed a drama that highlighted the two perspectives of Unity - destructive and the one for good cause. Taking into account some AVM based experiences, the drama conveyed both perspectives in a simple yet effective manner.

The week, hence concluded with an enlightening message of the need for Unity within so as to prosper within and the need for Unity in the country so as to make India prosper.

The softboard had a very appealing statement of HDH Hariprasad Swamiji which kind of summarised the week’s events:
“As long as there is no harmony within an individual, there cannot be peace within a family,
As long as there is no harmony within a family, there cannot be peace within a society,
As long as there is no harmony within a society, there cannot be peace within a nation.”

The choice is ours!

Compiled by: Het Adhvaryu (Class 8 - Shivam House)