Monday, September 1, 2014

Developing Immunity against Distractions!

In today's feverish culture of multi-tasking, it is common to remain engaged with smartphones, random chat with friends and acquaintances on social media, a casual input of movie reviews and variety of music. The constant chaos in our hyper-connected worlds and the prevalence of attractive gadgets, influencing groups and wavering thoughts make it impossible to sustain focus on the desired goal.
However, students of Atmiya Vidya Mandir are fortunate to be studying and growing in ‘a home away from home’ which provides a firewall against these alluring distractions. There is no mist of worldly chaos here hence there is a clarity of destination for the students of AVM. Yet being focused in studies and having full concentration in the class have always been a challenge for students. Whether that involuntary doodling during the self-study or day dreaming during lecture, or enticing talks about sports; the attention does get an easy escape at times.

How to get rid of distracting thoughts? How to keep the mind on track? What kind of people might take us off-track? What kind of objects are the hurdles in our success journey and how? How to prolong that concentration span? Vachnamrut Pratham 16 provides answers of all these questions. Hence, during the last week of August 2014, Sundaram House members took the opportunity to explore the teachings of the holy scripture Vachnamrut to find answers of these questions.

In order to present the wisdom of Vachnamrut P-16 in the simplest way with its real essence to the students, the house members segregated the teachings in the form of small easy injunctions:

A wise person identifies the flaws within himself and thoughtfully eradicates them.
To begin with, on Monday, Purvesh Sir explained the students that introspection on daily basis is an effective way to identify our flaws but more importantly one has to be thoughtful and keen enough to eradicate them.

The next day, on Tuesday, Mukesh Sir, continued with taking yet another pearl of wisdom form Vachnamrut P-16, which is ‘A wise person rejects any apparent flaws he perceives in others and imbibes only their virtues.' A story based on the same message was narrated to the students, as a result, students understood that the best way to maintain harmony or Atmiyata with others is by perceiving only good qualities of others.

The third important aspect of the teachings of Vachnamrut P-16 is 'A wise person accepts whatever words of advice GOD and saint offer as the highest truth but does not doubt their word in any way.’ This was very well explained through a presentation by students with the guidance of Binu Ma’am.

The brightest day of the week was Thursday when students watched a video clipping of Swamiji. The students were enlightened by listening about the valiant and great warrior Shivaji and his Guru Ramdas. In this video, it was stressed upon, that Guru foresees the impending danger and protects us from all odds hence Guru’s words consist highest truth.

In today’s world, where alluring and distractive elements are inevitably our daily encounters, the much relevant and most prominent part of Vachnamrut P-16 is ‘a wise person identifies those objects and evil company that may cause bondage and raise deficiencies in his (goal) ekantik dharma and shuns them; but he does not become bound by them.’

In Friday’s assembly, this thought was elaborated with examples and presentation so students can build the technique to seize that unstable mind and drag it from its wanderings and fix it on one idea. Students were suggested to seek constant strength from God to be strong enough to withstand the distractions and remain determined towards their goal so that they cannot be swayed by diverting elements.

Finally, this Sundaram House week’s assemblies concluded on Saturday, with an urge to the students to imbibe positive thoughts and avoid negative thoughts. Students were explained how good company and friendship with saints can help them harbour good thoughts and repel evil thoughts.

As the summative examinations are approaching AVM students are all set to follow the prudent teachings of Vachnamrut Pratham-16 so that they can conquer all those diverting thoughts.

Good News!! Students of Atmiya Vidya Mandir are learning to tame their mind... they are learning to nip the bad thought in its bud.

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