God is present in each and every atom of universe. Explain sugar water experiment.
What has God created in this Universe for us?

Story

God is real

Once upon a time, there lived a king who did not believe in God. He believed that people had faith in God because their parents trained them from a very young age to be that way. He often said that if a child was never told about God, the child would never think or believe in God. The king said this because he felt that God was not real and that He was just the imagination of the people.

After few years, a son was born to king. The queen died of an illness leaving the little boy to the king. The king shut the child up in a tower because he did not want the child to ever hear about God. He gave the child all the comforts. Maids and tutors took care of him and taught him everything. All of them had been warned never to mention God to the boy. The maids and tutors were faithful to the king and brought him up and taught him everything befitting a prince, but they never once mentioned God to him.

One day, when the king came to visit his son as usual, he was surprised to see the boy looking out of the window with his head bowed. When the king asked his son what he was doing, the young boy said, “Father, I am bowing to the creator.”

The king shouted for all the maids and tutors. When he questioned them, he knew from their answers that were loyal to him and had never told the boy about God.

Amazed, he asked his son, “Which creator? What creator? Who told you?” The young boy replied, “Nobody told me. Why should anyone tell me? I can see the beautiful world from my window – the mountains, the sky, the green plains, the trees, the flowers, the rivers, birds and animals. Someone must have created all this. He must be so great to be able to create such a beauty, that I am bowing to Him in love.”

The King slowly walked back, a defeated man. He had understood from his son that God is real.

Since God is everywhere, it also means that He is in every part of the world. He is in every flower and plant; He is in every drop of water; He is in music; He is in every being. He is in everything large and tiny.

This is why, in our culture everything is treated with respect. Everything is worshipped – the trees, the rivers, the mountains, the sun, the moon and the planets, birds and animals. It is not that we have many Gods, it is that we see God in everything.

Song

My God is so great, so strong & so mighty
There is nothing my God cannot do………….
The mountains are his, the rivers are his
The stars are his handicraft too (My God …).
He fashioned the trees, the wind and the seas
And painted the sky royal blue (My God is so ….)
He made us with love,
Sent straight from above.
And filled us with his wisdom too
My God is so great, so strong & so mighty
There is nothing my God cannot do…………. (3)

Game

• Putting tail on Aum

In the beginning there was only GOD. HE made a Sankalp, a resolve, “Ekoham Bahusyam” – I am One, let me be many. Instantly ‘Aum’, the original and primal sound emanated with the first creation.

Sloka

• Aumkaram Bindu Sanyuktam, Nityam Dhyayanthi Yoginah
• Kaamadam Mokshadam Chaiva Omkaraya Namo Namah

Explanation of sloka

Story

Jayadeva

Once upon a time there lived a boy Jayadeva in a place called Krishnavarta. He was a very weak, feeble,sickly child. Since he was the only child of his father, the father did all his best to improve the health ofthe child but in vain. Due to his ill health the child could not progress even in his studies or other activities.Jayadeva now grew up and was ten years old. He started going to school, but remained absent for a long time due to some illness or the other.

One day, it was the full moon day and was the day of Guru Poornima. Jayadeva went to the river for a bath. There he saw a saintly person, sitting on the bank of the river. He was chanting AUM loudly. Jayadeva was attracted by the holiness of the man and went to him. Jayadeva asked him what he was chanting and what was the benefit of it. The saint replied that it was the Mantra Raja (the king of mantras) – Aumkar. It had many benefits when chanted. Jayadeva learnt the correct method of chanting AUM and began to chant it regularly. The result was that he soon began to recover his health as it helped to improve his respiration as well as circulation of blood. It gave Jayadeva steadiness of mind too. Soon Jayadeva could concentrate on his studies as well as sports. He became very healthy and clever boy. Now he completed his education and became a young man, yet he continued to chant AUM. His life was full of happiness and success.

Activity

Writing aum in 1 minute

• Find aum and colour it.

Story

Guru Ram Dass, the fourth Sikh Guru, had several disciples. Every disciple remained busy doing his duty. One of the disciples war Arjun Dev. His particular quality was that he devotedly kept himself busy with the duty assigned to him. Ever since he became the Guru’s disciple, he was given the work of scrubbing the utensils.

Other disciples used to ask him, “Arjun Dev you are always busy in cleaning utensils, you should serve the Guru also sometimes.”

Arjun Dev replied, “This work of cleaning the utensils, I do with Guru’s orders.”

They said, “But only cleaning the utensils does not comprise the whole service. The Guru will not be pleased in this manner.”

Arjun Dev said, “I do not try to please the Guru. My duty is to obey him.”

