Learning From Children

युक्ति युक्तं प्रगृह्णीयात् बालादपि विचक्षणः।
रवेरविषयं वस्तु किं न दीपः प्रकाशयेत्॥
"A wise person receives knowledge even from a child.
Doesn't a tiny lamp illuminate places where even the sun cannot reach"

My full time work is with a school that teaches science, history, geography and maths in sanskritam medium.
I'm sure most of you would guess correctly that I am responsible for maths (or Ganitam as we call it)
The students - even the 5 year olds - express themselves beautifully in sanskritam

I wanted to share a few episodes where I have learnt from the little ones -

Episode 1:
At the beginning of the summer vacation I was talking to a 1st std student
(I had just completed a discussion with the parent in english and therefore, I continued speaking in english)
I asked - what are you going to do during holidays?
He said - "I will have to study everyday for 1 hour at least"
I asked - why?
He replied "Acharya, I will ... I will ... I will... mmm... I will vismarami" (Vismarami in sanskritam means "I will forget")

I was wonder struck - when we speak our native languages (I also speak sanskritam, hindi, telugu, tamil fluently), if we get stuck for a word, we insert an english word - and here this 6 year old inserts sanskritam words when he gets stuck while speaking english ...
With just a few months in a sanskritam medium school, a little kid picked up enough sanskritam to make it his primary language.
I learnt that everyday practice can make a difference to our skills and capabilities

Episode 2:
On the Bhagavad Gita day celebrations, we had students participating - they did not just chant the slokas, even the 8 year old students discussed the sloka's learnings with examples - each student said a sloka, explained it and gave one example from the puranas and itihasas and one example from their modern lives.

We usually read the Bhagavad Gita - we chant or just try to understand the meaning - I usually enjoy doing the sandhi-vicchedah (break up the sandhis) and trying to understand and explain a sloka but now I also apply it to our everyday modern life...

Episode 3:
On the republic day, we usually think about stories and biographies of the freedom fighters or great personalities
But my students took up themes - hard work, determination, bravery, unity in diversity, satyagraha, nationalism, festivals etc... and each student argued and proved with examples how a particular theme applied to India's success !
It was an eye-opener to listen to each story - I learnt how the underlying themes of valour, unity, traditions can lead to success (not just for our country)!

Episode 4:
A 6 year old student spent some time with me - so while talking he told me the story of Rantideva (it is in Srimad Bhagavatam) - he stated it completely in Sanskritam and then recited the sloka he was taught -
न त्वहं कामये राज्यं न स्वर्गं नापुनर्भवम् ।
कामये दुःखताप्तानां प्राणिनाम् आर्तिनाशनम् ॥
Once he told the sloka, obviously I asked him to explain the meaning - he said "Acharya, the itihaasa acharya told the story and taught the sloka, but I dont know the meaning (Aham artham na jaanami)"
I said - why not try it yourself!
He seriously took my advice - and tried !
He just repeated the sloka 3-4 times and was able to say the meaning - he said he didnt know the meaning of "Apunarbhavam" - so I told him it was moksha - but with the rest he was able to explain the sloka.
"I desire neither kingdom nor heaven nor even liberation. I just want that all living beings who are afflicted by sorrow should not suffer any pain."

I learnt that just by repeatedly trying and not getting "Fear of failure paralysis" we can do new things easily.

Episode 5:
For the Ganitam (maths) project, I had asked the older students to present specific concepts from specific texts, but for the little kids - 1st and 2nd std - I said - express any favourite maths concept in any way you want !

I was surprised by each performance - they did yogasanas and bharatanatyam to express numbers, there were puppet shows, shadow plays, models, puzzles and quiz shows to explain math concepts... One 3rd std student even gave us acharyas some homework too!

I learnt that we wear some coloured spectacles and look at things from one point of view - but kids dont have those specs and are open to new ideas and expressions.

I learn everyday from the children I meet.

I have many more episodes but would like to hear some from you all too
Please do share your own stories of learning from children!

Keep smiling
HR

 

We can only lead life mindfully - observe what we can learn from the environment around us...

Life is all about learning and experiencing the deep and unbinding truth - that we are one with the universe

@Viswamitra ji - very interesting learnings

Just like the wardrobe as well as the food composition activity - we did one project last Diwali - every student was supposed to keep track of their family's expenses during the festival ... the idea being that once we pay attention to the expenses - we automatically start using our vitakṣaṇa & viveka (वितक्षण & विवेक) and automatically we decide on either postponing or cancelling unnecessary/impulsive purchases/eating...

I really enjoyed reading your stories !

Keep smiling
HR

 

Your daughter had confidence in your love for her!

I remember once when my son was < 8 months old (19yo now) - not yet talking but could crawl around
We had visited a relative - he was playing with everyone, but when his meal time came, he just came near me and started crawling around me ...
My aunt asked - Does he never cry for food?
I said - He is confident that I will never let him go hungry and always give food on time!

And suddenly I realized from my own words - he is confident that the world loves him and he is secure in that feeling
Sometimes as adults we lose that security - we become defensive against the world, we think that the world is out to get us - while the other people in the world are probably just living their life, maybe even with their own insecurities !
That was a real eye-opener and I spent all night thinking if or when I act insecure and should I be more assured about myself.
That's when I decided to Keep smiling
HR

 

Hahaha - every little incident with a child makes us wiser