The other disciples were quiet. They though, it was wasting time to advise him.

The time passed on. Whenever there was a sermon or religious congregation, Arjun Dev was always busy in doing his duty. Guru Ram Dass’s end neared. Every disciple thought that he had the right to succeed the Guru because he had all the qualities of service and devotion in him. The Guru had written down the ‘will’ for the announcement of his successor. The ‘will’ was to be opened after his death.

Guru Ram Dass died. Everybody was eager to hear what was written in the ‘will’ so that he might know his fortune. When the ‘will’ was opened, Arjun Dev had been declared the successor. Everyone, particularly those who had built up high hopes, were greatly surprised. Some put up a question that how was Arjun Dev made the successor even though he had no better qualities than other disciples.

The wise men said, “In the Guru’s views Arjun Dev was the only deserving successor to him.”

The disciples asked, “But he never said his prayers. He never took part in the religious discourses. He was only cleaning utensils. Nothing else did he do. Then where lies the justification in making him the successor”.

The answer was – faith and discipline are the only prime qualities.

In fact the touch stone of eligibility is one’s innate faith, absolute devotion and discipline, not his knowledge and wisdom.

Discuss with children examples of Discipline in nature – sun – sunrise and sunset, seasons, solar system. Human body – temperature (98.6 F), heartbeat, breathing etc

Game

All the kids stand in a line. When the person who is traffic police says “Green” the children run towards finish, and when he says “Red” they stop where they are. Whoever doesn’t stop is out.

Story

Great Attitude

Once a bird asked a Bee, after a continuous hard-work, you prepare the honey. But a man steals the honey. Do you not feel sad? Then the Bee replied: Never… Because a man can only steal my honey not the art of making honey..!!

Story

Each One Can Make A Difference

There was a man taking a morning walk at or the beach. He saw that along with the morning tide came hundreds of starfish and when the tide receded, they were left behind and with the morning sun rays, they would die. The tide was fresh and the starfish were alive. The man took a few steps, picked one and threw it into the water. He did that repeatedly. Right behind him there was another person who couldn’t understand what this man was doing. He caught up with him and asked, “What are you doing? There are hundreds of starfish. How many can you help? What difference does it make?” This man did not reply, took two more steps, picked up another one, threw it into the water, and said, “It makes a difference to this one.”

What difference are we making? Big or small, it does not matter. If everyone made a small difference, we’d end up with a big difference, wouldn’t we?

Power of ONE : Each of us is but one person: limited, burdened with our own cares and responsibilities. We may feel there is so much to be done, and we have so little to give. We’re usually short of everything, especially time and money.

When we leave this shore, there will still be millions of starfish stranded on the beach. Maybe we can’t change the whole world, but there isn’t one of us who can’t help change one person’s whole world. One at a time. We can make a difference.

Story

Raindrop – Snowflake

Once upon a time there was a little drop of water who dreamed of becoming a snowflake and turning the landscape white. Years passed, and then there was a great drought which evaporated the little drop from the lake where he lived. When he reached the sky, he became part of a small cloud. As soon as the weather turned cold, the little drop looked for a nice bit of countryside where he could fall, and help cover the place in snow.

But only a little bit of snow fell, and as soon as it touched the ground, it melted. And there the little drop had to remain, waiting for the sun’s rays to shine again, and send him back up to the clouds. When the sun shone, the little drop ascended once more, turned to snow again, and down he fell. Again, just after landing, he melted.

This happened several times. Finally, the little drop went and joined a great big cloud, where millions of other drops had crowded together. Despite being gigantic, conditions in that cloud were rather uncomfortable. A few of the drops were ordering everyone else around, making them squash up together, amid a great racket.

”Biggest drops at the bottom! Smallest drops at the top! Come on, come on! There’s no time to waste…”

Our little drop wasn’t keen on all this, and he considered falling down to Earth again, but a nice, friendly drop next to him managed to talk him out of it.

”Where are you going?! You don’t want to take part?”

Seeing how surprised our little drop looked, the friendly drop explained they were preparing for a big snowfall.

”All of us here love being snow, and covering the land for days; that’s why we’ve all gathered together here. Years ago I would try doing it on my own, but I learned I couldn’t manage it without help. I found this nice cloud, where we all help each other a little. And thanks to our teamwork, we’ve made some of the best snowfalls ever!”

A little later, both drops were flying down through the sky as snowflakes, surrounded by millions and millions of other flakes, turning the green fields white.

And with great joy, our little drop realised that when everyone worked together they could achieve what had at first seemed impossible.

Story

The Singing Birds

When we have a disagreement with others we can usually sort it out by talking about it and helping each other to find a solution. (An answer)

Long, long ago, all the birds sang very loudly because they were so happy. Each bird thought his song was the best and each bird sang louder and louder. “Peeu, peeu! Ask father, ask father! Cark, cark! Twitter, twitter! Tweet, tweet! Warble, warble!” Oh, there was such a loud noise all day and all night! None of the birds could sleep! At last the sparrow and the cuckoo said, “We must do something about this!” “Yes, yes!” said the dove and the crow. “Let’s go and talk to the owl. He is very wise.” All the birds went along to the owl’s tree and found him sitting on a branch with his eyes closed. “Excuse me, Mr. Owl” said the sparrow, very politely. “May we talk to you?” Mr. Owl opened one eye but did not say anything. “Excuse me, Mr. Owl,” said the cuckoo. “We birds have a big problem. We have come to you because you are very wise.” “What is the problem?” asked the Owl. “This is the problem,” said the sparrow. “All the birds were very happy and we began to sing louder and louder. Now we are singing so loudly, day and night that we can’t get any sleep!” “Why don’t they just do what I do when I’m happy? I whisper “Hoo-hoo” and I don’t disturb anyone.” At that the birds sang their own songs again. What a noise! “Stop! Stop!” said the Owl. “Now I know what the problem is. All the birds are very happy so they want to sing, but everything has its time and place. It’s fine to sing during the day when everyone is awake, but you must stop singing at night so the you can sleep. That is except for the nightjar and me. We sing at night but we sing so quietly that we don’t disturb anyone. Hoo-hoo.” So from that day to this most birds sing in the daytime, except for the owl and the nightjar, who sing very quietly at night.

Just as the birds sorted out their problem, God wants us to get together to solve our problems by talking things through and not by quarreling with anyone. God is with us all the time. He knows and understands our problems. He is sad when He sees us quarreling. He is happy when He sees us working or playing happily together.

Story

Listen to the sound of silence

There once was a farmer who discovered that he had lost his watch in the barn. It was no ordinary watch because it had sentimental value for him.

After searching high and low among the hay for a long while; he gave up and enlisted the help of a group of children playing outside the barn.

He promised them that the person who found it would be rewarded.

Hearing this, the children hurried inside the barn, went through and around the entire stack of hay but still could not find the watch. Just when the farmer was about to give up looking for his watch, a little boy went up to him and asked to be given another chance. The farmer looked at him and thought, “Why not? After all, this kid looks sincere enough.”

So the farmer sent the little boy back in the barn. After a while the little boy came out with the watch in his hand! The farmer was both happy and surprised and so he asked the boy how he succeeded where the rest had failed.

The boy replied, “I did nothing but sit on the ground and listen. In the silence, I heard the ticking of the watch and just looked for it in that direction.”

Moral

• A peaceful mind can think better than a worked up mind. Allow a few minutes of silence to your mind every day, and see, how sharply it helps you to set your life the way you expect it to be! ~ The soul always knows what to do to heal itself..The challenge is to silence the mind….

Story

A POUND OF BUTTER

There was a farmer who sold a pound of butter to the baker. One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting a pound and he found that he was not. This angered him and he took the farmer to court. The judge asked the farmer if he was using any measure. The farmer replied, amour Honor, I am primitive. I don’t have a proper measure, but I do have a scale.” The judge asked, “Then how do you weigh the butter?” The farmer replied “Your Honor, long before the baker started buying butter from me, I have been buying a pound loaf of bread from him. Every day when the baker brings the bread, I put it on the scale and give him the same weight in butter. If anyone is to be blamed, it is the baker.”

What is the moral of the story?

“ We get back in life what we give to others.”

Whenever you take an action, ask yourself this question: Am I giving fair value for the wages or money I hope to make? Honesty and dishonesty become a habit. Some people practice dishonesty and can lie with a straight face. Others lie so much that they don’t even know what the truth is anymore. But who are they deceiving? Themselves.

Story

Success: Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was a gifted child who possessed a spirit of enquiry – he wished to know the how and why of things around him by asking others and then by conducting experiments. No one could believe what all he wanted to do. But his patience and self effort won him success and fame as a great inventor.

One day little Thomas Alva came home from school crying. He handed over a note to his mother and gave a paper to his mother. He told her, “My teacher gave this paper to me and told me to only give it to my mother.”

On the note was written, “Your son cannot attend school. He pesters his teachers by asking silly questions. He is a fool.”

Little Thomas Alva was labeled a fool. But his mother was not worried. His mother’s eyes were tearful as she read the letter out loud to her child: “Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn’t have enough good teachers for training him. Please teach him yourself.”

She consoled him and said, “Don’t cry son. I will be your teacher.” She knew that her son was not a fool. He was only curious to know that how and why of things.

She remembered, how he had once sat on some eggs like a hen, thinking that the eggs would hatch and chickens would come out. But instead of hatching the eggs got squashed.

He had also once set aflame the barn just to watch the power of fire. Once he crushed some worms into milk and made his maid servant drink it.

Sound’s bad doesn’t it? Must have tasted bad too. Little Thomas Alva had seen birds eating worms and thought that he could make his maid servant flap her hands and fly away, by making her eat worms.

These incidents may sound queer but they threw light on Thomas Alva’s inquisitive nature, his curiosity to know how things happened, why things happened. He performed many experiments striving hard to find out answers to the many questions arising in his mind. This very little boy, who was called fool by his classmates and a dreamer by the society grew up to become the great inventor Thomas Alva Edison.

After many, many years, after Edison’s mother died and he was now one of the greatest inventors of the century, one day he was looking through old family things. Suddenly he saw a folded paper in the corner of a drawer in a desk. He took it and opened it up.

Edison cried for hours and then he wrote in his diary: “Thomas Alva Edison was an addled child that, by a hero mother, became the genius of the century.”Thomas Alva Edison was a gifted child who possessed a spirit of enquiry – he wished to know the how and why of things around him by asking others and then by conducting experiments. No one could believe what all he wanted to do. But his patience and self effort won him success and fame as a great inventor.

One day little Thomas Alva came home from school crying. He handed over a note to his mother and gave a paper to his mother. He told her, “My teacher gave this paper to me and told me to only give it to my mother.”

On the note was written, “Your son cannot attend school. He pesters his teachers by asking silly questions. He is a fool.”

Little Thomas Alva was labeled a fool. But his mother was not worried. His mother’s eyes were tearful as she read the letter out loud to her child: “Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn’t have enough good teachers for training him. Please teach him yourself.”

She consoled him and said, “Don’t cry son. I will be your teacher.” She knew that her son was not a fool. He was only curious to know that how and why of things.

She remembered, how he had once sat on some eggs like a hen, thinking that the eggs would hatch and chickens would come out. But instead of hatching the eggs got squashed.

He had also once set aflame the barn just to watch the power of fire. Once he crushed some worms into milk and made his maid servant drink it.

Sound’s bad doesn’t it? Must have tasted bad too. Little Thomas Alva had seen birds eating worms and thought that he could make his maid servant flap her hands and fly away, by making her eat worms.

These incidents may sound queer but they threw light on Thomas Alva’s inquisitive nature, his curiosity to know how things happened, why things happened. He performed many experiments striving hard to find out answers to the many questions arising in his mind. This very little boy, who was called fool by his classmates and a dreamer by the society grew up to become the great inventor Thomas Alva Edison.

After many, many years, after Edison’s mother died and he was now one of the greatest inventors of the century, one day he was looking through old family things. Suddenly he saw a folded paper in the corner of a drawer in a desk. He took it and opened it up.

Edison cried for hours and then he wrote in his diary: “Thomas Alva Edison was an addled child that, by a hero mother, became the genius of the century.”

Never Give up. Be confident. Remember – (be it life, sports, career or any competition) – any battle is won twice – FIRST IN YOUR HEAD…….

Story

To Complete Any Task Use All Your Strength

A young boy and his father were walking along a forest path. At some point, they came across a large tree branch on the ground in front of them.

The boy asked his father, “If I try, do you think I could move that branch?” His father replied, “I am sure you can, if you use all your strength.”

The boy tried his best to lift or push the branch, but he was not strong enough and he couldn’t move it.

He said, with disappointment, “You were wrong, dad. I can’t move it.”

“Try again,” replied his father.

Again, the boy tried hard to push the branch. He struggled but it did not move.

“Dad, I cannot do it,” said the boy.

Finally his father said, “Son, I advised you to use all your strength. You didn’t. You didn’t ask for my help.”

Some reflections on this story…

We haven’t used all our strength until we have recognized, appreciated and galvanized the strength and support of those who love and surround us, and those who care about our purpose.

Our real strength lies not in independence, but in interdependence.

No individual person has all the strengths, all the resources and all the stamina required for the complete blossoming of their vision.

That requires the inspired collaboration of many like-hearted beings.

To ask for help and support when we need it is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of wisdom.

It is a call for the greater strength that lives in our togetherness.

When we ask for help and we are refused, it just means we have to ask at another time, or ask in another way, or ask another person.

It helps to remember SWSWSWSW. Some will, some won’t, so what, someone’s waiting!

When by yourself You cannot manage To complete any task Use ALL your strength Turn around and ASK!